Hostname: page-component-669899f699-cf6xr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-28T09:58:52.983Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2011

PATRICK REBUSCHAT  and
JOHN N. WILLIAMS
PATRICK REBUSCHAT*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge and Georgetown University
JOHN N. WILLIAMS
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Patrick Rebuschat, Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20057. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 829 - 856
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Alanen, R. (1995). Input enhancement and rule presentation in second language acquisition. In Schmidt, R. (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 259–302). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Berry, D. C., & Dienes, Z. (1993). Implicit learning: Theoretical and empirical issues. Hove: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Chan, C. (1992). Implicit cognitive processes: Theoretical issues and applications in computer systems design. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Cleary, A. M., & Langley, M. M. (2007). Retention of the structure underlying sentences. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 614–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleeremans, A., Destrebecqz, A., & Boyer, M. (1998). Implicit learning: News from the front. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2, 406–416.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Graaff, R. (1997). The eXperanto experiment: Effects of explicit instruction on second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 249–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dienes, Z. (2004). Assumptions of subjective measures of unconscious mental states: Higher order thoughts and bias. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11, 25–45.Google Scholar
Dienes, Z. (2008). Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge. Progress in Brain Research, 168, 49–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dienes, Z., Altmann, G., Kwan, L., & Goode, A. (1995). Unconscious knowledge of artificial grammars is applied strategically. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 1322–1338.Google Scholar
Dienes, Z., & Scott, R. (2005). Measuring unconscious knowledge: Distinguishing structural knowledge and judgment knowledge. Psychological Research, 69, 338–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, N. C. (Ed.). (1994). Implicit and explicit learning of languages. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2007). The weak-interface, consciousness, and form-focussed instruction: Mind the Doors. In Fotos, S. & Nassaji, H. (Eds.), Form-focused instruction and teacher education: Studies in honour of Rod Ellis (pp. 17–33), Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2008). Explicit knowledge and second language learning and pedagogy. In Cenoz, J. & Hornberger, N. H. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education: Vol. 6. Knowledge about language (pp. 143–153). New York: Springer Academic.Google Scholar
Ellis, R., Loewen, S., Elder, C., Erlam, R., Philp, J., & Reinders, H. (2009). Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Erdelyi, M. (2004). Subliminal perception and its cognates: Theory, indeterminacy, and time. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 73–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fotos, S. (1993). Consciousness-raising and noticing through focus on form: Grammar task performance versus formal instruction. Applied Linguistics, 14, 385–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, A. P., Schmidt, G. L., Carr, T. H., & Clegg, B. A. (2009). Incidental learning of abstract rules for non-dominant word orders. Psychological Research, 73, 60–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G. (1992). New look 3: Unconscious cognition reclaimed. American Psychologist, 47, 766–779.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamrick, P., & Rebuschat, P. (in press). How implicit is statistical learning? In Rebuschat, P. & Williams, J. N. (Eds.), Statistical learning and language acquisition. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Han, Y., & Ellis, R. (1998). Implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge and general language proficiency. Language Teaching Research, 21, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H., & Ellis, R. (Eds.). (2005). Implicit and explicit second-language learning [Special issue]. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27 (2).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, T., & Shanks, D. R. (2001). Abstractionist and processing accounts of implicit learning. Cognitive Psychology, 42, 61–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237, 1445–1452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Kunimoto, C., Miller, J., & Pashler, H. (2001). Confidence and accuracy of near-threshold discrimination responses. Consciousness and Cognition, 10, 294–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leow, R. P. (2000). A study of the role of awareness in foreign language behaviour: Aware versus unaware learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 557–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P., & Bowles, M. (2005). Attention and awareness in SLA. In Sanz, C. (Ed.), Mind and context in adult second language acquisition (pp. 179–203). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Leung, J. (2007) Implicit learning of form-meaning connections. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Merikle, P. M., & Daneman, M. (2000). Conscious vs. unconscious perception. In Gazzaniga, M. S. (Ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences (2nd ed., pp. 1295–1303). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50, 417–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perruchet, P. (2008). Implicit learning. In Byrne, J. (Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference: Vol. 2. Cognitive psychology of memory (pp. 597–621). Oxford: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1967). Implicit learning of artificial grammars. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1969). Transfer of syntactic structure in synthetic languages. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81, 115–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P. (2008). Implicit learning of natural language syntax. Unpublished dissertation, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P. (in press-a). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge in second language research: A review. Language Learning.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P. (Ed.). (in press-b). Implicit and explicit learning of languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rebuschat, P., & Williams, J. N. (2006). Dissociating implicit and explicit learning of natural language syntax. In Sun, R. & Miyake, N. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (p. 2594). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P., & Williams, J. N. (in press). Implicit learning in second language acquisition. In Chapelle, C. A. (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (Vol. 20). Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (1995). Aptitude, awareness and the fundamental similarity of implicit and explicit second language learning. In Schmidt, R. (Ed.): Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 303–358). Manoa, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2005). Cognitive abilities, chunk-strength, and frequency effects in implicit artificial grammar and incidental L2 learning: Replications of Reber, Walkenfeld, & Hernstadt (1991) and Knowlton & Squire (1996) and their relevance for SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 235–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. M. (2005). Consciousness and mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, R., & Dienes, Z. (2008). The conscious, the unconscious, and familiarity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 1264–1288.Google ScholarPubMed
Shanks, D. R. (1995). The psychology of associative learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanks, D. R. (2005). Implicit learning. In Lambert, K. & Goldstone, R. (Eds.), Handbook of cognition (pp. 202–220). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Shanks, D. R., & St.John, M. F. (1994). Characteristics of dissociable human learning system. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 17, 367–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spada, N., & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60, 263–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tagarelli, K. M., Borges Mota, M., & Rebuschat, P. (2011). The role of working memory in the implicit and explicit language learning. In Carlson, L., Hölscher, C., & Shipley, T. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2061–2066). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N., & MacWhinney, B. (2005). Implicit and explicit measures of sensitivity to violations in second language grammar: An event-related potential investigation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 173–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2009). Implicit learning in second language acquisition. In Ritchie, W. C. & Bhatia, T. K. (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 319–353). Bingley: Emerald Press.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N., & Kuribara, C. (2008). Comparing a nativist and emergentist approach to the initial stage of SLA: An investigation of Japanese scrambling. Lingua, 118, 522–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar