I don’t know how many of you have heard of Stephen Krashen but the issue that has risen deserves some thought .Acquiring a language would seem to be involuntary act and it is the one that gives us the the long desired fluency which we all aim towards .
I’m no linguist. But in my mind there is teaching, studying and learning. When it comes to language, acquiring and learning mean exactly the same thing to me. It’s very possible that linguistics or some other field of knowledge defines the two words differently, perhaps saying something like acquisition comes from passive activities only. But in my mind they are the same.
Regarding comprehensible input, most agree with Krashen that lots of it is required to reach a high level in a language. However, at one time many believed Krashen was arguing that comprehensible input was the only way to advance in a language. In other words, if you were doing anything but listening and reading, you were wasting your time. Very few agreed with that. I think Krashen has denied this interpretation of his theory.
Well, in a way he is right considering the fact that trying to learn a language in a language class is most of the times a waste of time and money . For example I've heard that in my home town ( Bucharest) there is a center which specialises in teaching rare languages like Japanese and others , and the price for one lesson is 110 Lei ( which is like 32 USD) considering the fact that the average wedge in Romania is 468 USD. What I mean is when you invest a lot of money in language learning you will want to immediate results not to mention that the process will nor be pleasant if you don't progress as fast as possible .
The input must be comprehensible in order to have a chance in being ready one day to start the output part . Of course that the input must not be superfluous because language learning is something which you also 'teach yourself' trying to express your ideas either be speaking or by writing and if you kid yourself by exaggerating in listening and reading you won't do the 'necessary' mistakes that will help your effort from not being in vane .