James F. Lee

Alessandro G. Benati

This volume tracks the impact Processing Instruction has made since its conception. The authors explain Processing Instruction, both its main theoretical underpinnings as well as the guidelines for developing structured input practices. They review the empirical research conducted to date, so that readers have an overview of new research carried out on the effects of Processing Instruction. The work concludes with reflections on the generalizability and limits of the research on Processing Instruction and offers future directions for Processing Instruction research.

Research and Perspectives on Processing Instruction

Mable Chan

This book provides a blended approach in outlining the properties of grammatical knowledge that have been causing difficulty to Chinese speaking learners, including tense and aspect, articles, passives, unaccusatives, plurality and motion verbs. It explains from different linguistics perspectives how these constraints/difficulties might be dealt with. It also offers readers a comprehensive account of these problems, and outlines the possible pedagogical solutions teachers can try in the classroom. These topics are selected because they bring substantial challenges and difficulties to Chinese English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. This book bridges the gap between acquisition theory and language pedagogy research, benefiting not just language learners but language teachers around the world, and all those who would like to witness collaboration between second language acquisition theory and second language teaching practice in general. It initiates future work in which researchers from different fields with diverging theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches will be able to develop studies that are compatible with each other. This overall can facilitate our understanding of second language acquisition, and how instruction might help.

Problems and Solutions from Complementary Perspectives

Challenges Encountered by Chinese ESL Learners

The research we present in this book establishes a unique line of research within the Processing Instruction model by assessing the transfer-of-training effects of this approach to grammar instruction on how learners make form-meaning connections. In this book we present the results of three experimental studies investigating secondary and cumulative effects in French, Italian and English.

Secondary and Cumulative Effects

Grammar Acquisition and Processing Instruction

A combination of theory and practice, accompanied by an empirical case study, makes this an ideal introductory textbook to the practical aspects of the acquisition of Japanese as a second language.

A Communicative Approach

Japanese Language Teaching

Bill VanPatten

The new edition of Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition defines the key terminology within second language acquisition, and also provides accessible summaries of the key issues within this complex area of study. The final section presents a list of key readings in second language acquisition that signposts the reader towards classic articles and also provides a springboard to further study. The whole book has been updated and expanded to take into account a wider range of theories and developments since the first edition. It remains at the top of its game. The text is accessibly written, with complicated terms and concepts explained in an easy to understand way. Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition is an essential resource for students.

Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition

Sayoko Yamashita

This edited book focuses on the role of different types of pedagogical solutions in the acquisition of the Japanese grammatical system by reviewing, assessing and measuring current theory and research. Findings from this research have implications for the way Japanese grammar is learned and taught in a classroom context. The editors and contributors address a number of questions around the role of Japanese grammar learning and teaching such as: what is the role of instruction in Japanese second language acquisition? What are the main findings of empirical research into the acquisition of Japanese grammar? Is any one particular pedagogical intervention or solution to the teaching of Japanese grammar more effective than another? What pedagogical options do we have for the teaching of Japanese grammar? This book offers a unique insight into its practical implications for Japanese language learning and teaching for applied linguists, researchers, language teaching professionals and curriculum developers alike.

Theory, Research and Pedagogy in Learning and Teaching Japanese Grammar

Tanja Angelovska

This book is written in order to help undergraduate students and trainee teachers to reflect on certain topics and key issues related to second language acquisition. Despite the proliferation of books and introductory courses in second language acquisition, most of these books very often provide a very complex account of theoretical views in second language acquisition and sometimes fail to emphasise the crucial interplay between how people learn languages and what is the most effective way to teach languages. The overall purpose of this book is to provide an overview of second language acquisition research and theories by identifying the main key issues in this field and by highlighting the relevance of this research for classroom implications. The study of second language acquisition is a rich and varied enterprise, carried out by researchers, whose interests and training often lie in broader disciplines of linguistics, psychology, sociology, and education. Readers will be encouraged to critically reflect on the presented content through self-engaging thinking activities in the form of questions, matching activities, choices and conclusions about the implications of SLA theories to the real world applications.

A Theoretical Introduction To Real World Applications

Second Language Acquisition

Processing Instruction is an approach to grammar instruction for second language learning, contrasting with traditional grammar instruction in its focus on structured input rather than learners' output. This book compares student assessment after traditional grammar instruction and after Processing Instruction to assess the positive benefits of this method of second language teaching. Rather than examining sentence-level tasks, the study looks at the relative effectiveness of Processing Instruction on discourse-level linguistic ability. Case studies using empirical data from second language learners of Japanese, Italian and English are used to highlight the benefits to the learner of this method of enhanced input. This monograph will be of interest to postgraduates and academics researching second language acquisition and applied linguistics.

Processing Instruction and Discourse

Megan Smith

This highly accessible introductory textbook carefully explores the main issues that have driven the field of second language acquisition research. Intended for students with little or no background in linguistics or psycholinguistics, it explains important linguistic concepts, and how and why they are relevant to second language acquisition. Topics are presented via a 'key questions' structure that enables the reader to understand how these questions have motivated research in the field, and the problems to which researchers are seeking solutions. It provides a complete package for any introductory course on second language acquisition.

Alessandro G. Benati

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