A Comparative Study Of Traditional Instruction And Input Processing Instruction In SLA

As for the language acquisition, Krashen(1985) put forward input hypothesis .This hypothesis states that human being acquire language in only one way _ by understanding message, or by receiving enough 'comprehensible input'. The output hypothesis proposed by Swain(1993) states that comprehensible input may well be important for second language learning, but is insufficient to account for second language acquisition and output is also an essential role to be counted on. In her output hypothesis, she argues that output performs three functions, namely, the "noticing/triggering" function, the " hypothesis-testing" function, and the "metalinguistic" function. Based on the essential role that comprehensible input has in the development of second language acquisition(Kranshen,1987;Eliss,1990;Terrell,1991), Vanpatten (1996) proposed the input processing instruction which involves grammar explanation and comprehension practice using structured input that induces learners to alter existing processing strategies so as to make correct meaning-and-form connection, while traditional instruction is characterized by explanation of grammar rules followed by written and oral practice. It attached great importance to drills in vocabulary items, phrase and sentence patterns, of which SPs (Skehun,1998) was the most popular method: presentation, practice, production. Many researchers have conducted a lot of comparative studies about the effects of the two instructions on the language acquisition, yet the results are non-converging, therefore, further research is called for.Based on the previous relevant research in this area, the present study tries to compare the effects of input processing instruction with traditional instruction on English relative clause acquisition through making an experimental study. By testing the practicability of the integration of input-based approach with the output-based instruction, the study tries to find a teaching method which is suitable to the grammar teaching in Chinese context.Subjects for the current study were chosen from non-English major college students in Sichuan normal University. There were 75 students in two classes involved. A pre-test was conducted among the 75 students in order to choose the suitable subjects. With their scores of pretest, the 30 students in class A and 30 students in class B were chosen to receive respectively input processing instruction and traditional instruction. The researcher, who was an active participant and teacher in the two groups, conducted classroom observation. The subjects would participate in the four-week experiment. Classroom observation was conducted to obtain data on the instructional practice and learning process in both groups. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, ie. classroom observation, analysis of the results obtained from the tests and questionnaire was conducted to obtain data on the process of teaching and learning in both groups. The data collected from the questionnaires and the three tests were compared and analyzed in terms of SPSS12.0The results show that the two instructions can be beneficial to the acquisition of the relative clause The input processing instruction works better than traditional instruction in comprehension while traditional instruction outperform the input processing instruction in production. The output-based instruction can facilitate the promotion from the declarative information to the procedural knowledge, while the effects of the input processing instruction is not so significantBy the comparative study of the two instructions, this study of the acquisition of English relative clauses gives us a new angle of the field of English acquisition and teaching A high-level of comprehension competence does not necessarily mean production proficiency. According to the information-processing theory, language learning is a dynamic three-phase process consisting of input, central processing and output. Comprehension and generation are two stages of language learning and language use, therefore, they need different strategies (instructions) to reach different goals. Teachers should adjust the quality of input, strengthen the quantity of output and combine the two instructions according to different developmental phases on acquisition...