This paper discusses recent research on second-language learning and argues that "prior knowledge" does not necessarily constitute the basis of comprehension in second-language learning, that "comprehended input" does not have to be "learner-controlled," and that "input" and "intake" are not necessarily two fundamentally different phenomena.…

Discusses the different theoretical perspectives concerning input data to second-language (L2) learners, and examines the learners contributions to input and the interactions between what learners take in themselves and what is given to them. (58 references) (GLR)

The effects of simplification, type of linguistic item, and second-language experience on learners' intake of linguistic items contained in written input were studied. Results suggest that simplification does not have a facilitating effect on learners' intake. Sample passages are appended. (56 references) (Author/LB)

The concept of input to the language learner is examined with reference to some current theorizing about language processing and the idea of modular systems of knowledge. It is argued that exposure to a second language engages the learner in a whole battery of different processing mechanisms. (21 references) (Author/LB)

The studies presented here represent an attempt to determine which of several alterations to the input directed to second-language learners affect comprehensibility. The first study manipulated both speed and syntax, and the second study examined the introduction of pauses into the input. (JL)

Twenty-nine subjects enrolled in a fourth-semester Spanish course were assigned to one of two treatments, processing instruction and meaning-based output instruction. Results show that processing instruction has an overall greater effect than meaning-based output instruction on how learners interpret and produce the Spanish subjunctive of doubt.…

Describes the use of post-NAFTA bilingual or trilingual labels in content-enriched instruction in Spanish classes. Such labels provide informal exposure to the second language as well as comprehensive linguistic and cultural input.(Author/VWL)

Two experiments explored the effect of linguistic input on 18-month-olds' ability to form an abstract categorical representation of support. Infants were habituated to 4 support events (i.e., one object placed on another) and were tested with a novel support and a novel containment event. Infants formed an abstract category of support (i.e.,…

This article provides a review of studies that have examined the ambiguity resolution strategies employed when processing a second language (L2). The way second language learners parse the L2 input has not yet been thoroughly investigated, although recently there has been an increasing interest in this area. The exploration of the mechanisms L2…

This research explores the role of phonotactic probability in two-year-olds' production of coda consonants. Twenty-nine children were asked to repeat CVC non-words that were used as labels for pictures of imaginary animals. The CVC non-words were controlled for their phonotactic probabilities, neighbourhood densities, word-likelihood ratings, and…

Three recent books take up different positions in the on-going debate about how, and out of what, to construct a theory of second language (L2) acquisition. Johnson (2004) advocates a "dialogically based approach", inspired by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Bakhtin's "dialogized heteroglossia", with which she would replace what she views as a…

This study investigated relationships between teacher talk exposure in preschool and school and children's second language vocabulary acquisition. Teacher talk exposure and vocabulary acquisition in Turkish-speaking children learning Norwegian and attending various classrooms were assessed yearly from when the children were in their next-to-last…

Investigates phonological cues available to children and explores the possibility that differential frequency in the linguistic input explains the priority given to masculine forms when children are faced with ambiguous novel terms. A connectionist model of determiner production was incrementally trained on a lexicon of determiner-noun phrases…

Clarifies Grosjean's Language Mode (LM) hypothesis, which develops the notion of language mode or the relative state of activation of a bilinguals two or more languages and language processing systems. Discusses studies that do not support views of the LM hypothesis. Studies of Dutch-English bilingual are presented. (Author/VWL)

An author, David Nunan, responds to a previous article that criticizes his advocacy of task-based syllabuses. Another author, Michael Long, points out inaccuracies in the criticism, and the author of the criticism, Ron Sheen, defends his earlier claim. (45 references) (JL)