Implicit AND explicit language learning
-
Nick C. Ellis
Abstract
Learning symbols and their arrangement in language involves learning associations across and within modalities. Research on implicit learning and chunking within modalities (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2002) has identified how language users are sensitive to the frequency of language forms and their sequential probabilities at all levels of granularity from phoneme to phrase. This knowledge allows efficient language processing and underpins acquisition by syntactic bootstrapping. Research on explicit learning (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2005) has shown how conscious processing promotes the acquisition of novel explicit cross-modal form-meaning associations. These breathe meaning into the processing of language form and they underpin acquisition by semantic bootstrapping. This is particularly important in establishing novel processing routines in L2 acquisition. These representations are also then available as units of implicit learning in subsequent processing. Language systems emerge, both diachronically and ontogenetically, from the statistical abstraction of patterns latent within and across form and function in language usage. The complex adaptive system (N. C. Ellis & Larsen-Freeman, 2009b) of interactions within AND across form and function is far richer than that emergent from implicit or explicit learning alone.
Abstract
Learning symbols and their arrangement in language involves learning associations across and within modalities. Research on implicit learning and chunking within modalities (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2002) has identified how language users are sensitive to the frequency of language forms and their sequential probabilities at all levels of granularity from phoneme to phrase. This knowledge allows efficient language processing and underpins acquisition by syntactic bootstrapping. Research on explicit learning (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2005) has shown how conscious processing promotes the acquisition of novel explicit cross-modal form-meaning associations. These breathe meaning into the processing of language form and they underpin acquisition by semantic bootstrapping. This is particularly important in establishing novel processing routines in L2 acquisition. These representations are also then available as units of implicit learning in subsequent processing. Language systems emerge, both diachronically and ontogenetically, from the statistical abstraction of patterns latent within and across form and function in language usage. The complex adaptive system (N. C. Ellis & Larsen-Freeman, 2009b) of interactions within AND across form and function is far richer than that emergent from implicit or explicit learning alone.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- List of contributors ix
-
Introduction
- Introduction xiii
-
Theoretical perspectives
- Implicit AND explicit language learning 3
- Explaining phenomena of first and second language acquisition with the constructs of implicit and explicit learning 25
- Implicit learning in SLA 47
- Semantic implicit learning 69
- What does current generative theory have to say about the explicit-implicit debate? 91
- Explicit knowledge about language in L2 learning 117
- The learnability of language 139
- Tracking multiple inputs 167
- Implicit statistical learning and language acquisition 191
- Implicit learning of non-adjacent dependencies 213
-
Methodology
- Artificial grammar learning 249
- Challenges in implicit learning research 275
- Effects of conditions on L2 development 301
- Investigating implicit and explicit processing using L2 learners’ eye-movement data 325
- Contributions of event-related potential research to issues in explicit and implicit second language acquisition 349
-
Practical applications
- Implicit learning of a L2 morphosyntactic rule, and its relevance for language teaching 387
- Form-focused instruction and the measurement of implicit and explicit L2 knowledge 417
- Implicit and explicit instruction in L2 learning 443
- Index 483
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- List of contributors ix
-
Introduction
- Introduction xiii
-
Theoretical perspectives
- Implicit AND explicit language learning 3
- Explaining phenomena of first and second language acquisition with the constructs of implicit and explicit learning 25
- Implicit learning in SLA 47
- Semantic implicit learning 69
- What does current generative theory have to say about the explicit-implicit debate? 91
- Explicit knowledge about language in L2 learning 117
- The learnability of language 139
- Tracking multiple inputs 167
- Implicit statistical learning and language acquisition 191
- Implicit learning of non-adjacent dependencies 213
-
Methodology
- Artificial grammar learning 249
- Challenges in implicit learning research 275
- Effects of conditions on L2 development 301
- Investigating implicit and explicit processing using L2 learners’ eye-movement data 325
- Contributions of event-related potential research to issues in explicit and implicit second language acquisition 349
-
Practical applications
- Implicit learning of a L2 morphosyntactic rule, and its relevance for language teaching 387
- Form-focused instruction and the measurement of implicit and explicit L2 knowledge 417
- Implicit and explicit instruction in L2 learning 443
- Index 483
