ABSTRACT
SLA theorists are not in agreement concerning the potential value of instructional intervention in SLA: Some argue that instruction can have no effect beyond the provision of an environment conducive to SLA (e.g., comprehensible input or triggering input). Others assume the effectiveness and even the necessity, at times, of relevant and principled instruction, and a case is made accordingly for the benefits of instruction of the right kind. Instructed SLA researchers thus investigate the comparative efficacy of different types of pedagogic intervention, particularly with regard to how instruction can assist learners in making the form-meaning connections that are critical for interlanguage development A fundamental question in instructed SLA research is whether adult SLA involves, in the main, implicit or explicit language processing, and the related question of whether the most effective instruction is implicit or explicit in its approach to making the information needed for formmeaning connections available to the L2 learner.
