Processing Instruction

"...this book is an excellent choice for teacher-researchers who are interested in exploring how and why the quality of the one instructional element they have lost control over - input - may facilitate acquisition when it is structured to address identifiable learner difficulties. For those who are familiar with the PI pedagogical and research literature, this is an essential work for providing a current and engaging discussion of relevant issues in processing theory and predagogical practice."—Language Teaching Research"...recommend this volume to all SLA researchers and practitioners who are looking for the next big theoretical undertaking that also has insights for the classroom."—TESL-EJ"The edited volume here represents an important milestone in this program of work and will be a useful resource for SLA scholars interested in the problems of relating form and meaning to language. The volume succeeds admirably in doing all this and thereby provides the reader with a full balanced over view of the field. The book is informative, interesting, and thought-provoking....a well-rounded account of where PI research is today and provides some thoughtful observations on its accomplishments, limits, and future directions."—Studies in Second Language Acquisition

• Contents: Part I: Foundations.B. VanPatten, Input Processing in SLA. W. Wong, The Nature of Processing Instruction. P. Lightbown, Commentary: What to Teach? How to Teach? M. Harrington, Commentary: Input Processing as a Theory of Processing Input. Part II: Processing Instruction Versus Other Types of Instruction.B. VanPatten, W. Wong, Processing Instruction and the French Causative: Another Replication. A.C. Cheng, Processing Instruction and Spanish Ser and Estar: Forms With Semantic-Aspectual Values. A.P. Farley, The Relative Effects of Processing Instruction and Meaning-Based Output Instruction. J. Collentine, Commentary: Where PI Research Has Been and Where It Should Be Going. Part III: The Roles of Structured Input and Explicit Information.W. Wong, Processing Instruction in French: The Roles of Explicit Information and Structured Input. A. Benati, The Effects of Structured Input Activities and Explicit Information on the Acquisition of the Italian Future Tense. A.P. Farley, Processing Instruction and the Spanish Subjunctive: Is Explicit Information Needed? C. Sanz, Computer Delivered Implicit Versus Explicit Feedback in Processing Instruction. C.J. Doughty, Commentary: When PI Is Focus on Form It Is Very, Very Good, but When It Is Focus on Forms... Part IV: Long-Term Effects of PI.B. VanPatten, C. Fernandez, The Long-Term Effects of Processing Instruction. Part V: Final Commentaries.S. Carroll, Some Comments on Input Processing and Processing Instruction. J.F. Lee, On the Generalizability, Limits, and Potential Future Directions of Processing Instruction Research. B. VanPatten, Several Reflections on Why There Is Good Reason to Continue Researching the Effects of Processing Instruction.