Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T15:13:52.111Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT INSTRUCTION ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2015

Aline Godfroid
Aline Godfroid*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study extends the evidence for implicit second language (L2) learning, which comes largely from (semi-)artificial language research, to German. Upper-intermediate L2 German learners were flooded with spoken exemplars of a difficult morphological structure, namely strong, vowel-changing verbs. Toward the end of exposure, the mandatory vowel change was omitted, yielding ungrammatical verb forms (compare Leung & Williams, 2012). Two pre- and posttests—word monitoring and controlled oral production—gauged the development of learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge, respectively.

Interviews revealed 33 out of 38 L2 learners remained unaware of the ungrammatical verbs in the input flood; however, they showed significant sensitivity during listening as evidenced by a reaction time slowdown on ungrammatical trials. The unaware learners also improved significantly from pretest to posttest on the word-monitoring task, but not the oral production measure, unless the verbs’ salience in the input flood had resonated with them. Thus, implicit instruction affected implicit knowledge primarily, although prior knowledge and memory could potentially account for interactions between implicit processing, implicit knowledge, and explicit knowledge.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 38 , Special Issue 2: Cognitive Perspectives on Difficulty and Complexity in SLA , June 2016 , pp. 177 - 215
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Andringa, S., & Ćurčić, M. (2015). How explicit knowledge affects online L2 processing: Evidence from differential object marking acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37, 237–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andringa, S., De Glopper, K., & Haquebord, H. (2011). Effects of explicit and implicit instruction on free written response task performance. Language Learning, 61, 868–903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, D., & Dienes, Z. (1993). Implicit learning: Theoretical and empirical issues. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1994). Analysis and control in the development of second language proficiency. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 157–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bickel, B., & Nichols, J. (2007). Inflectional morphology. In Shopen, T. (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Volume III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, 2nd ed. (pp. 169–240). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, M. (2010). The think-aloud controversy in second language research. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J. (1995). Regular morphology and the lexicon. Language and Cognitive Processes, 10, 425–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J., & Newman, J. (1995). Are stem changes as natural as affixes? Linguistics, 33, 633–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chun, M., Golomb, J., & Turk-Browne, N. (2011). A taxonomy of external and internal attention. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 73–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, L., Trofimovich, P., White, J., Cardoso, W. & Horst, M. (2009). Some input on the easy/difficult grammar question: An empirical study. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 336–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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
De Jong, N. (2005). Can second language grammar be learned through listening? An experimental study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 205–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (1995). Learning second language grammar rules: An experiment with a miniature linguistic system. Studies in Second Language Studies, 17, 379–410.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In Doughty, C. & Long, M. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313–348). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2005). What makes learning second-language grammar difficult? A review of issues. Language Learning, 55, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2009). Cognitive-psychological processes in second language learninga. In Long, M. & Doughty, C. (Eds.), Handbook of second language teaching (pp. 119–138). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPatten, B. & Williams, J. (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94–112). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R., & Juffs, A. (2005). Cognitive considerations in L2 learning. In Hinkel, E. (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 437–454). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Dienes, Z., & Berry, D. (1997). Implicit learning: Below the subjective threshold. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dienes, Z., & Perner, J. (1999). A theory of implicit and explicit knowledge. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 735–808.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Digital dictionary of the German language] [Language corpus]. (2003). Retrieved June 4, 2013 from www.dwds.de.Google Scholar
Doughty, C. (2003). Instructed SLA: constraints, compensation and enhancement. In Doughty, C. & Long, M. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 256–310). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (1996). Sequencing in SLA: Phonological memory, chunking, and points of order. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 91–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 143–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 164–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 141–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2009). Implicit and explicit learning, knowledge and instruction. In Ellis, R., Loewen, S., Elder, C., Erlam, R., Philp, J., & Reinders, H. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching (pp. 3–25). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericsson, K., & Simon, H. (1980). Verbal reports as data. Psychological Review, 87, 215–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erlam, R. (2006). Elicited imitation as a measure of L2 implicit knowledge: An empirical validation study. Applied Linguistics, 27, 464–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ettlinger, M., Morgan-Short, K., Faretta-Stutenberg, M., & Wong, P. C. M. (2015). The relationship between artificial and second language learning. Cognitive Science. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12257.Google ScholarPubMed
Faretta-Stutenberg, M., & Morgan-Short, K. (2011). Learning without awareness reconsidered: A replication of Williams (2005). In Granena, G., Koeth, J., Lee-Ellis, S., Lukyanchenko, A., Prieto Botana, G., & Rhoades, E. (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2010 Second Language Research Forum: Reconsidering SLA research, dimensions, and directions (pp. 18–28). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Friederici, A. D., Steinhauer, K., & Pfeifer, E. (2002). Brain signatures of artificial language processing: Evidence challenging the critical period hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 99, 529–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gass, S. (1997). Input, interaction and the second language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., & Spino, L. (2015). Reconceptualizing reactivity of think-alouds and eye tracking: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Language Learning. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/lang.12136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfroid, A., & Spino, L. (in press). Under the radar: Triangulating think-alouds and finger tracking to detect the unnoticed. In Mackey, A. & Marsden, E. (Eds.), Advancing methodology and practice: The IRIS repository of instruments for research into second languages. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Godfroid, A., & Uggen, M. S. (2013). Attention to irrregular verbs by beginning learners of German: An eye-movement study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 291–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfroid, A., Boers, F., & Housen, A. (2013). An eye for words: Gauging the role of attention in incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition by means of eye tracking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 483–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfroid, A., Loewen, S., Jung, S., Park, J., Gass, S., & Ellis, R. (2015). Timed and untimed grammaticality judgments measure distinct types of knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37, 269–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldschneider, J., & DeKeyser, R. (2001). Explaining the “natural order of L2 morpheme acquisition” in English: A meta-analysis of multiple determinants. Language Learning, 51, 1–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goo, J., Granena, G., Yilmaz, Y., & Novella, M. (2015). Implicit and explicit instruction in L2 learning: Norris & Ortega (2000) revisited and updated. In Rebuschat, P. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 443–482). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granena, G. (2013). Individual differences in sequence learning ability and second language acquisition in early childhood and adulthood. Language Learning, 63, 1–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grey, S., Williams, J. N., & Rebuschat, P. (2014). Incidental exposure and L3 learning of morphosyntax. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36, 611–645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hama, M., & Leow, R. P. (2010). Learning without awareness revisited: Extending Williams (2005). Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 465–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H. (2005). Theoretical and empirical issues in the study of implicit and explicit second-language learning: Introduction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 129–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H., & De Graaff, R. (1994). Under what conditions does explicit knowledge of a second language facilitate the acquisition of implicit knowledge? A research proposal. AILA Review, 11, 97–113.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H., & DeKeyser, R. (Eds.) (1997). Testing SLA theory in the research laboratory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19.Google Scholar
Hummel, K. M., & French, L. M. (2010). Phonological memory and implications for the second language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 66, 371–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Itti, L., & Koch, C. (2000). A saliency-based search mechanism for overt and covert shifts of visual attention. Vision Research, 40, 1489–1506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, N. (2007). Selective integration of linguistic knowledge in adult second language learning. Language Learning, 57, 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knudsen, E. (2007). Fundamental components of attention. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 30, 57–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Krause, H., Bosch, S., & Clahsen, H. (2015). Morphosyntax in the bilingual mental lexicon: An experimental study of strong stems in German. Studies in Second Language Acquisition Advance online publication. doi:10.1017/S0272263114000564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2006). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition: A case study. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2010). Not so fast: A discussion of L2 morpheme processing and acquisition. Language Learning, 60, 221–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P. (1997). Attention, awareness, and foreign language behavior. Language Learning, 47, 467–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P. (2000). A study of the role of awareness in foreign language behavior: Aware versus unaware learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 557–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P. (2015). Explicit learning in the L2 classroom: A student-centered approach. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P., & Hama, M. (2013). Implicit learning in SLA and the issue of internal validity. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 545–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P., Johnson, E., & Zárate-Sández, G. (2010). Getting a grip on the slippery construct of awareness: Toward a finer-grained methodological perspective. In Sanz, C. & Leow, R. P. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit conditions, processes and knowledge in SLA and bilingualism (pp. 61–72). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Leung, J. H. C., & Williams, J. N. (2011). The implicit learning of mappings between forms and contextually derived meanings. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, J. H. C., & Williams, J. N. (2012). Constraints on implicit learning of grammatical form-meaning connections. Language Learning, 62, 634–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, J. H. C., & Williams, J. N. (2014). Crosslinguistic differences in implicit language learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36, 733–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, J. H., & Christianson, K. (2015). Second language sensitivity to agreement errors: Evidence from eye movements during comprehension and translation. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 1283–1315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loschky, L., & Bley-Vroman, R. (1993). Grammar and task-based learning. In Crookes, G. & Gass, S. (Eds.), Tasks and language learning: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 123–167). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W., & Tyler, L. (1980). The temporal structure of spoken language understanding. Cognition, 8, 1–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan-Short, K., Sanz, C., Steinhauer, K., & Ullman, M. T. (2012). Explicit and implicit second language training differentially affect the achievement of native-like brain activation patterns. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24, 933–947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan-Short, K., Faretta-Stutenberg, M., Brill-Schuetz, K. A., Carpenter, H., & Wong, P. C. M. (2014). Declarative and procedural memory as individual differences in second language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17, 56–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, V. A. (2004). Dissociable systems in second language inflectional morphology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 433–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norman, E., Price, M. C., Duff, S. C., & Mentzoni, R. A. (2007). Gradations of awareness in a modified sequence learning task. Consciousness and Cognition, 16, 809–837.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51, 157–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nübling, D., Dammel, A., Duke, J., & Szczepaniak, R. (2006). Historische Sprachwissenschaft des Deutschen: Eine Einführung in die Prinzipien des Sprachwandels [Historical grammar of German: An introduction to the principles of language change]. Tübingen, Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Opitz, B., & Friederici, A. D. (2003). Interactions of the hippocampal system and the prefrontal cortex in learning language-like rules. NeuroImage, 19, 1730–1737.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Opitz, B., & Friederici, A. D. (2004). Brain correlates of language learning: The neuronal dissociation of rule-based versus similarity-based learning. The Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 8436–8440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and procedural determinants of second languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000). Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16, 103–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reber, A. S., Allen, R., & Reber, P. J. (1999). Implicit versus explicit learning. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), The nature of cognition (pp. 475–513) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P. (2013). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge in second language research. Language Learning, 63, 595–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rebuschat, P., & Williams, J. N. (2012). Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 33, 829–956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rebuschat, P., Hamrick, P., Sachs, R., Riestenberg, K., & Ziegler, N. (2015). Triangulating measures of awareness: A contribution to the debate on learning without awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37, 299–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, P. (1995). Attention, memory and the “noticing” hypothesis. Language Learning, 45, 283–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, P. (1997). Generalizability and automaticity of second language learning under implicit, incidental, enhanced, and instructed conditions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 223–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, P. (2010). Implicit artificial grammar, and incidental natural second language learning: How comparable are they? In Gullberg, M. & Indefrey, P. (Eds.), The earliest stages of language learning (pp. 245–263). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sanz, C., & Morgan-Short, K. (2004). Positive evidence versus explicit rule presentation and explicit negative feedback: A computer-assisted study. Language Learning, 54, 35–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1994a). Deconstructing consciousness in search of useful definitions for applied linguistics. AILA Review, 11, 11–26.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1994b). Implicit learning and the cognitive unconscious: Of artificial grammars and SLA. In Ellis, N. C. (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 165–209). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Shanks, D. R., & St. John, M. F. (1994). Characteristics of dissociable human learning systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 17, 367–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (1981). Consciousness raising and the second language learner. Applied Linguistics, 2, 159–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (1991). Speaking to many minds: On the relevance of different types of language information for the L2 learner. Second Language Research, 7, 118–132.Google Scholar
Stadler, M. A., & Frensch, P. A. (1994). Whither learning, whither memory? Behavioral and brain sciences, 17, 423–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, W., & DeKeyser, R. (2015). Comparing elicited imitation and word monitoring as measures of implicit knowledge. Language Learning. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/lang.12138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tagarelli, K. M., Borges Mota, M. & Rebuschat, P. (2015). Working memory, learning conditions, and the acquisition of L2 syntax. In Zhisheng, W., Borges Mota, M., & McNeill, A. (Eds.) Working memory in second language acquisition and processing: theory, research and commentary (pp. 224–247). Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomlin, R., & Villa, V. (1994). Attention in cognitive science and second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truscott, J., & Sharwood Smith, M. (2011). Input, intake, and consciousness: The quest for a theoretical foundation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 497–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ullman, M. T. (2001). The declarative/procedural model of lexicon and grammar. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 30, 37–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VanPatten, B. (1994). Evaluating the role of consciousness in second language acquisition: Terms, linguistic features and research methodology. AILA Review, 11, 27–36.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction: Theory and research. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N. (1999). Memory, attention, and inductive learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 1–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2004). Implicit learning of form-meaning connections. In Williams, J., VanPatten, B., Rott, S., & Overstreet, M. (Eds.), Form-meaning connections in second language acquisition (pp. 203–218). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Williams, J. N. (2005). Learning without awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 269–304.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, UK: 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, 533–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, L. R., & Givón, T. (1997). Benefits and drawbacks of controlled laboratory studies of second language acquisition: The Keck second language learning project. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 173–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar