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Batstone (2002a) proposes an approach called 'the given-to-new principle' for understanding second language acquisition. In his discussion of the principle, he comments on processing instruction (PI), and offers several criticisms of PI and of one of the research studies into the effectiveness of PI. In the present paper, I review the nature of PI and the research that has been conducted on it since 1993. My conclusion is that Batstone's analysis and critique of PI is unfounded, and also that PI captures his given-to-new principle via the feedback learners get during instruction. Hence, I conclude that PI itself achieves what Batstone proposes with his principle, and that, rather than standing in contrast to the given-to-new principle, PI is a rather good supplement to this 'discourse'-oriented approach to instruction.
