Here are suggested answers to the Think About It items in this chapter of the Online Learning Center website.

1. Why must input be both meaning-bearing and comprehensible in order for it to be usable for language acquisition? Explain.



Teacher’s Note: Response should include the following point(s):


• Acquisition largely consists of the building of form-meaning connections in the learner’s head. In order for this to happen, input must be meaning-bearing (i.e., contain a message). If input is not meaning-bearing, form-meaning connections cannot be made.
• Input must be comprehensible because in order for learners to attach meaning to an utterance, he or she must be able to figure out what the speaker is saying (even if he or she does not understand every single word). If input is not comprehensible, no meaning will be attached and no form-meaning connections can be made.

2. Lee and VanPatten discuss many ways in which input may be made more comprehensible. Consider the following: An instructor immediately translates words or utterances whenever learners signal that they do not understand. Is this is a good example of making input more comprehensible for language acquisition? Why or why not?



Teacher’s Note: Response should include the following point(s):


• No. When teachers immediately translate everything they say into the learners’ native language, learners will develop the habit of waiting for the translation and will tend not to pay attention to L2 input. So in a sense, this practice actually robs students of the chance to make form-meaning connections.

3. If an instructor gives learners explicit rules about a particular grammatical form using the target language, is this input for L2 acquisition? Explain.



Teacher’s Note: Response should be similar to the following:


• Yes and no. If an instructor is using the L2 to communicate with students, she is providing input. However, this is not input for the grammatical structure in question. For example, let’s say the instructor wants ESL students to learn about past tense formation in English. The explicit information she provides to students in English may contain the following: “To form the past tense in English, you need to add an –ed to regular verbs.” Notice that this utterance does not contain input about the past tense. It does, however, contain input about prepositions, plural –s, and other information.