ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of comprehensible input. Human beings learn to perceive, recognize, comprehend, and name phenomena in their environments. To learn an additional language an individual can in many cases apply knowledge from her first language to the additional language, especially if the first language (L1) contains comprehensible connections with the additional language. The provision of comprehensible input is complex as a result of diversity relative to various issues such as; differences in semantics, syntax, pragmatics, orthographies, individual development, motivation, educational background, and culture. The notion of comprehensible input is that learners must have some background related to information to some degree before they can learn it. Learners are able to comprehend in context embedded situations because the input is more comprehensible. The context is filled with multiple cues that help the learner. The heuristic uses a measure of L1 literacy background to determine what learning tasks will be comprehensible.
