Second Language Teaching ud, and pattern drill may appear to be language teachin 1 ithe Schema presented here is correct, they provide, st, only traces of comprehensible input and do litle ceal Ipplementation CONCLUSIONS The purpose of this chapter has been to emphasize afew ‘cial points 1. Diflerent actives have diferent purposes and effects 2 Althoughsupplementary aces have placinthe guage teaching program, core activities designed fo pro- de comprehensible input, aul or written messages of terest that students understand, play the major ole 3. Some activites make ite or no consibution to com sence or performance. They may appear to be language aching, but in reality are not sah Krashen, S. (1983). The din in the head, input, and the language acquisition device. Foreign Language Annals 16, 41- 44, The Din in the Head, Input, and the Language Acquisition Device Professor Elizabeth Barber of Occidental College has ‘recently described a phenomenon in her personal second Ian- {guage acquisition experience that is extremely interesting, It is an experience many of us have had in attempting to aequire ‘2 second language in natural circumstances and sometimes in formal circumstances, I suggest here that this experience, the Din in the Head, may be important both theoretically and practically, It may be a result ofthe operation ofthe Language ‘Aequsition Device (LAD) itelf, and ray be utilized for some ‘ery practical ends, It may be able to tellus, for example, how Tong language lessons should be and when they are effective. ‘The first section ofthis chapter describes the Din in the Head. I repeat here Professor Barber’ insightful and lucid description of her experience, then add one of my own. The next section presents some hypotheses about the Din phe ‘nomenon and some suggestions as to its utility in language teaching and acquisition. The hypotheses are based entirely fon what cin be termed anecdotal and self-reported data. They ‘may, however, be testable using more rigid experimental pro- as36 Second Language Teaching cedures and are consistent both with the reports and with ‘what is currently known about second language acquisition. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DIN ‘We first turn to Professor Barber's description, taken from. «paper on language acquisition and applied linguistics (Bar- ber, 1980), Professor Barber is both a linguist and an archae- ‘ologist, and this excerpt describes her language acquisition and language use experiences on a recent trip to Europe. 1 spent lst fall traveling ina dozen counties, mostly in East ‘ern Europe. Since Iwas working rather than touring, Thad to ‘communicate in any language I could. [had studied Russian fem years ago and had read it some since, but I had never spoken t much; had learned modern Greek by traveling one summer in the backwoods of Greece, with some help fom ‘my classical Greek, but Thad never read it and had not used tat all in the intervening seventeen years. French, which I hha learned in a French schoolyard at age twelve and had studied in high school, and German, which [had studied one Summer by correspandence, were more immediately service. able: Thad read and spoken both from time to time, Teturned out thatthe curators Twas working with a the “Hermitage in Leningrad spoke nothing but Russian. The rst day Twas tongue-ied, but by the third, T was geting along, ‘wellenough. Thatis, we were managing fo get theinformation ‘back and forth and to enjoy one another's acquaintance, even, ‘though I was acutely aware that | was making grammatical ‘errors everywhere. But it was either that or hopelessly stall, the conversation and the work. Any eel respecting adjective {in Russlan gives you on the order of forty possible categories ‘of forms to choose from, acording to case, ruber, gender, land animacy, not to mention long and short rms and deen ‘sion classes. If you have to dive into this labyrinth to select a form consciously, you find when you surface proudly with {your hard-won morpheme that the conversation is ten mules 13 The Din inthe Head Dpt and the LAD 37 dow hod, ter to your ita sound alee. Soll paing enroute be moe importnt han rma ‘crema sceicomeaton the nd dy ste igus ne ws noting 2 ting nef Rasa amy head ord, sound, nation Finsew al svinming about nthe ve ofthe pope En wih sin locked oot amy other ngage toa dere inveclypoperiona show mete then. Many Shs on he thy, aera fw day os given gang, my Socal gas tay cme out in ar anguge rps of ‘That as tying fo tat he momentos Engi of ‘hs, Ant erating rene ad se ny bse ech Sache thos and have sys retained the Diy tose inand out oft cent ts moments note Kand whereas Cera was fo te, Sp my thst cent ngage, was Hopes The sound ny head Became one afer Sve ays that found mye chewing on te aso mach gine ‘i tothe rythm fay own tps as wae he sees ‘Sttmueum,Wheneves ot di, tenga ne Srould demand to fw what was ying, Hal he inet Tito lok nf {war sing op, or mchow enact Watt mena om he cone inh ha ear hours Haye eater The ost phe of tae pref couse sing cnser an nt spe uy, Gangs port ates pce chun: But hd crt oer shat fay suomi ino y “chew” ec a. fd me ‘rt tendered be menses om a arp igor areal or cated indden—not wat I covered ‘Bbay eal Nonetheen my overt comand of Fa Sin impeovedmoweina singe wee han # would haven ‘Sontrbr wo fiensive naing @P->-0) Tadd now my own experiences, not because they ae unique, but bocase they ae notin 190, the Goethe Lst- tute in New York kindly invited me to prtipate in a work Shopleympostum on second language auistvon along with seve ter Noth Aeron and Baropean scholar: The ‘working languages ofthe symposium were English and Ger- Ian the usual practice being that scholars would present0 Second Language Teaching Jecant quantities ofthe acquirer'si + 1, structures the acquirer hhas not yet acquired but is “ready” for. (Note that i + 1 is probably a set of structures and not just one.) ‘This hypothesis is clearly consistent with Barber’ report as well as my own. In both cases, there was considerable ‘comprehensible input. In Barber's case, the input came from interaction. In my case, the Din was triggered by a good dose of pure input Corollary (2) predicts that the Din will not occur in very. advanced performers because they will ceive less input con taining i + 1, having acquired most of the target language. ‘This prediction is satisfied in the two cases reported earle 5 well as in the following report. Tracy Terrell, a professor cf Spanish and Linguistics at the University of California at Irvine, isa very advanced performer in Spanish but reports that he is only an intermediate in French. Professor Terrell ‘was in Toronto last year and visited some French immersion classes. He reported that he sat in on about three hours of class one morning and subsequently experienced the Din. His hosts at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education were quite surprised to hear Professor Terrell chatting easily in French with a department secretary upon his return from the immersion school. Terell said that after the session, he was no longer Frencl-shy, and like me in San Francisco, he desired some interaction in French. The case confirms cor ollary 2) because Terrell experienced the Din in an interme: dlate language: he reports that he never experiences the Din in Spanish (any more!) It also confirms corollary (1), because the Din was set off by input only. The Din hypothesis makes several other predictions, consistent with the case histories but requiring further cases The Din will not occur after output practice without input. It will also not occur after pattern drills or grammar exercises, The Din seems to take a certain amount of time to start Lup. The case histories suggest that it takes at least one 40 wo hours of good input. Our usual procedure in language teach: ing is to give classes lasting an hour or less, Perhaps those teachers who prefer the two-hour class ae also saying that it takes a two-hour dose of input to gel the LAD moving, 53 The Din in the Hed, Ip ani the LAD. 41 ‘The Din also seems to wear off after a few days. My experience studying French ina class in the summer of 1978 Supports this, as well asthe previous generalization. Our class met for two and a half hours, twice a week, and was conducted entirely in French, Each cass produced clear Din forme anda desire touse French. Monday's Din was enough to last until Wednesday, and 1 usually started Wednesday's class eager for more French. The Wednesday Din, however, hhad generally worn off by Monday, despite my efforts tokeep it going over the weekend by reading, and T generally came to Monday’s cass jst alittle French-shy “This last case raises the question of whether aural input is more effective then writen input for starting up the Din Ttmay be, but Ihave no ready hypothesis as to why because written input should help language acquisition as well” Barber notes in her ease thatthe Din made it ficult to switch into other languages. Could this be because the LAD prefers to work on ene language at atime? Barber noted no problem in switching into her frst language, English, and Into her advanced French, She had problems only with those languages in which she was less advanced ‘A final conjecture concerns the craving for input and language use that both Professor Terrell and I experienced ‘Wie, of course, ate professional linguists who came int lin ustics partly because we enjoy’ language acquisition. Does the Din produce this craving among “civilians? Iso, we are led to the hypothesis that language acquisition isa natural and enjoyable process for anyone, as long asthe ight kind of input i provided”™ ‘The “Language in the Crib” Problem ‘The Din hypothesis may help to solve at least one the retical issue. When Ruth Weir's book, Language in the Crib (1962), appeared, her study was cited as supporting evidence for the audiolingual technique of pattern drill. Weir tape recorded her 28-month-old son’ evening monologues and found that some of them did, in fact, resemble rehearsal ofgrits uryuco 0 spaau nd su (2 “nd aeqgouayjazdi09 Jago 125 9 wna aut (1) so EETOHCD O18 Sey sSEMHOdAY SHU oF opnsnboy a8onBury ag fo oyoynurs fo sas 981, ssysoxpodfty indy axp se oa se suodar ay wun quayssuon sisatpodAy w “uousuousyd ‘ua 9X9 Sunuszoueo sysoupodAiyyenuao e mou yuasaid | 1 (01 ajdood saSemaous at yup wr Apampur djoy we Bupyeods) ‘anduy ea aouajadwes dn yng sey sasmboe aup saype Aquo suaddey woronpord aenSuyjyeoy “asne> e jou ‘uontsmboe 30 4nsal © aq 0} wyBnow mou st Supyeads Bupyeods SpA ‘eid &q axmboe you op ay “Suqueaut 303 Sumpeat 0 SuTU2IsH ‘ayn agsuayaudiues a “sps0m soxpo wt ‘asmboe aM [+ Ysunmuoo ye ndut Surpumesopum fq 1 + f ammpnns pau ap 0} paavord UD ‘ays 40 a4 quauadoraaap Jo 98s yuD1Ino JOY 30 sty s} 1 aT3HA re oy © oz o1 ‘SISAHLOAXH LNdNI AHL 66 GV pe a Poo CHUL E 40 F9p} 240s srapear axe pmoys saiopooue om SOL, "uyee Auys-w0w26) som wou paqunsep sogreg se "HC au aj 1 Teo axp 09 BuDyren ‘oteyd 24 UO But ‘aSendumy Uno sap UF SUDUTUOD EWN JU PU OM JHA Sapna, smdry pucoes ao| Second Language Teaching patterns (many did not, being coherent stretches of dis- Course) This phenomenon has been interpreted as practice Gnd therefore as evidence that production, and a certain kind ‘of production (pattern practice) is helpful or even necessary for language acquisition.» ‘My interpretation of the Language in the Crib phenom- enon is different: Itis simply the Din externalized, The child is much more likely to react this way to the Din, actually Lttering the sounds he or she hears inside. James Cummins reports that his daughter, a student in a French immersion progiam in Toronto, often utters what appears to be random French when playing alone after school. Could this be the same thing? CONCLUSIONS The Din may have teal practical value. If the previous, speculations are correct, and if we can get reliable reports ftom students on when the Din is “on” and when itis “ot” itmay help tell us when our instruction is effective, how long lessons should be, their optimal frequency, what topics should be discussed, and so forth. In shor, it may tll us when we are providing truly interesting and comprehensible input and, thus, when we are causing real second language acquisition NoTEs 1 Barber algo discusses the possibly ofa visual Din. Sce Baber (09%, 08). 2 va ocent study, Chapman (188) posted Barbers description othe Dinas ee in this pa fo ver fur hurdred igh school and Sate avg langage stents Almost the quarters a hese {ans reported that they hd exprtenced the Din st some ie 3. Leannot cite any published source fr this assertion, It has come pa geod dealin conversation over he years, however 4 Second Language Acquisition Theory and the Preparation of Teachers: Toward a Rationale ‘This chapter is divided into three main sections. First, explain why theory has lost its influence on the field of language teaching. Second, I present my understanding of what theory is and how we progress in science, focusing particularly on theory and practice in second language acqui 1n—distinguishing between purely theoretical esearch and applied research, examining the relationship of research to both “linguistic” theory and second language acquisition the- ory, and exploring the relationship between second language acquisition theory and language teaching. Lalso give a com rote example of how a consideration of theory gives better answers tothe practical questions language teachers may ask The concluding section presents the implications of this dis. cussion for teacher training,