Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition

are roughly-tuned to the level of the acquirer, and not finely-tuned (Freed, 1980; Gaies, 1977; for a review, see Krashen, 1980); more advanced second language performers tend to get more complex input, but the correlation between proficiency and input complexity is less than perfect.

Foreigner-talk and teacher-talk may not always be in the "here and now",⁶ but helpful native speakers and teachers find other ways to make input comprehensible. In addition to linguistic alterations, they take advantage of the acquirer's knowledge of the world, which is, of course, greater than that of the child acquiring a first language. Teachers, in addition, use pedagogical aids, such as pictures and realia (see discussion in Chapter III).

The input hypothesis predicts that these simplified codes will be very useful for the second language acquirer, just as caretaker speech is posited to be useful for the child. (For some preliminary case history data supporting this hypothesis, see Krashen, 1980, 1981.) The input hypothesis also predicts that natural, communicative, roughly-tuned, comprehensible input has some real advantages over finely-tuned input that aims directly at i + 1, in other words, classroom exercises that aim to teach the structure of the day.

The case against the grammatical syllabus is presented in fuller detail in Chapter III, but here is a brief summary. The arguments are very similar to those presented against giving the child finely-tuned input:

(1)

All students may not be at the same stage. The "structure of the day" may not be i + 1 for many of the students. With natural communicative input, on the other hand, some i + 1 or other will be provided for everyone.

(2)

With a grammatical syllabus, each structure is presented only once. If a student misses it, is absent, is not paying attention, or if there simply has not been enough practice (input), the student may have to wait until next year, when all structures are reviewed! On the other hand, roughly-tuned comprehensible input allows for natural review.

(3)

A grammatical syllabus assumes we know the order of acquisition. No such assumption is necessary when we rely on comprehensible input, on roughly-tuned natural communication.