Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013

After Krashen: Carlon 106

The Implications of SLA Research for

Latin Pedagogy: Modernizing Latin Instruction
and Securing its Place in Curricula
Jacqueline M. Carlon
University of Massachusetts, Boston

Abstract
This paper calls for profound reconsideration of Latin teaching methodologies and for the promo-
tion of Latin as a communicative language rather than an artifact to be studied. It delineates the
imperative for change as a necessity for the survival of Latin programs, then introduces the reader
briefly to: the discipline of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and certain principles de-
rived from its results that are particularly relevant to learning Latin; and to instructional applications
of SLA research that pertain primarily to the teaching of grammar. Finally, it calls for SLA research
aimed specifically at the acquisition of Latin with fluent reading as the goal, which would not only
inform instructional practice but would also serve to set Latin on a par with its modern language
counterparts, yet one whose study provides unique benefits. An appendix offers examples of class-
room activities that align with instructed SLA research results.

Keywords
Second Language Acquisition, Focus on Form, Processing Instruction, Latin, pedagogy, grammar,
research

Why should anyone study Latin? As instructors we often argue that Latin is different from
modern languages, and indeed its status as a unique and useful discipline, one that helps train the
mind, assured it a solid place in Western education for centuries. Yet for the last 50 years, Latin’s
position in curricula has become more and more precarious, largely because it is frequently viewed
as an artifact, a leftover from an elitist and antiquated educational system. Now generally part of
world or foreign language departments in the schools and many colleges, Latin is compelled to
stand beside modern spoken languages, where it is often found lacking. In just this past year in my
role as Coordinator of Classics in Curricula for the Classical Association of New England, I was
called on to defend Latin as a language to a college counselor who had refused to credit an incom-
ing student for any language study. I also struggled unsuccessfully to persuade a superintendent of
schools, who is considering eliminating Latin instruction at the middle school level, to reconsider.
While he acknowledged the great value of studying Latin,1 he insisted that his students should be
studying a language that has native speakers, dismissing entirely the legions of writers with whom
our students are learning to communicate. Never has it been more important for us to delineate
what we do and reconsider how we do it, within a theoretical framework that recognizes Latin as a

1 Such as improved SAT scores or critical thinking skills, familiarity with the roots of Western culture, exposure to
English derivatives, metalinguistic knowledge—all of which are by-products of Latin instruction, rather than the ac-
quisition of the language itself.

Carlon, Jacqueline M. “The Implications of SLA Research for Latin Pedagogy: Modernizing Latin Instruction and Securing its Place in
Curricula.” Teaching Classical Languages 4.2 (Spring 2013): 106-122. ISSN 2160-2220.
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 107
fully-functional and communicative language, one that can indeed be acquired by our students just
as readily as any modern language.
Many teachers of Latin might argue that Latin instruction already has changed or is chang-
ing with the introduction of texts that front readings and offer connected narratives—texts like
Ecce Romani or the Cambridge Latin Series or Disce Latinam—but research in Second Language
Acquisition (SLA) indicates clearly that the methods and exercises used by these newer texts and
their practitioners often differ little in approach from those of traditional grammar/translation texts.
The focus remains on translation and the dissection of the text, wherever it appears in the chapter
or unit, rather than reading. Exercises are largely mechanical, requiring a knowledge of forms but
all too often without a need for comprehension. Students may be led to grammar inductively rather
than deductively, but detailed (even esoteric) knowledge of grammar is often still a primary goal.
Should it be and if so to what extent?
SLA research is a new discipline, less than 50 years old, and research into instruction in
second languages is even newer.2 For the first 25 years, researchers focused primarily on inves-
tigating the internal processes of second language acquisition, addressing such questions as the
order in which certain linguistic features of a language are acquired, the importance and quality of
linguistic input, the role of social interaction, and the value of motivation. More recently, a subdis-
cipline—Instructed SLA—has turned its attention to researching instructional practice, testing the
efficacy of various pedagogical methods which respond to SLA research findings.
Perhaps the most widely known and publicized SLA research was done by Steven Krashen
in the 1980s, whose results concluded that grammar should never be explicitly taught. He argued
that, given sufficient comprehensible input, students would acquire an implicit knowledge of the
grammatical rules of a second language, just as they did their first language. 3 But subsequent
research has disproven Krashen’s theories, at least in some settings.4 The reality is that input can
often be comprehended without attention to syntax, in which case grammar becomes invisible and
thus is not learned. Students need to notice and use grammar, particularly complex structures, to
acquire it.5 More recent SLA research offers a number of insights—including ways to make gram-
mar visible and thus accessible to students—that should inform every language teacher.
It is important to note that almost all SLA studies have focused on the acquisition of Eng-
lish, German or the Romance Languages, with an occasional study that considers an Asian lan-
2 In so young a discipline, it is no surprise that there are competing theories and disagreements over methodology. In
addition there are many aspects of second language acquisition that have yet to be studied in depth or at all, particu-
larly those that pertain to the importance of age and ability to learner success. However, there is certainly sufficient
evidence from a number of duplicated studies to inform second language pedagogy. Texts by Lightbown and Spada
as well as by VanPatten, From Input to Output, provide accessible introductions for language teachers to SLA theory
and its application in the classroom. Nassaji and Fotos offer a review of recent and ongoing areas of research specific
to the teaching of grammar.
3 Krashen and Terrell, The Natural Approach. Krashen, “Seeking a Role for Grammar,” makes it clear that he remains
unconvinced by the positive results of SLA research on the effectiveness of instruction, maintaining that these studies
show that only explicit knowledge is enhanced by instruction, not acquisition of the language or the ability to com-
municate.
4 Of particular note are Richard Schmidt’s work on the importance for acquisition of attention to form, and Merrill
Swain’s research with French immersion programs, which concludes that meaningful input alone does not insure mas-
tery of syntax; her results led to her subsequent theory regarding the role of production in language acquisition, which
posits that production forces the learner to process morphosyntactically rather than relying solely on semantics (“The
Output Hypothesis”) .
5 Following Schmidt’s hypothesis regarding ‘noticing,’ significant research has been done on the importance of atten-
tion and noticing to processing and acquisition, e.g. Leow; and Leow, Hsieh, and Moreno.
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 108
guage. I know of no formal research conducted using Latin. Yet there are many results that can
and should be adapted to Latin pedagogy. So here, let us consider some conclusions that are most
informative for the Latin classroom.

Acquisition Principles

Implicit Knowledge Is Critical to Fluency

The most important finding in my opinion is that fluency in any language requires implicit
knowledge,6 that is an ability to access and use the language that is automatic. Explicit knowledge
of a language may help the learner attain implicit knowledge but by itself will not lead to fluency.7
Latin instruction has long been focused on imparting information about the language, rather than
developing the students’ implicit system and thereby the ability to read fluently. All too often our
students know their paradigms and can recite the various forms necessary for even the most dif-
ficult grammatical construction but are unable to recognize the very same forms when they see
them in a reading passage. Their explicit knowledge may help them to dissect the passage, after
which they may be able to reassemble it for understanding, but the process is discouragingly slow
and frustrating. This is not to say that there is no benefit to possessing metalinguistic knowledge,
but rather that if the teacher’s goal is fluent reading, the focus of instruction must shift accordingly
from knowledge about the language to the language itself.

Meaningful Input Builds Implicit Knowledge

It is clear that Krashen was right to focus on input, which is critical to learning any lan-
guage, and to emphasize that input must be meaningful.8 We all know that our students become
better readers by reading and understanding more Latin. But many texts offer random collections
of sentences that focus on a grammatical point, or drills that ask for isolated words to be trans-
formed from singular to plural or present to imperfect. Such exercises lack meaning and so do little
to enhance students’ implicit knowledge of the language.

Comprehension First, then Focused Production

In the process of learning any language, native or foreign, accurate understanding comes
long before correct production. We should not expect our students to produce accurate Latin before
they have had substantial experience with comprehension. This is not to say that we shouldn’t ask
our students to write or speak, just that we must modify our expectations and focus our require-
ments on production that will build skills rather than frustrate the learner. Research has shown that
output is an important part of attaining a detailed grasp of the grammar of a language, but just like
effective input, output must be meaningful and carefully guided by the teacher if it is to affect the
students’ implicit knowledge.9
6 For definitions of implicit knowledge and other key terms used in second language research, please see the Glossary
of Abbreviations/Terms in Appendix 1.
7 VanPatten, From Input to Output, Chapter 3.
8 VanPatten, From Input to Output, Chapter 2.
9 Since Swain first put forth her output hypothesis in 1985, a number of researchers have investigated the efficacy of
communicative output in language acquisition; see particularly: Izumi, who concluded that guided output was more
effective than visual enhancement of text (that is, highlighting specific elements of the text with varied fonts, colors,
etc.) in drawing attention to grammar; Nobuyoshi and Ellis, who posit that pushing students to produce more accurate
output contributes to acquisition of the language; and Toth, who finds that communicative output (CO) is as effective
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 109
Vocabulary Is Critical and Dominant
We have always known that vocabulary is paramount to understanding, but it is best learned
in context rather than through memorized lists. Even then research suggests that the learner will
not truly acquire a word until it has been seen or heard in a minimum of six to as many as twenty
different contexts.10 Why is this pertinent to the teaching of grammar? Because the lexical always
dominates. If the meaning of the sentence can be understood through its vocabulary, learners will
not notice forms. So, for example, the use of the future tense with cras or proximo die is redundant,
and the student can and will ignore the form of the verb. Vocabulary will also dominate in a state-
ment like: agricola frumentum portat, where the only reasonable meaning abrogates the need for
the student to notice inflection. 11
Once sufficient research on the cognitive process of learning a second language had been
conducted to set some working parameters, some SLA researchers turned to designing protocols
that might guide classroom practice, and the following results are particularly applicable to the
teaching of grammar.

Instructional Applications

Teaching Complex Grammar Can Accelerate Comprehension

Providing explicit grammatical instruction (EI) can be effective in helping students cope
with complex structures in the second language (L2), particularly those that have no parallel in
their first language (L1). Yet there is little indication that EI is useful for teaching simpler features
of a language, items that the learner will naturally acquire with sufficient exposure.12 However,
the way in which input is presented always matters a great deal. The material must be meaningful,
and the student must be required to pay attention to grammatical form in order to comprehend the
input. In other words, to expand the student’s knowledge of the language, exercises or readings
must be structured to focus on a form or forms that are necessary for understanding.13
or better than processing instruction (PI) in helping students acquire forms. The use of output-based instruction is,
however, not without controversy. Benati, “Comparative Study,” argues that PI is superior to CO, while DeKeyser and
Sokalski suggest that the effectiveness of output-based instruction depends upon the skill being learned; i.e. input is
most effective for comprehension, output for production; they see these two processes (comprehension and produc-
tion) as separate from one another. For more on PI, see below.
10 A recent summary of the research on the effect of the frequency of exposure to vocabulary on its acquisition may
be found in Mármol 150-1, whose results provide evidence for the positive effect on acquisition of the dispersion of
particular vocabulary words through a text. Horst, Cobb and Meara demonstrate the value of reading in acquiring
vocabulary and the difficulties inherent in much of the research, which have contributed to the wide disparity in hy-
potheses as to the necessary number and quality of exposures.
11 VanPatten’s first input processing principle (“Input Processing in SLA”) declares that learners process words first,
ignore grammar made unnecessary by a lexical item, process non-redundant grammar before redundant forms, and
meaningful before non-meaningful forms regardless of redundancy; for anything redundant or non-meaningful to be
processed at all, the sentence must not be of such complexity as to strain processing resources; finally learners process
items appearing first in the sentence ahead of any other content.
12 Benati, “Effects of Structured Input Activities,” found no advantage in the acquisition of the Italian future tense for
EI over structured input (SI), that is input designed to draw student’s attention to the desired form; Farley, however,
concluded that EI did increase the rate at which students acquired the Spanish subjunctive. These studies suggest that
the efficacy of EI depends upon the complexity of the grammatical feature being taught.
13 Norris and Ortega analyze findings from 49 studies conducted between 1980 and 1988 and report that L2 instruc-
tion is not only effective but also durable. De Graaff, Fernandez, and Henry et al. are among those whose studies have
shown the efficacy of EI when it is incorporated in PI. Hulstijn and de Graaff have proposed a series of hypotheses
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 110
Focused Instruction Increases Accuracy
Processing Instruction (PI) is a term first used by Bill Van Patten two decades ago to de-
scribe the method he advocates for helping students acquire syntax: the instructor presents gram-
matical information (EI), the student practices that information with meaningful exercises, and
then the student produces (in a limited way) the grammatical feature. PI is certainly similar to
what we have been doing in Latin classrooms for years, but it has some distinct differences. Van
Patten is not talking about drill-and-kill or isolated grammatical forms. Nor is he talking about the
production of sentences or even entire words, but rather very carefully orchestrated presentation of
a structure, followed by exercises that are focused on a form or forms.14 Since Van Patten first pre-
sented PI as a model for grammatical instruction, many studies have demonstrated this method’s
efficacy when compared with either traditional instruction or with input-only environments, at
least for short term gains in accuracy.15

Grammar Should Be Taught Selectively

When students are first introduced to a new rule, the reliability of the rule and its scope
have a profound effect on the learner’s ability to acquire the rule. It is critical to teach the high
percentage information first,16 leaving out exceptions, particularly if the exceptions can be learned
as lexical items, rather than more rules.17 Perhaps the best Latin examples of items that should not
be included in grammatical instruction on this basis are third declension neuter i-stem nouns18 and
the ablative form of the supine.

Complex Grammar Should Be Simplified

The complexity of a grammatical concept is directly proportional to the difficulty of its
acquisition—not surprisingly. Furthermore the complexity with which grammar is presented to the
learner contributes substantially to problems with understanding. Making the most difficult struc-
tures accessible, especially the ones that are used frequently, should be the focus of instruction.19
The simpler the teacher can make the explanation, the more likely the student is to understand the
concept and to attend to its use. Latin has a great deal of complex syntax, made more complex by
regarding the relationship between explicit and implicit knowledge, including the tantalizing (but still unsubstantiated)
idea that EI is more important for inflectional languages (105). Harrison offers a number of meaningful exercises that
compel the Latin student to focus on a form or forms. Her examples include the use of pictures, which help students
to make connections between the language and its real-world application, something that is often lacking in Latin
grammatical exercises.
14 See Appendix 2 for examples of how PI might be used in the Latin classroom.
15 See particularly Benati, “Comparative Study”; Cadierno; DeKeyser and Sokalski; Ellis, “Place of Grammar”; and
Fotos. The long-term effect of EI and PI have not been studied. Indeed there is still considerable disagreement con-
cerning the protocols followed in this type of research, since they depend on testing that focuses on explicit grammati-
cal knowledge. There is as yet no real understanding of the process by which explicit knowledge becomes implicit, or
if, indeed, it ever does so. Regardless of the discord among researchers, the results of EI/PI testing indicate gains in
L2 comprehension and grasp of syntax that consistently exceed those that result from traditional grammar instruction.
16 Mahoney’s work is particularly useful for this purpose, as she demonstrates clearly the predominance of the present
and perfect tenses, as well as providing clear statistics on the frequency of each of the six cases.
17 Ellis, “Current Issues,” considers in detail when it is most effective to teach grammar and what types of syntax are
particularly suited to instruction.
18 Of course the exception to the exception is mare, maris, which is used frequently; however, its forms can easily be
taught as lexical items.
19 DeKeyser and Sokalski demonstrate the efficacy of EI for both simple and complex syntax. Ellis, “Current Issues,”
concludes that grammar should be taught not just as a collection of discrete items, but with a massed approach (101).
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 111
our overwhelming need as Latinists to be excruciatingly specific about usage. Despite the fact that
I feel I must know all the minute syntactical details of a sentence, I am not at all convinced that
my beginning and intermediate students really need to know, for example, the difference between
an Ablative of Description and an Ablative of Specification, e.g.: Pompeius virtute magnus erat;
Pompeius magna virtute erat. It seems vastly more reasonable and useful to teach them that the
ablative generally serves as an adverbial descriptor, as in the examples above, where it tells the
reader ‘how’ Pompey was great or ‘how’ he was generally.20

Knowledge about the Language Is Valuable for Learners

There is some evidence, particularly for older students, that metalinguistic knowledge does
enable language acquisition and promote learner accuracy, and it may also allow students to move
more quickly through the natural stages of second language learning—that is a language’s order
of acquisition. 21 But how much knowledge about the language the student must have to affect the
rate of acquisition is still unclear.

Correction Should Be a Student-Focused Process

Finally, Instructed SLA research regarding correction of student errors (Corrective Feed-
back) indicates that recitation or writing of the proper form(s) by the instructor does little to help
the learner acquire proper syntax. It is much more effective for the teacher to elicit the corrected
form from the student.22 So with the written work that tends to dominate assessment in Latin in-
struction, it is better to circle an error and have the student figure out what is wrong, and with oral
responses, it is best to guide the student to self-correction.23

While this has been just a brief survey of some aspects of SLA and Instructed SLA re-
search, the implications for Latin pedagogy are undeniable. Meaningful input is crucial. We should
provide engaging material for our students to read and hear, right from the beginning. As one of the
founders of the Conventiculum Bostoniense, 24 whose Latin immersion program focuses on SLA
and Latin pedagogy, I am a strong advocate for the use of oral Latin in the classroom to whatever
extent the instructor is comfortable. I can attest from my own experiences that exposure to spoken
Latin transforms reading ability, and here I mean Latin that is communicative, not oral drilling of
declensions or recitation of forms or even the reading aloud of passages for translation, but rather

20 Ruebel demonstrates just this kind of approach in his consideration of how best to teach the ablative case. Other
consolidations and simplifications of grammar can be equally effective, such as presenting verbs as belonging to one
of two types of conjugation rather than five or presenting all pronouns and adjectives that use the pronoun declension
as a group rather than as many discrete declensions.
21 See particularly Roehr and Gánem-Gutiérrez.
22 This is certainly the view put forth by Ellis, “Current Issues,” 99-100; he refers to the extensive literature on cor-
rective feedback, but notes that little work has been done on the effect of feedback on acquisition.
23 Anderson and Beckwith discuss the differing effects of indirect and direct corrective feedback, declaring that the
former is particularly useful for “long-term acquisition of grammar” (37).
24 The Conventiculum Bostoniense (CB) was founded in 2006 with four specific goals: to provide current and pro-
spective teachers of Latin with a full immersion experience; to introduce participants to SLA theory and discuss its
application to the teaching of Latin; to give teachers exposure to and opportunities to develop active methods—speak-
ing and reading—to use in their classrooms; and to provide graduate credit. While the CB has unique goals, there are
many other Latin speaking experiences open to teachers and others interested in oral Latin in the USA and Europe, as
well as a number of schools where active Latin is an integral part of instruction. For a comprehensive treatment of the
current state of active Latin pedagogy and practice see Coffee.
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 112
exchanging ideas and sharing information. Reading is a more difficult and less natural skill than
listening, and there is no quicker way to familiarize students with common vocabulary and simple
grammar than engaging them in using the language they are learning.25
Meanwhile, with the knowledge that production is much more difficult than comprehen-
sion, we need to moderate our expectations for student writing, focusing production on meaningful
output to reinforce knowledge of vocabulary and syntax. The research on grammar instruction in-
dicates the need to simplify and distill grammatical instruction to make it less complex; we should
focus on more difficult syntax that students will be unlikely to understand without assistance; and
we must avoid at all costs teaching grammar without context, as if it were an artifact all on its own,
disconnected from the language that defines it. It should go without saying that paradigms with-
out understanding are useless. Who among us hasn’t had the student who can state perfectly the
precise form of every word in a sentence without having any idea of what it means? The paradigm
does not need to disappear; in fact, some of our students, depending upon their linguistic back-
grounds and learning styles, will find it helpful; but it should be the summary at the finish line, not
the signal at the start.
There are a great many questions that SLA research has yet to answer. Perhaps the most
compelling is why, if we can all learn a first language, do some people have persistent problems
with learning a second one? The truth is that even the modern language community has been cau-
tious in responding to the research, and rightly so, as the reassessment of Krashen’s theories has
demonstrated.26 Yet there is no doubt that we should take instruction from persistent and repeatable
results from research in other languages in order to serve our students’ best interests.
On the other hand, despite some protests to the contrary, Latin is different from modern
languages in that our classrooms are focused on the teaching of reading, rather than all four lan-
guage skills. While some SLA research has been done with reading as a component of language
acquisition, none has considered reading as the primary goal. Indeed, Latin and Greek classrooms
may provide ideal laboratories in which to investigate the connection between reading and acquisi-
tion, information that could be exceptionally valuable even beyond the L2 classroom, in teaching
reading to the profoundly deaf. But we need more than anecdotal evidence about our students’
learning experience. Just some of the research areas specific to Latin that would be immensely
useful to instructors include: investigating the order of acquisition for Latin, which would help us
to modify instruction and expectations in the classroom; determining which elements of syntax
are particularly difficult for our students and which are easily acquired (I think there may be some
surprises for us here); testing the effectiveness of EI and PI in the acquisition of complex gram-
matical structures; examining the role of vocabulary in a language in which word order can be
highly variable; considering the efficacy of alternative ways of contextualizing vocabulary to fa-
cilitate its acquisition; assessing the effectiveness of spoken Latin in enhancing reading speed and
accuracy of understanding; evaluating the role of metalinguistic knowledge in the development of
reading skills; testing the effectiveness of transitional readers in preparing students for advanced
reading; and determining whether a focus on translation rather than comprehension contributes to

25 There is, of course, a long history of the active use of Latin as a teaching medium. See particularly Tunberg and
Minkova.
26 Ellis, “SLA and Language Pedagogy,” extensively considers the issue of how SLA research should affect classroom
practice and concludes that results should be used to inform pedagogy and evaluate outcomes, rather than reforming
methods wholesale. He further suggests that teachers might use the research to frame their own investigations into
effective teaching.
Teaching Classical Languages Spring 2013
After Krashen: Carlon 113
or hinders reading ability. These are meant merely to be starting suggestions for what will surely
be extensive, rewarding and valuable studies.
This brief consideration of SLA research and its implications for the Latin (and Greek)
classroom is meant to be a call to arms. I firmly believe that we are at a critical juncture in the his-
tory of Latin instruction, one at which we must redefine Latin not only as a tool for understanding
language and culture but as a vibrant communicative language in its own right, one that stands
equal at the very least to its modern language counterparts. We may not have a native population
with which to communicate, but we have many of the most influential thinkers and writers of the
past 2,500 years to address, riches beyond measure. The road ahead is perilous, because we must
revise our pedagogy and re-present our goals without allowing Latin to lose its unique identity as a
foundation for linguistic knowledge and as a training ground for critical thinking skills. We do not
want to be just another language, but we can no longer linger in approaches that promote the all
too common notion that Latin is irrelevant, a relic of an outmoded, elitist system. A number of our
colleagues in the schools are transforming their classrooms into vibrant havens for living Latin,
while still honoring the unique values of its study. College-level programs need to do the same. At
UMass Boston, we have just begun to teach all of our beginning and intermediate courses actively,
using immersive texts and methods. It is too soon to report definitive results, but the early data are
incredibly promising—excited students and higher retention from semester to semester. Change is
not only possible, it is imperative, and not only can SLA research be instructive in the process of
redefining our discipline, but our participation in future studies will also signal Latin’s identity as
a communicative language and will help to secure its place in curricula at all levels. As its teachers
and advocates, we know how transformative the study of Latin can be, but the current data-driven
educational climate demands that we clearly define and then prove empirically its value.

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After Krashen: Carlon 117
Appendix 1: Glossary of Abbreviations/Terms

Acquisition: the learning of a language; sometimes used to describe a process of which the learner
is unaware, one that happens at an unconscious level.

Corrective Feedback: an interactive process with a learner by which the instructor points out
incorrect use of the language, either explicitly correcting the error and/or providing a grammatical
explanation or implicitly guiding the student to produce the correct form, e.g. by modeling it.

Explicit Instruction (EI): any explanation of grammatical rules in the language classroom, in-
cluding both instruction by the teacher and inference by the student at the direction of the instruc-
tor. This approach to language learning contrasts directly with any immersion environment that
lacks direct instruction.

Explicit Knowledge: an understanding of how the language works, which may include elements
of its vocabulary, its forms and grammatical structures, but always as information that must be
intentionally accessed by the learner.

Focus on Form(s): any type of instruction that draws attention to grammatical form/structures
within meaningful discourse; also a component of PI (see below), in which the instructor crafts
materials and approaches that compel the language student to notice and process or produce the
form of a word or words in order to extract meaning from the target language.

Implicit Knowledge: an automatic understanding of the target language, with which the language
learner understands what is read or said in the target language or accurately produces it in speaking
or writing intuitively, in much the same way that a first language is understood and used.

Input: anything heard or read in the target language. Sources include the instructor, media, native
speakers, fellow students, indeed any source through which the language learner is exposed to the
target language.

Comprehensible Input (CI): input in the target language that can be understood by the
student, whether through context, acccompanying gestures or previous knowledge.

Structured Input (SI): input in the target language that is specifically designed to focus
the learner’s attention on a particular linguistic feature.

Instructed SLA: a subdiscipline of SLA (see below) research that tests SLA hypotheses in in-
structional settings to determine their pedagogical implications and efficacy.

L1: a learner’s first (native) language

L2: a learner’s second or subsequent language, generally one being learned in a classroom, al-
though the abbreviation is also used to refer to the acquisition of language by cultural immersion.
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Metalinguistic Knowledge: the ability to describe the component parts and syntax of a language.

Output: the production of the target language, in speaking or writing.

Processing Instruction (PI): a method by which students are given EI (see above) for a particular
feature of the target language, followed by form-focused input and output (see Focus on Form(s)
above) that compels the learner to both comprehend and produce that feature.

SLA: Second Language Acquisition. This abbreviation is in common use among researchers in
Applied Linguistics whose study focuses on the acquisition of non-native languages.

Target Language: the language under study.

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Appendix 2: Processing Instruction in the Latin Classroom

Example 1

Background: Students have a great deal of familiarity with the present tense of regular verbs of
all types. They are also familiar with all of the vocabulary used in the exercise, including the third
principal part of each of the verbs included in the activity. This lesson is affective in nature; that is,
it asks students to identify forms, but also to assign actions to themselves and others, making the
activity socially engaging.

Goal: to introduce and familiarize students with the perfect tense, since it is second only to the
present tense in textual frequency, as demonstrated by Mahoney (102).

Objectives: Students will be able to identify present and perfect forms of common verbs. Students
will be able to produce perfect forms of familiar verbs.

Explicit Instruction

The instructor will discuss the nature of the perfect tense—completed action—and will demon-
strate how the forms of the tense are generated, i.e. 3rd principal part and perfect endings, pointing
out the similarities and differences in stems and endings.

Focus on Forms

The students will then break into pairs to do the following activity.

After students have completed the exercise, the teacher will ask each of them to explain to the class
at least one of the actions they chose for themselves in Part 2.
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Focus on Forms—Perfect Tense

1. From the following lists of verb forms, choose two actions you think each of the persons listed
in the chart might have done yesterday after school and two they might be doing now.

dicunt audis clamavimus legisti dormivistis

spiraverunt ederunt studuit sedet spectavisti
scribo bibi monet ambulavi cucurrimus
dormit specto audivistis dormiunt student
studuimus sederunt legi spectas clamavistis
edo dormimus dixit monuerunt audivi
sedemus spirant scripsit bibunt spiratis
ambulas scribis dormivit studetis scribunt
curritis studeo edis dicitis ambulavisti
legunt curritis dicis spiramus studuerunt
dormivisti spiravistis studemus bibo dormivimus

Heri
You Your Partner The Teacher You and your Your Partner Your
Partner & a friend Parents

Nunc
You Your Partner The Teacher You and your Your Partner Your
Partner & a friend Parents

2. Now choose one action for yesterday and one for today for each of the persons in the chart that
is not listed in the correct form above and create the correct form in the chart below.

Heri
You Your Partner The Teacher You and your Your Partner Your
Partner & a friend Parents

Nunc
You Your Partner The Teacher You and your Your Partner Your
Partner & a friend Parents
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Example 2

Background: Students are familiar with the nominative and accusative cases of first and second
declension nouns and the present tense of the verbs habere and dare. They have already been in-
troduced to the Roman familia in the exercise that follows the instruction, and they have already
done similar exercises with the nominative and accusative cases.

Goal: Students will become familiar with the forms of the dative case and one of its major func-
tions as indirect object.

Objectives: Students will be able to identify the dative case, despite varying word order. Students
will be able to produce dative forms for nouns of the first and second declension.

Explicit Instruction

The instructor will discuss the nature of the dative case and its use as the indirect object, as well as
demonstrating how the dative is formed, including some communicative activity with the students
to insure that they understand how indirect objects function grammatically.

Focus on Form

1. Students are given a copy of the family tree for their class’s Familia Romana. The exercise fo-
cuses on listening to a series of sentences about the members of the family, in order to distinguish
between the nominative and dative cases.

The instructor reads each sentence slowly and clearly at least twice. In response to each sentence,
students are instructed to draw an arrow from the name of the person that is in the nominative to
the name of the person that is in the dative. The sentences delineate the movement of an object
from one family member to another, in this case, grandfather’s false eye. Since the goal for Pro-
cessing Instruction is to comprehend the meaning based on form, not on vocabulary, the sentences
are not read in the correct order of the actions, and the word order varies from one sentence to
another, so students must listen carefully to each one in order to get a complete picture of what
has happened. Instructors may choose to introduce the exercise in Latin (narrative provided) or
English, as desired, and according to the listening skill of the students.

At the end of the exercise, students will be asked a single question—who has the object? They
will know because there will only be one family member who has an arrow coming to him/her/it
without one going away.

This is an oral/aural exercise. Student response consists only of drawing arrows and answering the
final question. The family tree and a model for the exercise are found on the following page.

2. Instructors may choose to extend this activity by asking students to create their own version of
this exercise, with a different object. Students can work in pairs/groups, which will then challenge
one another with their created exercises to listen for the correct answer.
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Nostra Familia Romana

Avus Avia
Gaius Pomponius Aemilia

Pater Mater
Marcus Iunius Pomponia

Filius Filius Filia Filia

Marcus Secundus Iunia Maior Iunia Minor
(Iunilla)

Alii in familia:

Feles Canis Servus Ancilla

Cleopatra Fidus Brocchus Horaea

Quis Habet Oculum Avi?

Pomponius, avus familiae, unum oculum verum habet. Alter est ligneus. Uno die oculum ligneum
non invenire potest; est sine oculo falso. Ubi est oculus avi?
1. Secundus Iunillae oculum dat.

2. Secundo Brocchus oculum dat.

3. Cleopatra Iuniae dat oculum.

4. Horaeae dat oculum Iunia.

5. Aemiliae oculum dat Marcus.

6. Oculum Horaea Marco dat.

7. Iunilla oculum dat Cleopatrae.

8. Fidus Broccho dat oculum.

Quis oculum avi habet?