A commentary on processing instruction
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Michael Sharwood-Smith
Abstract
The commentary takes the form of reflections occasioned by the debate carried out in the various contributions to this volume as also the related presentations and discussions that took place at the Symposium on Processing Instruction at the University of Greenwich in September, 2013. Rather than review each contribution the debate is be placed within a historical perspective and focus is on the changing relationship between two types of professional: a) those who seek to extend our understanding of second language acquisition and b) those whose main aim is to assist language instructors by applying insights from theoretical research and, by so doing, provide their profession with a modern scientific foundation. It is about the relationship between the ‘understanders’, on the one hand, and the ‘helpers’ on the other. The interaction between Input Processing Theory (IP)– the theory – and Processing Instruction (PI) – the application – provides an ideal background for such a discussion.
©2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to the Special Issue
- Foundations of processing instruction
- The milestones in twenty years of processing instruction research
- The effects of re-exposure to instruction and the use of discourse-level interpretation tasks on processing instruction and the Japanese passive
- Primary and secondary effects of processing instruction on Spanish clitic pronouns
- Input, input processing, and output: A study with discourse-level input and the French causative
- Processing instruction on the Spanish passive with transfer-of-training effects to anaphoric and cataphoric reference contexts
- Deconstructing PI for the ages: Explicit instruction vs. practice in young and older adult bilinguals
- The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: Age and cognitive task demands
- A commentary on processing instruction
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to the Special Issue
- Foundations of processing instruction
- The milestones in twenty years of processing instruction research
- The effects of re-exposure to instruction and the use of discourse-level interpretation tasks on processing instruction and the Japanese passive
- Primary and secondary effects of processing instruction on Spanish clitic pronouns
- Input, input processing, and output: A study with discourse-level input and the French causative
- Processing instruction on the Spanish passive with transfer-of-training effects to anaphoric and cataphoric reference contexts
- Deconstructing PI for the ages: Explicit instruction vs. practice in young and older adult bilinguals
- The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: Age and cognitive task demands
- A commentary on processing instruction
