The effects of implicit instruction on implicit and explicit knowledge development. (original) (raw)

Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language acquisition

Applied Psycholinguistics, 33, 829–856.

Language development is frequently characterized as a process where learning proceeds implicitly, that is, incidentally and in absence of awareness of what was learned. This article reports the results of two experiments that investigated whether second language acquisition can also result in implicit knowledge. Adult learners were trained on an artificial language under incidental learning conditions and then tested by means of grammaticality judgments and subjective measures of awareness. The results indicate that incidental exposure to second language syntax can result in unconscious knowledge, which suggests that at least some of the learning in this experiment was implicit. At the same time, however, it was also found that conscious (but unverbalizable) knowledge was clearly linked to improved performance in the grammaticality judgment task.(Received September 17 2009)(Accepted March 14 2011)

The Interplay between Implicit Instruction and Second Language Acquisition

International Journal of Academic Pedagogical Research, 2023

The study explores the interaction between implicit instruction and second language acquisition (SLA), specifically examining the efficacy of explicit and implicit instructional approaches. Using a mixed-methods approach, it investigates how implicit instruction influences second language acquisition (SLA) outcomes. This study considers several variables, such as grammar usage, vocabulary building, and pronunciation teaching techniques, to establish how effective implicit instruction is in enhancing language acquisition and improving skill sets among those learning a second language. Participants involve learners with different levels of language skills, and data collection includes administering language tests, conducting interviews and observations, and assigning questionnaires. Quantitative data are analyzed using statistical methods, whereas qualitative data are collected using thematic analysis, highlighting underlying patterns and themes. The findings provide insights into the effects of exposure, implicit learning mechanisms, and naturalistic, real-world use of language acquisition. Furthermore, it provides insights into learners' perceptions and attitudes toward implicit instruction, which may impact instructional methods and curriculum development in language acquisition. They may enhance comprehension of how implicit instruction affects SLA and benefit language teachers and researchers regarding productive teaching methods and techniques.

Suzuki, Y. (2017). Validity of New Measures of Implicit Knowledge: Distinguishing implicit knowledge from automatized explicit knowledge. Applied Psycholinguistics, 38(5): 1229-1261.

Accumulating evidence suggests that time-pressured form-focused tasks like grammaticality judgment tests (GJTs) can measure second language (L2) implicit knowledge. The current paper, however, proposes that these tasks draw on automatized explicit knowledge. A battery of six grammar tests was designed to distinguish automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge. While three time-pressured form-focused tasks (an auditory GJT, a visual GJT, and a fill-in-the-blank test) were hypothesized to measure automatized explicit knowledge, three real-time comprehension tasks (a visual-world task, a word-monitoring task, and a self-paced reading task) were hypothesized to measure implicit knowledge. One hundred advanced L2 Japanese learners with L1 Chinese residing in Japan took all six tests. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-trait multi-method analysis provided an array of evidence supporting that these tests assessed two types of linguistic knowledge separately with little influence from the method effects. Results analyzed separately by length of residence in Japan (a proxy for the amount of naturalistic L2 exposure) showed that learners with longer residence in Japan can draw on implicit knowledge in the real-time comprehension tasks with more stability than those with shorter residence. These findings indicate the potential of finely tuned real-time comprehension tasks as measures of implicit knowledge.

Corrective Feedback and Second Language Acquisition: Differential Contributions of Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

2014

The issue of error correction remains controversial in recent years due to the different positions of interface toward implicit and explicit knowledge of ESL learners. This study looks at the impacts of implicit corrective feedback in the form of recast on implicit and explicit knowledge of adult ESL learners. In an experimental study, lower-intermediate learners first were taught the grammatical features; then they completed communicative tasks during which the experimental group received recast and the control group received no feedback when an error occurred. Acquisition was measured by means of tests designed to measure implicit and explicit knowledge. Results of ANCOVA analysis revealed higher score for the experimental group; and result of t-test revealed that recast has significant effect on implicit knowledge. In line with the weak interface position toward implicit and explicit knowledge, the findings extend empirical support for Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and function of recast in language learning.

Explicit and Implicit Second Language Knowledge on a Grammaticality Judgment Task

What kind of knowledge second language (L2) learners draw on when performing a grammaticality judgment task (GJT) has been a matter of continuing debate in second language acquisition (SLA) research. Previous research has shown that there is a relationship between the type of knowledge (i.e., implicit or explicit) and L2 proficiency levels. However, the type of L2 acquisition processes involved in GJTs (e.g., semantic processing, noticing, and metalinguistic reflection) has not been explored. This paper reports the results of a study with 160 Japanese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, and examines how the type of L2 knowledge, the type of L2 acquisition process, and the level of L2 proficiency interact in a GJT. Interactions were found between the type of knowledge, proficiency levels, and process types.

Implicit second language learning and individual differences

Noticing and second language acquisition: Studies in honor of Richard Schmidt, 2013

The purpose of this chapter is twofold. It reviews the literature on learning second languages in the absence of awareness, and it explores evidence concerning the potential roles of cognitive, experiential, and other differences in such learning. The first section presents a narrative review of 19 empirical reports on implicit second language learning, focusing on the linguistic features claimed to be learnable without awareness. In the second section, theoretical links between implicit learning and attention are outlined, and individual difference variables, including general intelligence, language experience, working memory, and personality, among others, are considered in terms of their possible roles in implicit learning. The conclusion draws the above strands together, based on Schmidt's recent commentary on noticing, awareness, and individual differences.

New directions in the study of implicit and explicit learning

2015

This special issue brings together leading researchers in psychology, linguistics and cognitive neuroscience in order to assess the progress made, and future directions to take, in the investigation of implicit and explicit language learning. It is intended as a ten-year follow-up to the special issue edited by Jan Hulstijn and Rod Ellis, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2). The special issue will be published in June 2015. Contributors: Sible Andringa and Maja Curcic; Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris, Alia Lancaster, D. Robert Ladd, Dan Dediu, and Morten H. Christiansen; John Williams and Albertyina Paciorek; Patrick Rebuschat, Phillip Hamrick, Rebecca Sachs, Kate Riestenberg, and Nicole Ziegler; Kara Morgan-Short, Patrick Wong, Francis Wong, Zhizhou Deng, and Mandy Faretta; Aline Godfroid, Shawn Loewen, Sehoon Jung, Ji-Hyun Park, Susan Gass and Rod Ellis; Sarah Grey and Kaitlyn Tagarelli.

Suzuki, Y. & DeKeyser, R. (2017). The interface of explicit and implicit knowledge in a second language: Insights from individual differences in cognitive aptitudes Language Learning, 67, 747-790.

Recent research has called for the use of fine-grained measures that distinguish implicit knowledge from automatized explicit knowledge. In the current study, such measures were used to determine how the two systems interact in a naturalistic second language (L2) acquisition context. One hundred advanced L2 speakers of Japanese living in Japan were assessed with automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge tests along with tests of phonological short-term memory and aptitude tests for explicit and implicit learning. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that aptitude for explicit learning significantly predicted acquisition of automatized explicit knowledge, and automatized explicit knowledge significantly predicted acquisition of implicit knowledge. The effects of implicit learning aptitude and phonological short-term memory on acquisition of automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge were limited. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that automatized explicit knowledge, which develops through explicit learning mechanisms, may impact the acquisition of implicit knowledge.