ABSTRACT
This chapter considers diverse models of second language acquisition and the ways in which they conceptualize the role of input in learning. It focuses on four current approaches to second language acquisition, all of which treat input in a slightly different way: the input-interaction position; the input hypothesis; the UG approach and an information-processing perspective. The chapter considers how input might differentially affect different kinds of linguistic information and how learners with different linguistic backgrounds might be differentially affected by the same input. A crucial portion of the learning picture comes from the input-interaction perspective. Through negotiation of meaning, learners gain additional information about the language and focus their attention on particular parts of the language. This attention primes language for integration into a developing interlinguistic system. The chapter presents a brief overview of some of the characteristics of input and the function that input might have within different approaches to second language acquisition.
