Lesson plan
Input Processing theory
The Input Processing theory, put forth by Bill VanPatten in 1993, describes the process of strategies and mechanisms that learners use to link linguistic form with its meaning or function. Input Processing is a theory in second language acquisition that focuses on how learners process linguistic data in spoken or written language. The theory comprises two key principles, each with multiple sub-principles. The first principle, the Primacy Principle of Meaning, has the following sub-principles: Primacy of Content Words, the Lexical Preference principle, the Preference for Non-redundancy principle, the Meaning-Before-Non-Meaning principle, the Availability of Resources principle, and the Sentence Location principle. The second principle, the First Noun Principle, has the following sub-principles: The Lexical Semantics principle, the Event Probabilities principle, and the Contextual Constraint principle. The Input Processing Theory has faced criticism. Opponents refuse the ‘acquisition-by-comprehension’ claim, as various processes may determine comprehension and production of language, and there is disagreement regarding how to distinguish input and intake. Some researchers claim that VanPatten's model ignores output.
Article summary
The Input Processing theory, put forth by Bill VanPatten in 1993, describes the process of strategies and mechanisms that learners use to link linguistic form with its meaning or function. Input Processing is a theory in second language acquisition that focuses on how learners process linguistic data in spoken or written language. The theory comprises two key principles, each with multiple sub-principles. The first principle, the Primacy Principle of Meaning, has the following sub-principles: Primacy of Content Words, the Lexical Preference principle, the Preference for Non-redundancy principle, the Meaning-Before-Non-Meaning principle, the Availability of Resources principle, and the Sentence Location principle. The second principle, the First Noun Principle, has the following sub-principles: The Lexical Semantics principle, the Event Probabilities principle, and the Contextual Constraint principle. The Input Processing Theory has faced criticism. Opponents refuse the ‘acquisition-by-comprehension’ claim, as various processes may determine comprehension and production of language, and there is disagreement regarding how to distinguish input and intake. Some researchers claim that VanPatten's model ignores output.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.