The Efficiency of Implicit and Explicit knowledge in L2 acquisition

Implicit and explicit knowledge as two important concepts have long been at the center of attention in second
language research. In fact, the question of the efficiency of these types of knowledge came to be one of the central
debates among researchers in the field of L2 acquisition. In this context, Ellis states that “instruction needs to
develop implicit knowledge of L2 without neglecting explicit knowledge” (2005). That’s to say, explicit knowledge is
of importance only when it advances the development of implicit one. Although Ellis claims that competence in an
L2 is primarily a matter of implicit knowledge, I maintain that explicit knowledge is as important as the implicit one in
developing L2 proficiency. In this paper, I will first provide some definitions of these two concepts, I will devote the
first part to analyze Ellis’ position and I will discuss it later in the second part.

Although there is no unified definition among researchers of the implicit knowledge, nor is there agreement on
the definition of the explicit one, theorists tried to distinguish between them. Implicit knowledge is defined as the
knowledge which is tacit and procedural and cannot be verbalized, while explicit knowledge is conscious and
declarative and can be verbalized by individuals (Bowles, 2011; Ellis, 2005). Hence, these two types of knowledge
“are held to be different in kind and to be stored separately in the brain” (R.Ellis, 1991)

Rod Ellis claims that competence in an L2 is primarily a matter of implicit knowledge. In fact, implicit knowledge
is the one that is responsible for the ability to communicate fluently in an L2, which makes it the ultimate goal of any
instructional program (R.Ellis, 2005).In this context, Nick Ellis states that “the bulk of language acquisition is implicit
learning from usage. Most knowledge is tacit knowledge; most learning is implicit; the vast majority of our
cognitive processing is unconscious”(N.Ellis, 2005).That is to say, explicit knowledge is of value only in facilitating
the development of implicit knowledge and that “learners can use their explicit knowledge to produce output then
serves as auto-input to their implicit learning mechanisms” (Ellis et al., 2009).Hence, the explicit learning of rules
has only a very minor role in the acquisition process and that the development of implicit knowledge is central to the
development of L2 proficiency.

However, explicit and implicit learning are dynamically involved in language learning. That is to say, knowing
“What” about the language through enhancing declarative knowledge is as important as knowing “how” by means of
boosting procedural knowledge. For instance, the implicit knowledge already acquired in the bottom level can be
utilized in learning explicit knowledge (through the “bottom-up learning”; Sun et al., 2001).Furthermore, interactions
between these two types of knowledge increase performance as compared to either system operating alone. For
example, in a study examining the relationship between performance and explicit knowledge, Elder and Manwaring
uncovered that more metalinguistic knowledge resulted in better performance and functioning for some participants
in their study (2004). Hence, the interaction between implicit and explicit knowledge is the key to understanding
acquisition of skills.

To sum up, although these types of knowledge have different characteristics, they can be usefully combined, as
the one can be converted to the other and vice versa.

References:

Bowles, M. (2011). Measuring implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge: What can heritage language learners
contribute? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 247-271.
Elder, C., & Manwaring, D. (2004). The relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and learning
outcomes among undergraduate students of Chinese. Language Awareness, 13, 145-162.
Ellis, N.C.: 2005, ‘at the interface: Dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge’, Studies
in Second Language Acquisition 27, 305–352.
Ellis, R. (1991). Grammaticality judgments and second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition, 13 (2), 161-186.

Ellis, R. (2005). Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review 6, 5 –7.

Sun, R., Merrill, E., & Peterson, T. (2001). From implicit skill to explicit knowledge: A bottom-up model of skill
learning. Cognitive Science, 25, 203-244.