Used a semantic and morpho-syntactic priming paradigm to examine at which processing stage the advantage of blind adults may arise. Concludes that the faster speech comprehension skills of blind adults may originate from a more efficient perceptual analysis rather than from a more extended use of semantic or morpho-syntactic context information.…

Three studies investigated how 3-year-old Japanese children interpret the meaning of a new word associated with a familiar artifact. Findings suggest that children flexibly recruit clues from multiple sources, including shape information and function familiarity, but the clues are weighed in hierarchical order so children can determine the single…

Responds to concerns put forth about an investigation conducted by the author that raised concerns about the validity and generalizability of the author's study on the efficacy of processing instruction--an input-oriented psycholinguistic approach to grammar instruction. (Author/VWL)

Collentine's (1998) treatment materials are discussed in light of Van Patten's (1996) definition of processing instruction (PI) and the four processing problems outlined in Van Patten (1997). Collentine's understanding of communicative value is contrasted with VanPatten's (1995) original definition of the term and Collentine's comments concerning…

In three experiments, 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds and adults identified words from a list presented by a single talker or multiple talkers. Subjects were less accurate identifying or slower repeating words spoken by multiple speakers than by a single speaker. Processing of multiple speakers' words became easier with age. Children matched their…

Discusses the role of frequency in phonological reduction. Argues that phonological alternations provide evidence for the size and nature of morphosyntactic chunks. The phonological shape of words provides evidence that categorization is not completely exemplar based, but rather involves some abstraction resembling the construction of a prototype.…

Examines the role of form-focused instruction (FFI) in developing implicit knowledge by reviewing 11 studies that have examined the effect of FFI on learners' free production. Suggests that FFI can contribute to the acquisition of implicit knowledge and points to two variables that appear to influence its success--the choice the th target…

In response to Ellis (2002), which resurrects the notion that language acquisition consists of frequency-based abstraction of regularities from input, this article suggests Ellis ignores fundamental and well-known problems, including the poverty of the stimulus, cases of instantaneous acquisition, and evidence for innate knowledge. (Author/VWL)

Responds to Ellis (2002), which focuses on frequency in language processing, language use, and language acquisition. Contextualizes the frequency factor in terms of the evolution of second language acquisition (SLA) research. Suggests that although relevant and important, the frequency factor requires greater definition and qualification.…

Echoes Robert J. Conners' call for a reexamination of sentence pedagogies in composition teaching. Offers an explanation of the unsolved mystery of why sentence combining improves student writing, using insights provided by work in contemporary research in linguistics and in language processing. Argues that educators invite words and phrases, the…

Findings from a study in which twins were given tests of onward repetition and auditory processing are discussed. Children with specific language impairments were impaired on both measures, but deficits had different origins. Auditory processing problems showed no evidence of genetic influence, whereas the nonword repetition deficit was highly…

Crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition is examined from a processing perspective. Applying Processibility Theory as the theoretical framework, claims that second language (L2) learners can only produce forms they are able to process. (Author/VWL)

Reviews processing (PI) instruction, outlines a model of input processing, describes the nature of PI, and discusses research on it to date. (Author/VWL)

Responds to VanPatten's update of the findings for processing instruction. Questions the explanatory adequacy of the model of input processing that VanPatten proposed and that underpins his pedagogic proposals. Questions the validity of the limited-capacity, single-resource model of attention proposed for second language learning. (Author/VWL)

Presents a psycholinguistically motivated type of grammar instruction called processing instruction to show how learners can be pushed to make form-meaning connections as they attempt to process three grammatical structures in French: obligatory use of "de/d'' with a negative after "avoir"; French subjunctive; and French causative. (Author/VWL)