Home > Events > Steven Krashen Talk, "Compelling Comprehensible Input"

Steven Krashen Talk, "Compelling Comprehensible Input"

Steve Krashen
Time: 
Monday, October 27, 2014 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: 
Stamp Student Union, Prince George's Room

TLPL and the Multilingual Research Center present a talk by Stephen Krashen, “Compelling Comprehensible Input,” October 27, 2014, 2 - 4 pm, Stamp Student Union, Prince George's Room.

Abstract:  For optimal language acquisition and literacy development, input should not only be interesting, it should be compelling, so interesting that are not aware what language it is in, so interesting that that you are in a state of "flow": the concerns of everyday life and even your sense of self disappears - your sense of time is altered and nothing but message matters.  Compelling input appears to eliminate the need for motivation, a conscious desire to improve. When you get compelling comprehensible input, you acquire whether you are interested in improving or not.

Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California, has contributed to the fields of second language acquisition, bilingual education, and literacy. Krashen has published more than 250 papers and books, including Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning (1982), Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition (1982), Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use (2003), English Learners in American Classrooms (2007, with James Crawford), and Free Voluntary Reading (2011). He is credited with several major concepts including  the acquisition-learning hypothesis, the input hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the affective filter, and the natural order hypothesis.  He is also an advocate for combating misconceptions about bilingual education.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Natalia Guzman at nlguzman@umd.edu,  Steven Sharp at ssharp@umd.edu  or Qin Yao at qyao12@umd.edu

Sponsored by the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership and the the Multilingual Research Center, with co-sponsorship from the Center for Applied Linguistics; Maryland English Institute; and the Jeffrey and David Mullan Endowment for Teacher Education and Professional Development.