Element contents
Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2022
Summary
This Element explores the roles of explicit and implicit learning in second language acquisition. The authors lay out some key issues that they take to underlie the debate on the extent to which second language acquisition involves explicit learning, implicit learning, or both. They also discuss what they take to be an oversight in the field: namely, the lack of clear definitions of key constructs. Taking a generative perspective on the nature of language, while addressing alternative approaches at key points, they refocus the discussion of explicit and implicit learning by first asking what must be learned (i.e., what is this mental representation we call “language” that all functioning humans possess?) The discussion and research reviewed leads to the conclusion that second language acquisition is largely if not exclusively implicit in nature and that explicit learning plays a secondary role in how learners grapple with meaning.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009043571Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 23 June 2022
References
Alemán Bañón, J., Miller, D., & Rothman, J. (2020). Examining the contribution of markedness to the L2 processing of Spanish person agreement: An event-related potentials study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 43 (4), 699–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aljaafreh, A. & Lantolf, J. P. (1994). Negative feedback and regulation in second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language Journal, 78 (4), 465–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andringa, S. & Curcic, M. (2015). How explicit knowledge affects online L2 processing: Evidence from differential object marking acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37 (2), 237–268.Google Scholar
Bergsleithner, J. M., Frota, S. N., & Yoshioka, J. K., eds. (2013). Noticing and Second Language Acquisition: Studies in Honor of Richard Schmidt. Honolulu, HI: The National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Boeckx, C., ed. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Carnie, A. (2011). Modern Syntax: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1980). On cognitive structures and their development: A reply to Piaget. In Piattelli-Palmarini, M., ed., Language and Learning: The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 35–54.Google Scholar
Dabrowska, E. (2015). What exactly is Universal Grammar and has anyone seen it? Frontiers in Psychology, 23 (June). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00852CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (1995). Learning second language grammar rules: An experiment with a miniature linguistic system. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17 (3), 397–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In Doughty, C. J. and Long, M. H., eds., The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 313–348.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (2020). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., and Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, pp. 83–104.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. & Sokalski, K. J. (1996). The differential role of comprehension and production practice. Language Learning, 46 (4), 613–642.Google Scholar
Doughty, C. (2003). Instructed SLA: Constraints, compensation, and enhancement. In Doughty, C. and Long, M. H., eds., The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 256–310.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (1994a). Implicit and explicit language learning: An overview. In Ellis, N., ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. London: Academic Press, pp. 1–31.Google Scholar
Ellis, N., ed. (1994b). Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2005). At the interface: Dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27 (2), 305–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. (2013). Frequency-based accounts of second language acquisition. In Gass, S. M. and Mackey, A., eds., The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, pp. 193–210.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2015). Implicit AND explicit language learning: Their dynamic interface and complexity. In Rebuschat, P., ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 3–23.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. & Wulff, S. (2020). Usage-based approaches to L2 acquisition. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., and Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, pp. 63–82.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27 (2), 141–172.Google Scholar
Gass, S. (1997). Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Gass, S. (2003). Input and interaction. In Doughty, C. and Long, M., eds., The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 224–255.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2003). Constructions: A new theoretical approach to language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7 (5), 219–224.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2016). Subtle implicit language facts emerge from the functions of constructions. Frontiers in Psychology, 28 (January). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02019Google Scholar
Goo, J., Granena, G., Yilmaz, Y., & Novella, M. (2015). Implicit and explicit instruction in L2 learning: Norris and Ortega (2000) revisited and updated. In Rebuschat, P., ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 443–482.Google Scholar
Granena, G. (2020). Implicit Language Aptitude. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herschensohn, J. (2010). The Second Time Around. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hornstein, N., Nunes, J., & Grohmann, K. K. (2005). Understanding Minimalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. (2005). Theoretical and empirical issues in the study of implicit and explicit second-language learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27 (2), 129–140.Google Scholar
Kerz, E. & Weichmann, D. (2016). Second language construction learning: Investigating domain-specific adaptation in advanced L2 production. Language and Cognition, 8 (4), 533–565.Google Scholar
Kessler, J.-U., Liebner, M., & Mansouri, F. (2001). Teaching. In Pienemann, M. and Kessler, J.-U., eds., Studying Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 149–167.Google Scholar
Kim, J. & Lantolf, J. P. (2018). Developing understanding of sarcasm in L2 English through explicit instruction. Language Teaching Research, 22(2), 208–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Leow, R. (2015). Explicit Learning in the L2 Classroom: A Student-Centered Approach. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leung, J. & Williams, J. (2012). Constraints on implicit learning of grammatical form-meaning connections. Language Learning, 62(2), 634–662.Google Scholar
Li, M. & DeKeyser, R. M. (2017). Perception practice, production practice, and musical ability in L2 Mandarin tone-word learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39 (4), 593–620.Google Scholar
Long, M. (1996). The role of linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In Ritchie, W. and Bhatia, T., eds., Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 413–468.Google Scholar
McCarthy, C. (2006). Default morphology in second language Spanish: Missing inflection or underspecified inflection? In Nishida, C. and Montreuil, J.-P., eds., New Perspectives on Romance Linguistics, Volume 1: Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 201–212.Google Scholar
Perfors, A., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Regier, T. (2011). The learnability of abstract syntactic principles. Cognition, 118 (3), 306–338.Google Scholar
Pienemann, M. (1998). Language Processing and Second Language Development: Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Pritchett, B. L. (1992). Grammatical Competence and Parsing Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pullum, G. K. & Scholz, B. C. (2002). Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty arguments. Linguistic Review, 19 (1), 9–50.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1967). Implicit learning of artificial grammars. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6 (6), 317–327.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1976). Implicit learning of synthetic languages: The role of instructional set. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2 (1), 88–94.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1993). Implicit Learning and Tacit Knowledge: An Essay on the Cognitive Unconscious. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rebuschat, P., ed. (2015). Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Roby, D. B. (2007). Aspect and the categorization of states: The case of ser and estar in Spanish. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Roehr-Brackin, K. (2015). Explicit knowledge about language in L2 learning. In Rebuschat, P., ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 117–138.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2008). Aspect selection in adult L2 Spanish and the Competing Systems Hypothesis. Languages in Contrast, 8 (1), 74–106.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11 (2), 129–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. (1993). Awareness and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 206–226.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In Robinson, P., ed., Cognition and Second Language Instruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–32.Google Scholar
Schmitt, C. (2005). Semi-copulas: Event and aspectual composition. In Kempchinsky, P. and Slabakova, R., eds., Aspectual Inquiries. Berlin: Springer, pp. 121–145.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. (1993). On explicit and negative data effecting and affecting competence and linguistic behavior. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15 (2), 147–163.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. & Sprouse, R. (2000). When syntactic theories evolve: Consequences for L2 acquisition research. In Archibald, J., ed., Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 156–186.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. & Sprouse, R. (2013). Generative approaches and the poverty of the stimulus. In Herschensohn, J. and Young-Scholten, M., eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 137–158.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. & Truscott, J. (2014). The Multilingual Mind: A Modular Processing Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Spada, N. & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60 (2), 263–308.Google Scholar
Swain, M. & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16 (3), 371–391.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2015). Usage-based theory in language acquisition. In Bavin, E. L. and Naigles, L. R, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 89–106.Google Scholar
Truscott, J. (1998). Noticing in second language acquisition: A critical review. Second Language Research, 14 (2), 103–135.Google Scholar
Truscott, J. & Sharwood Smith, M. (2004). Acquisition by processing: A modular approach to language development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7 (1), 1–20.Google Scholar
Truscott, J. & Sharwood Smith, M. (2011). Input, intake, and consciousness: The quest for a theoretical foundation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33 (4), 497–528.Google Scholar
Vainikka, A. & Young-Scholten, M. (1996). Gradual development of L2 phrase structure. Second Language Research, 12 (1), 7–39.Google Scholar
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. (2004). Input processing in SLA. In VanPatten, B., ed., Processing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 1–31.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2010). Some verbs are more perfect than others: Why learners have difficulty with ser and estar and what it means for instruction. Hispania, 93 (1), 29–38.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2015). Foundations of processing instruction. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 53 (2), 91–109.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2016). Why explicit information cannot become implicit knowledge. Foreign Language Annals, 49 (4), 650–657.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2017). Situating instructed second language acquisition within second language acquisition: Facts and consequences. Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 1 (1), 45–59.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2020). Input processing in adult SLA. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., and Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition, 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, pp. 105–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S., eds. (2020). Theories in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. & Rothman, J. (2014). Against “rules”. In Benati, A., Laval, C., and Arche, M. J., eds., The Grammar Dimension in Instructed Second Language Learning. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 15–35.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. & Oikennon, S. (1996). Explanation versus structured input in processing instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18 (4), 495–510.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. & Smith, M. (2015). Aptitude as grammatical sensitivity and the initial stages of learning Japanese as an L2: Parametric variation and case marking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37 (1), 135–165.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. & Smith, M. (2019). Word-order typology and the acquisition of case marking: A self-paced reading study in Latin as a second language. Second Language Research, 35 (3), 397–420.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B., Smith, M., & Benati, A. (2020). Key Questions in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
White, L. (2020). Linguistic theory, Universal Grammar, and second language acquisition. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., and Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, pp. 19–39.Google Scholar
Williams, J. (2009). Implicit learning in second language acquisition. In Ritchie, W. and Bhatia, T. K., eds., The New Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, pp. 319–355.Google Scholar
Williams, J. (2020). The neuroscience of implicit learning. Language Learning, 70 (2), 255–307.Google Scholar
Williams, J. & Kuribara, C. (2008). Comparing a nativist and an emergentist approach to the initial stage of SLA: An investigation of Japanese scrambling. Lingua, 118 (4), 522–553.Google Scholar
Wong, W. & Ito, K. (2017). The effects of processing instruction and traditional instruction on L2 online processing of the causative construction in French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40 (2), 241–268.Google Scholar
Wu, M.-J. & Ionin, T. (2021). Does explicit instruction affect L2 linguistic competence? An examination with L2 acquisition of English inverse scope. Second Language Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658321992830.Google Scholar
Yang, C. (2004). Universal Grammar, statistics, or both? Trends in Cognitive Science, 8 (10), 451–456.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 15
- Cited by