CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1636777
Beyond Comprehensible Input: A Neuro-Ecological Critique of Krashen's Hypothesis in Language Education
Provisionally accepted
- 1HQT Education Ltd., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- 2Saigon International University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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This article critically reassesses the comprehensible input (CI) hypothesis in language education by drawing on recent advances in neurolinguistics and an ecological perspective on learning. While the CI hypothesis claims that language is acquired by understanding input slightly beyond a learner's current competence (i+1), converging evidence from brain research shows that language development is an active and embodied process supported by interaction, feedback, and multimodal engagement. From the ecological point of view, affordances are the perceivable opportunities for action that arise in the ongoing coupling of learner and environment. Using this combined neuro-ecological lens, the paper critically reviews empirical studies from 2015 to 2024 and demonstrates that meaningful language growth depends on learners detecting and acting on such affordances rather than merely processing linear and simplified input. Adaptive and AI-supported learning systems further illustrate how contemporary technologies can operate these mechanisms and offer individualized, scalable alternatives to the static i+1 model. The analysis argues that CI should no longer serve as a central doctrine in language education and calls for pedagogies that reflect the interactive, affordance-rich processes revealed by current brain and language science.
Keywords: Comprehensible input, neuro-ecological approach, Affordance theory, Adaptive Learning, AI in Education, language learning
Received: 28 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nguyen and Doan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Quang Nhat Nguyen, nhatquang.ed@gmail.com
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