Ｈｏｗ ｔｏ Ｕｓｅ Ｃｏｍｐｒｅｈｅｎｓｉｂｌｅ Ｉｎｐｕｔ Ｔｈｅｏｒｙ ｔｏ Ｉｍｐｒｏｖｅ ｔｈｅ Ｅｆｆｉｃｉｅｎｃｙ ｏｆ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ Ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ

【摘 要】在英語教學(xué)中，可理解性輸入非常重要。如何在英語教學(xué)中進行有效地輸入可理解性的材料呢？什么是可理解性輸入？這是個困擾很久的一個頗有爭議的問題，很難澄清。然而，認(rèn)識到可理解性輸入理論的重要性以及如何在英語教學(xué)中進行可理解性語言輸入以提高學(xué)生的英語能力的確非常必要。

【關(guān)鍵詞】可理解性輸入 輸入 輸出 I＋1

【中圖分類號】G642 【文獻標(biāo)識碼】A 【文章編號】1006－9682（2009）04－0049－03

【Abstract】In English teaching， comprehensible input is very important. How to input comprehensible materials in English teaching efficiently and effectively? What is comprehensible input? It is hard to make clear the complicated and controversial problem， but to attach great importance to the application of comprehensible input theory and to input comprehensible language materials in English teaching to improve the students’ English abilities are very necessary.

【Key words】Comprehensible input Input Output I plus 1

Introduction: Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of language. So it is very necessary to further study Stephen Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and apply his comprehensible input theory to improve the efficiency of English teaching and learning.

Ⅰ、Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis and what comprehensible input is about

The Input hypothesis is Krashen’s attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second language. In other words， this hypothesis is Krashen’s explanation of how second language acquisition takes place. According to this hypothesis， the learner improves and progresses along the ‘natural order' when he/she receives second language ‘input’ that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example， if a learner is at a stage ‘i’， then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to ‘Comprehensible Input’ that belongs to level ‘i + 1’. By providing comprehensible input a bit higher than the learners’ current level， the learners’ LAD will be activated and contribute to acquisition. It can also be used in the classroom teaching and learning. We can use comprehensible input theory to improve the efficiency of English teaching.

Ⅱ、The importance of comprehensible input in English teaching

Sometimes it is hard to make sure what i is and what i plus 1 is， and to what extent i or i plus 1 is. Why i plus 1? Why not i plus 2 or 3 or 10? It is really much too hard to elaborate clearly. Krashen just wanted to state that to input just beyond the students’ current competence can stimulate them to further study with great interest. If the level of input material is much lower than that of their present competence， they will feel too bored and unwilling to keep moving. It is not a stimulus for them to further study. If the input material is just a little beyond their present competence， they will persevere and keep moving with great interest. i plus 1 model is the optimal style of input. i plus 2 or 3 or more is not proper， at least not better than i plus 1 style. So to supply sufficient comprehensible input is very important in English teaching and learning. That means teachers must provide background knowledge for the students to facilitate their comprehension. Teachers should try to make their classes lively and interesting.Input must come before output. “It can be expressed freely only the accumulation of language information reaches a certain degree. To pay attention to the expression is only in pursuit of short-term effect， while to focus on the implementation of input is actually a scientific and systematic project”（Yang Huiyuan楊惠元 1991）.To solve the problem of what and how to input， we can choose to use Krashen’ s input theory in our English teaching.

Ⅲ、How to apply comprehensible input theory to English teaching

1．Comprehensible input theory in lexical teaching

Lexical teaching can be greatly improved by adopting Comprehensible

input theory. The students are given materials which are just over their present competence， so they will use their brains to think hard to comprehend and memorize the words and expressions. Of course the students need to use thinking as the media of comprehension. They should use word formation rules and something like that to guess the meaning of the words and expressions. If they fail to make sense of the actual meaning of the words and expressions， the teacher needs to show them the background settings of the words and expressions， the connotation and denotation of them. So now， at the critical and optimal moment， the teacher should provide some background knowledge for them. For instance， idioms such as: spend money like water， to rest on one’s oars， to keep one’s head above water， all at sea. Maybe the students know each single word in the idioms， but they fail to understand what these idioms mean because they lack the background knowledge of them. England was an island country with water around it. While Han nationality multiplies in the Asian mainland， people even never leave their land for a whole life. These idioms are all related with water. So the students can use their thinking to guess what they mean in Chinese. Spend money like water（揮金如土）， to rest on one’s oars（暫時歇一歇）， to keep one's head above water（奮力圖存）， all at sea（不知所措）。

2．Comprehensible input theory in improving the students’ listening and speaking ability

Krashen holds that a great deal of input is the key to language acquisition. As a result， in foreign language teaching， whether to provide students with a lot of understandable language or not is a key factor of success or failure. Because the classroom time is limited， to conduct this task needs the best language input. So we must pay attention to the quantity as well as the quality of the input. Audio-visual teaching method can be used to improve the students’ listening ability. The audio-visual teaching can join listening and speaking together， and mobilize students’ multi-senses to conduct three-dimensional teaching. It provides plenty of information by adopting several media， such as cartoons， pictures， sound， and writing. The materials can be easily understood and memorized by the students. The audio-visual teaching method creates a native-like environment for the students to practice listening and speaking. They are immersed in the atmosphere of learning and devoted to the learning all the time. Audio-visual teaching is a kind of input aimed to output.

To develop the students’ English listening ability is hard work. Listening is a kind of input. Enough comprehensible input can lead to efficient output. The listening materials should be a little above the students’ present competence， so the students feel pressed as well as encouraged to listen. Before listening， let them surf the material first and have a little sense of it. Then guess what the main idea of it and what kinds of questions will be designed and even the answers to them. With the information in their mind， they begin to listen to the materials carefully. It is natural and common if they have difficulty in listening. Tell them to be oblivious of the difficulties and never distract their attention while listening. If they really do not know what to do， the teacher can give hints to them. The post-listening step is a complementation and consolidation of the whole listening task. It is also a feedback. The above steps together lead to a perfect progress. A student must listen as much as possible to improve his listening ability. We Chinese lack a natural English leaning environment， so we must create an atmosphere and let the students immerse in it. On the other hand， input is to prepare for output. Input is the foundation to base on. Just as what the following diagram describes.

This is a pyramid， which means listening and reading come before speaking and writing. It also means receptive skills come before productive skills. To put it clearly， input comes before output. However， this order is not absolute and unchangeable. We can receive first， then practice what we have received; we can also practice first then know what we don’t know and go on practicing. This still conforms to Krashen’s input theory: various ways and means of comprehensible input can be used to improve the students’ listening and speaking ability.

3．Comprehensible input theory in improving the students’ reading and writing ability

To read is simple and easy， which is a layman’s view. In fact， though a reader knows all the words and phrases in a passage， he cannot actually comprehend the passage and fail to know what it is about. There are two kinds of comprehending methods: bottom-up and top-down. However， the students must often get access to comprehensible input materials as often as possible and make progress gradually. The input materials should be neither too obscure nor too easy. They should be just a little over the students’ comprehension ability， so the students’ interest will be greatly aroused and they’ll move on to improve their reading comprehension ability.

Krashen’s input theory demands the teacher to provide comprehensible reading materials for the students and encourage them to read as much as possible. Krashen’s input theory suggests learners get access more comprehensible input and then make efficient output. To the students， to do more reading with great interest is useful and helpful. They can use either bottom-up or top-down processing method to improve their reading ability. They can use both of them in reading.

The students should read more to accumulate more and get ready for writing. To read aims to write， to listen， to speak， or vice versa. Just like the above pyramid， on most occasions， the four skills’ order is as follows: listening， reading， speaking， and writing. Krashen’s input theory is also helpful for it. First words， next phrases， then sentences， and lastly a perfect paragraph is constructed. There is more than one way to improve one’s writing ability in English. The most important is to memorize words and phrases as many as possible and master the art of linking them together grammatically， meaningfully and logically. To use comprehensible input theory， to create a heating atmosphere for writing and stimulate the students’ interest will build a successful learner.

4．Discourse comprehension

The four skills also have something to do with discourse comprehension. If the four skills are strengthened， the discourse comprehension will be improved as well. Krashen’s input theory attaches great importance to the context of the discourse， the micro context and the macro context. That means how to understand the discourse depends on words， phrases， sentence patterns， culture and other factors implied in the discourse. Both listening to and reading about a discourse need the context information to help comprehend it. Discourse comprehension needs enough contexts. So the students should use context between or beyond a discourse to make the comprehension move forward well. They should have chances to be given more exposure to various discourses， which are just beyond their comprehension ability. The students gradually develop a habit of constructing a schema in their brain so that they will think in English without medium of their native language， at least more quickly to conduct this kind of code switching. To improve the students’ discourse comprehension ability， he had better listen to or read more comprehensible discourses， use context information， construct a schema， acculturate himself into another language and develop a habit of thinking in English. More importantly， teachers also have to capture the opportunities of optimal language input.

IV、Conclusion

Krashen’s input theory can be applied to language acquisition and language teaching and learning as well. In language teaching and learning， especially in classroom instruction， if the learners are given more exposure to comprehensible input， their interest can be aroused and last long. The students’ four skills and discourse comprehension ability are greatly improved. The i plus 1 theory is a flexible one. It has many advantages， but it is not a unique theory and it must be used with other theories to improve language teaching and learning.

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