Processing Instruction and Discourse

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.

Acknowledgements Preface Part I: Processing Instruction: Theory, Practice and Research 1. VanPatten's Theory of Input Processing 2. Practical Model: Processing instruction 3. Processing instruction: experimental research Part II: Processing Instruction and Discourse 4. Exploring the effects of processing instruction on a discourse-level guided composition with the Spanish subjunctive after the adverb cuando (with Erin M. McNulty) 5. Exploring the effects of processing instruction on discourse-level interpretation tasks with the Japanese passive construction (with Noriko Hikima, Japan Foundation London Language Centre, UK) 6. Exploring the effects of processing instruction on discourse-level interpretation tasks with English past tense 7. Exploring the effects of discourse-level structured input activities with French causative (with Wynne Wong, The Ohio State University, USA) 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index