Caden Lee

In what ways can Krashen's Input Hypothesis apply to students in a wide range of foreign language learning classrooms?

Started Apr. 20, 2022

Abstract or project description

Krashen’s Comprehensible Input Hypothesis (CIH) is a widely known idea in the linguistics community that theorizes that language learners benefit from exposure to linguistic input slightly above their current understanding of a foreign language (L2). It has been implemented in several language learning strategies that rely heavily on input to develop fluency in another language. However, the current research body is lacking a clear consensus as to how effective this hypothesis is when implemented in a classroom, and while it has been applied to English, Spanish, and Latin learning, it is unclear how useful it would be for other languages, such as Japanese. In this paper, I will review existing literature on CIH and relevant linguistic literature with a specific lens on how CIH could play a role in a wide range of foreign language learning classrooms. To do so, I will compare and contrast the existing research looking at CIH in the classroom trying to identify the key components of CIH that were successful, examine the previous studies that investigated the role of CIH within the context of English, Spanish, and Latin learning, and contrast the experience of learning those languages with the experience of learning other foreign languages to begin to determine how CIH may similarly or dissimilarly affect other language learning. I will end my review with a synthesis of my findings and provide a recommendation on how to use CIH in the classroom for a multitude of languages. The findings of this review could inform educators as to how to best develop foreign language curriculums for learning in a large range of classrooms. The potential benefits of a language learning curriculum informed by CIH span across the entire language learning process, including faster comprehension, enhanced discourse, improved confidence in language learning, better pronunciation, as well as greater overall fluency.