From Input to Intake: Overcoming the Psycholinguistic Barriers                                         

Second Language Acquisition Symposium, Queensborough Community College, City University of New York

The concept of “input” has been of central importance to research in second language acquisition. Theoretical and empirical research has focused on the type of input that is essential for successful acquisition. The third colloquium on second language acquisition (SLA) will discuss Gass’s (1997) model of SLA, proposing five stages to take into account the conversion of input to output: apperceived input, comprehended input, intake, integration, and output. 

In a 1-hour panel discussion, Dr. Jilani Warsi and Dr. Fernando Naiditch will address the five stages, focusing on the psycholinguistic barriers that impede successful acquisition of a second language. Our target audience consists of CUNY faculty teaching in departments directly servicing non-native speakers of English, but the colloquium will appeal to all faculty interested in issues having to do with second language acquisition and pedagogy.     

The panelists will give brief presentations for one hour (scheduled for 10:00AM). After that, they will accept audience questions and comments (from 11:00AM – 12:00PM). They will discuss how instruction can potentially increase the chances for these students to become cognizant of the mismatch between input and their output, necessitating a modification of their target language grammar.

The panelists will discuss the following questions:

1.      Why is some input apperceived, whereas other input is not?

2.      Why are some aspects of language noticed by a learner, whereas others are not?

3.      What are the mediating factors at this initial stage?

4.      What factors serve as input filters?

5.      How does the learner overcome these barriers?

6.      What are the psycholinguistic barriers that keep input from becoming intake?

        Gass, Susan M. 1997. Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner. New Jersey:

               Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

 

[Location: Friday, November 9, 2007, from 10:00AM – 12:00PM; Queensborough Community College (S-111 Lecture Hall) From Input to Intake: Overcoming the Psycholinguistic Barriers]