Comprehensible Input (CI) is messages that learners hear, read, or view in the target language from multiple sources that a language learner can understand. Dr. Stephen Krashen emphasized that learners acquire language when they hear large quantities of comprehensible input, and that a certain amount of challenge is beneficial (Krashen, 1982). Teachers guide learners to make sense of the input.
Many teachers end up providing at least some comprehensible input (CI) even if they don't consciously know it's happening. That means in classrooms that aren't using proficiency-oriented language practices, learners are probably getting small amounts of CI, so long as the language learners understand what they hear or read now and again.
BUT - the big difference between providing comprehensible input by chance and a teacher knowingly providing comprehensible input in a proficiency-oriented classroom is the attention and focus on making the target language comprehensible and compelling using various techniques and strategies. Rather than comprehensible input being a by-product, it IS the product.
But we can't stop at comprehensible. Krashen also stressed that input must also be compelling. So compelling, in fact, that the language learner forgets they are doing it in another language!
What makes content compelling? Let's start with what is NOT compelling content to most language students... memorizing vocabulary lists, filling out grammar worksheets, or studying linguistic features of a language.
Instead, compelling input might be:
-- teaching students how to DO something like make a recipe, do traditional folk dances, yoga stretches, or fold origami
-- learning about a historical event, person, or celebration.
-- sharing a reading experience with a leveled-reader.
-- imagining a story or character together with students
-- discussing what students did over the weekend
-- playing a role-playing game like Mafia or Jeopardy
-- doing a Special Person Interview
-- sharing a cultural story, fable, or legend with students
-- studying classic literature or short stories
-- engaging in tasks that provide opportunities for students to share opinions, take positions, and engage in different perspectives
So long as students are being flooded with comprehensible input that is compelling, acquisition of the language will happen. Furthermore, researchers like Long emphasized that learners need opportunities to interact in the target language with others to make themselves understood and to understand others (Long, 1983). Donato and Swain identified the importance of collaborative interactions where learners engage in talk-in-interaction (Donato, 1994; Swain, 2000). This reinforces the idea that making compelling content comprehensible is essential for language acquisition.
So what are some other strategies and techniques one can use to make comprehensible and compelling input the core of their courses? So glad you asked. Head over to the Strategies page and explore 12+ ways to begin teaching with comprehensible and compelling input.
"We are designed to
walk… That we are taught to walk is impossible. And pretty much the same
is true of language. Nobody is taught language. In fact you can’t
prevent the child from learning it."
- Noam Chomsky, The Human Language
Serie 2 (1994)
To learn more about Comprehensible & Compelling input, see the following resources:
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