A Cognitive Account of Knowledge, Learning and Instruction in Language Learning

The Knowledge-Learning-Instruction (KLI) framework is a cognitive framework describing the causal interplay between knowledge, learning, and instruction. It has an explicit cross-domain scope and has had considerable impact in the learning sciences. Despite this, to the best of our knowledge, it has not yet been applied in research on instructed second language (L2) learning. This is notable because, although L2 research is sometimes siloed within the learning sciences, it has undergone a cognitive turn emphasizing domain-general learning mechanisms.We propose that a KLI-informed cognitive view on instructed L2 learning helps to systematically integrate the field into the learning sciences, encompassing not only domain-general learning mechanisms but also domain-general perspectives on knowledge and instruction. Importantly, this integration may generate novel, testable hypotheses in L2 research, grounded in an interdisciplinary understanding of knowledge, learning, and instruction.We present a cognitive KLI-based perspective on instructed L2 learning and discuss challenges of this perspective, including the fundamentally integrative nature of language knowledge, the inherently expressive character of language (verbal, written, signed), and the limited relevance of understanding and sense-making processes in instructed L2 learning. Moreover, we provide an illustrative KLI-informed analysis of two empirical L2 studies. Based on these analyses, we discuss novel, testable hypotheses generated through the KLI lens that offer interdisciplinary approaches to known issues in L2 pedagogy, such as integrating multiple induction- and refinement-enhancing instructional principles to mitigate individual differences in L2 classrooms.