Review

Liaoning University of International Business and Economics/Liu Chang

【Abstract】This book， written by the research experts in the field of processing instruction Alessandro G.Benati and James F.Lee， informs readers of the newest development in processing instruction research and suggests the directions for the future research on processing instruction at the discourse level.

【Key words】processing instruction； research； discourse level

Processing instruction and its theoretical foundation-input processing model was advanced in 1996， revised in 2004， and further developed in 2007 by Bill VanPatten.From 1996 through now， VanPatten and colleagues have engaged themselves with the research on processing instruction on different grammatical structures acquired by subjects with different L1s who are learning different L2s.Empirical researches have demonstrated that processing instruction can produce positive effects on the acquisition of the target structures， thus proving its effectiveness as an approach to grammar instruction.In a sense， it can be argued that processing instruction stands for the newest development in communicative approaches to second/foreign language teaching.

Communicative approaches in second/foreign language teaching are widely acclaimed and practiced in many parts of the world in that it can greatly enhance the communicative competence of language learners but always at the expense of grammar instruction.This has a serious consequence： fluency development in the language learner is not in tandem with accuracy development， with accuracy development comparatively lagging far behind.Processing instruction enables the learner to attend to and acquire target language form or structure without sacrificing the main thrust for cultivating learners communicative competence.

The book is structured into two parts.Part I gives an overview of processing instruction and relevant empirical researches concerning it.Serving as an introduction to processing instruction， this part consists of three chapters.Chapter one examines VanPattens theory of input processing， which is based on the limited-capacity view of L2 processing and subsequently constitutes the basis of processing instruction.After defining input and input processing， the two overarching principles of input processing model are presented to readers： First， The Primacy of Meaning Principle： Learners process input for meaning before they process it for form （p.5）； Second， The First Noun Principle： Learners tend to process the first noun or pronoun they encounter in a sentence as the subject （p.24）.These two general principles are composed of several subcomponents respectively， guiding learners processing of linguistic input exposed to them.endprint

Then， in chapter two， the authors present readers the practical model predicated on input processing model aforesaid.Processing instruction aims to force learners to pay attention to the target language form or structure by altering their default processing strategies， thus leading to the acceleration of the acquisition of the target grammatical form or structure.Processing instruction is made up of three components： explicit information about the target form or structure， information about processing strategies， and structured input activities-the main causative factor for the positive effects of processing instruction.Guidelines for designing structured input activities are detailed with clear illustrations.

Chapter 3 outlines the empirical researches on the effects of processing instruction.There exists a large body of literature on processing instruction.However， the majority of researches on processing instruction are comparison studies at the sentence level.The major threads of research are as follows： comparing PI with traditional instruction for primary effects， comparing PI with meaning output-based instruction， full PI compared with the component elements of PI， modes of delivering PI， PI compared with enhanced structured input and so on.Benati & Lee have synthesized the results of all of these empirical studies on processing instruction， showing readers that PI is not only superior to other ways of grammar teaching in terms of both interpretation tasks and production tasks at the sentence level.In addition， secondary effects and accumulative effects of PI are also claimed to have been confirmed by experiments.To sum up， PI is an effective approach to grammar instruction at the empirical level.

Based on the above overview of input processing and processing instruction， the authors presents readers four studies aiming to investigate the effect of PI at the discourse level from chapter 4 to chapter 7.Chapter 4 examines the effects of PI on the acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive adverb Cuando using a guided composition task at the discourse level， ending up with the proof that PI is not only effective at the sentence level， but also effective at the discourse level.

Chapter 5 explores the effects of PI on discourse-level interpretation tasks with Japanese passive construction.And Chapter 6 researches the effects of PI on discourse-level interpretation tasks with English past tense.Contributed by Wynne Wong， Chapter 7 probes into the effect discourse-level structured input activities with French causative.All of these researches have followed a pattern of comparing the results of pretests and posttest of the treatment group and control group on the acquisition of the target structure or form examined， but with the intention of investigating the discourse-level effects of PI.In a sense， it can be said that these researches on PI at the discourse level have opened new avenues of research， making it more robust and healthier by complementing previous researches on processing instruction.However， the discourse-level tasks used in the study are relatively easy or simplified to some extent， for instance dialogue or guided composition， which is unable to reflect the full scope of different discourse genres or patterns.That is to say， the positive results obtained at discourse-level study may not be able to generalize for the time being.endprint

In this book， Benati and Lee have successfully accomplishing the goal of introducing the background， origination and the state-of-the-art researches on PI， especially the current researches at the discourse level to readers.In this way can readers obtain a thorough and deep understanding of PI， more importantly opportunities are there for teachers to verify its effectiveness in his or her teaching practice or improve or incorporate it into already existing teaching methods.It is be of great help for teachers to change the old way of grammar instruction without affecting the objectives of communicative language classrooms.

References：

[1]VanPatten， B.1996.Input Processing and Grammar Instruction [M].Norwood， NJ： Ablex Publishing Corporation.

[2]VanPatten， B.2004.Processing Instruction： Theory， Research， and Commentary[M].Mahwah， NJ：Erlbaum.

[3]VanPatten， B.and J.Williams.2007.Theories in Second Language Acquisition： An Introduction[M].Mahwah， NJ： Erlbaum.endprint