Thus far, the theories that have been covered in Part 2 have focused on the role of CI in conjunction with three broad factors in L2A: human cognition and input processing (Chapter 4), learner characteristics (Chapter 5) and sociocultural factors (Chapter 6). Progressively, the primary focus has shifted from cognition to the learner and then to the whole society. This chapter, on the other hand, tackles the comprehension and acquisition of L2 input from the perspectives of six unique L2A frameworks that are hard to place in one of these three categories. Thus, for pragmatic purposes and consistency in the field, they have been structured under the umbrella word ‘Alternative’ (Atkinson, 2011). These perspectives include Socio-Cognitive Theory (SCT), Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), Ecological Theory (ET), Complexity or Chaos Theory (CT), Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and Interlanguage (IL). The chapter concludes with a brief comparative synthesis of these theories.

Socio-cognitive Theory

Basic assumptions of cognitive views, namely the consideration of the mind as a computer mental that uses linguistic resources to perform a set of mechanical operations to extract meanings from the environment and store them as abstract symbolic representations, have recently been problematized in some L2A work (Atkinson, 2011; Gibbs, 2006). For example, Atkinson (2011: 143) argued that ‘cognition per se is fiction’ and that studying the role of cognition in L2A independently of other individual variables and the social ecology is troubling because language learners are ecological and adaptive organisms who ‘survive by continuously and dynamically adapting to their environment’. While this view does not ignore cognitive variables in SLA, it champions the study of a socially situated cognition because as claimed by Atkinson (2011: 143) ‘cognition is a node in an ecological network comprising mind-body-worldit is part of a relationship’. Thus, understanding the nature of different modes and forms of input and how L2 learners attend to, process and comprehend them must involve a triangular approach.