Structured input

Abstract

Considering the limited role for instruction in second language acquisition and the importance of incorporating grammar in a more meaningful approach to instruction, teachers should look at devising grammar tasks that, on the one hand, enhance the grammatical features in the input and, on the other hand, provide L2 learners with opportunities to focus on meaning. Structured input is the practice component of processing instruction, which is a pedagogical intervention that through the manipulation and restructuring of the input facilitates the acquisition of grammatical and syntactic features of a target language. It derives from the theoretical model called input processing. Empirical research has been carried out to measure its effectiveness on a number of processing problems, languages, linguistic features, and among learners of different backgrounds and first languages. The research findings from this theoretical framework have demonstrated that it is an effective approach (online and in the classroom) to grammar instruction in helping L2 learners to make appropriate form‐meaning connections and parse syntactic structures correctly. Specific guidelines have been developed to create structured input activities.