Processing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary (Second Language Acquisition Research)

363 Pages·2003·2.41 MB·English

by  Bill VanPatten

Processing Instruction
Theory, Research, and Commentary
Second Language Acquisition Research

Theoretical and Methodological Issues
Susan Gass and Jacquelyn Schachter, Editors
Tarone/Gass/Cohen • Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition
Schachter/Gass • Second Language Classroom Research: Issues and
Opportunities
Birdsong • Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypotheses
Ohta • Second Language Acquisition Processes in the Classroom: Learning
Japanese
Major • Foreign Accent: Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Second Language
Phonology
Monographs on Research Methodology
Gass/Mackey • Stimulation Recall Methodology in Second Language Research
Yule • Referential Communication Tasks
Markee • Conversation Analysis
Dörnyei • Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction,
Administration, and Processing
Of Related Interest
Gass/Sorace/Selinker • Second Language Learning Data Analysis, Second
Edition
Gass/Selinker • Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, Second
Edition
Processing Instruction
Theory, Research, and Commentary

Edited by
Bill VanPatten
University of Illinois at Chicago

LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
Mahwah, New Jersey London
Camera ready copy for this book was provided by the author.

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.

“ To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection
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Copyright © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without
prior written permission of the publisher
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Processing instruction: theory, research, and commentary/edited by
Bill VanPatten.
p. cm.—(Second language acquisition research)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-4635-2 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Language and languages—Study and teaching. 2. Second language
acquisition. I. VanPatten, Bill. II. Series.
P53.P736 2003
418’.0071–dc22 2003049449
CIP
ISBN 1-4106-1019-5 Master e-book ISBN
And I am all alone There is one here beside me And my
problems have all gone There is not one to deride me
But ya got to have friends…
—Mark Klingman and Buzzy Linhart
as sung by the Divine Miss M, Bette Midler
This volume is dedicated to all my friends and to the
late Murphy Wolf Lee VanPatten, who kept me company
up until he just couldn’t anymore. He was a great cat and I
miss him.

Contents

Acknowledgments ix
About the contributors xi

1
Part I Foundations

Chapter 1. Input Processing in SLA 5

Bill VanPatten
Chapter 2. The Nature of Processing Instruction 33

Wynne Wong
Chapter 3. Commentary: What to Teach? How to Teach? 67

Patsy Lightbown
Chapter 4. Commentary: Input Processing as a Theory of 81
Processing Input
Michael Harrington

95
Part II Processing Instruction Versus Other Types of Instruction

Chapter 5. Processing Instruction and the French Causative: 99
Another Replication
Bill VanPatten and Wynne Wong
Chapter 6. Processing Instruction and Spanish Ser and Estar: 121
Forms With Semantic-Aspectual Values
An Chung Cheng
Chapter 7. The Relative Effects of Processing Instruction and 147
Meaning-Based Output Instruction
Andrew P.Farley
Chapter 8. Commentary: Where PI Research has Been and 173

Where It Should be Going
Joseph Collentine
CONTENTS viii

187
Part III The Roles of Structured Input and Explicit Information

Chapter 9. Processing Instruction in French: The Roles of 191
Explicit Information and Structured Input
Wynne Wong
Chapter 10. The Effects of Structured Input Activities and 211
Explicit Information on the Acquisition of the Italian

Future Tense
Alessandro Benati
Chapter 11. Processing Instruction and the Spanish Subjunctive: 231
Is Explicit Information Needed?
Andrew P.Farley
Chapter 12. Computer Delivered Implicit Versus Explicit 245
Feedback in Processing Instruction
Cristina Sanz
Chapter 13. Commentary: When PI is Focus on Form it is Very, 261
Very good, but When it is Focus on Forms…
Catherine J.Doughty

275
Part IV Long-Term Effects of PI

Chapter 14. The Long-Term Effects of Processing Instruction 277

Bill VanPatten and Claudia Fernández

295
Part V Final Commentaries

Chapter 15. Some Comments on Input Processing and Processing 297
Instruction
Susanne Carroll
Chapter 16. On the Generalizability, Limits, and Potential Future 315
Directions of Processing Instruction Research
James F.Lee
Chapter 17. Several Reflections on Why There is Good Reason to 329
Continue Researching the Effects of Processing

Instruction
Bill VanPatten

Author Index 341
Subject Index 347
Acknowledgments
This volume came about for one major reason; I realized early in 2002 that my
1996 book was already out of date. Since the original publication of VanPatten
and Cadierno (1993), there has been considerable empirical work within the
processing instruction framework. At the same time, critical voices have arisen
to challenge the tenets and findings of processing instruction research. Given the
considerable empirical work conducted since 1993 coupled with the need to
rethink and restate some ideas, I decided it was time to do another book.
However, I did not want to do one alone and I also wanted a book that included
a number of studies that could be grouped around particular topics related to
processing instruction. In this way, the volume would have a built-in replication
feel to it. At the same time, I also recognized that particular people could offer
important critical insight and commentary. For the most part, those asked to
write commentaries have no particular allegiance to processing instruction or its
research. The result would be a more balanced perspective and allow readers to
determine for themselves the merits of the theory, research, and commentary. I
contacted the various people in this volume and, much to my delight, they all
readily agreed to participate. The rest, as they say, is history.
So, my first acknowledgments go to the contributors. Although I thank them
in Chapter 17, they deserve thanks again. They truly have made this book what
it is. I owe extra thanks to Wynne Wong. Wynne discussed a number of points
with me regarding the content of this book and contributed to three different
chapters. She is always there to lend an ear. I hope she likes the dedication to
this book. Thanks also go to Greg Keating, one of my doctoral students. Greg
had the lucky task of formatting the volume to turn it into camera-ready copy
and also of checking and rechecking references and citations. (I’m sure he
doesn’t want the blame if there are any errors.) My thanks also to Susan Gass
and Jacquelyn Schachter for supporting this volume in its embryonic stage and
for getting it into the hands of the publisher. Thanks also to Cathleen Petree,
Bonita D’Amil, Nadine Simms, and all the other folks at Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates for making this volume happen.
Finally, I owe thanks to my own Ya Ya Sisters: Bryan, Joey, and Mike. The
martinis helped a lot.
—Bill VanPatten