No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Measuring Teenage Learners’ Automatized, Explicit, and/or Implicit Knowledge: A Question of Context?
Language Learning
Abstract
The present study administered six test instruments to 13‐ to 14‐year‐old learners of English in Austria and Sweden ( N = 213), countries offering settings with more explicit and implicit learning environments, respectively. Confirmatory Factor Analyses for Austria yielded a factor comprising timed grammaticality judgment tests, an oral narrative test, and elicited imitation, labelled in this study Automatized and/or Implicit Knowledge, and a factor including an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test, named in this study Explicit Knowledge. In the Swedish context, goodness‐of‐fit indices provided some evidence that a single‐factor model shows a better fit, although a comparison of this model with two‐factor models did not reach statistical significance. The findings point to the potential importance of considering the specificities of a learning environment in interpreting learner achievement on measures of the implicit versus explicit knowledge spectrum.
... Explicit language instruction emphasizes formal language and is more suitable due to their higher cognitive maturity. Conversely, implicit instruction, being meaning-oriented, is less effective in facilitating grammar learning [45]. Integrating these strategies into writing tasks is essential in writing instruction [43], [46]. ...
Writing skills are one of the determining factors for law students' success, but it is their biggest problem. This problem stems from the lack of grammar mastery and learning barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to describe cognitive strategies for law students in writing opinion texts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the pedagogical implications. This study employed a mixed method. The research participants were 200 first-year students of the 2021-2022 academic year. Data collection methods are inventory and open-ended questions. The research found that students with Indonesian as first language (L1) are high in cognitive strategies, while second language (L2) students are moderate. The highest cognitive strategy is to look for reference sources on grammar rules on the internet. The correlation found a significant relationship among cognitive strategy. The most significant is the relationship between all cognitive strategies and developing explicit knowledge of grammar. Our findings provide pedagogical implication that writing instruction needs to use cognitive strategies as grammar learning strategies within a contextual-communicative approach in law. In conclusion, cognitive strategies can be used integratively in writing by emphasizing the use of explicit language knowledge and various digital sources for L1 and L2 learners.
Research writing has long been problematic in terms of authors’ authority and invisibility. Scholars and academics who belong to the applied linguistics research community are of two types: some prefer to intrude themselves into the scholarly prose, exhibiting a sense of authority that is linguistically realized through the usage of self-mentions, while others tend to be less visible and distance themselves from their academic texts. In this sense, this research study aims to compare Algerian and foreign researchers in terms of the types and frequency of self-mentions employed in their research papers, as well as to explore and compare the rhetorical functions performed by the self-mentions used. In order to reach such a goal, this study followed a corpus-based analysis in which two sub-corpora were compiled consisting of sixty research articles: thirty Algerian-authored papers and thirty non-Algerian-authored papers, which were selected from high-ranking leading journals. The raw data were cleaned and then analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of this corpus-based study suggest that there is a difference between the two groups in the sense that Algerians tend to be less visible and less authoritative compared to their counterparts, as they tend to use fewer self-mentions, employing the plural forms (we, our, us). In contrast, non-Algerian expert authors tend to frequently use the singular forms, the pronoun “I” in particular, employing high-risk rhetorical functions.
The aim of our study was to examine the longitudinal associations between two forms of second language (L2) knowledge (i.e., explicit and implicit knowledge) and the activity types that facilitate different processing mechanisms (i.e., form- and meaning-focused processing). L2 English speakers completed two tests of explicit knowledge (untimed written grammaticality judgment test and metalinguistic knowledge test) and three tests of implicit knowledge (timed written grammaticality judgment test, oral production, and elicited imitation) at the beginning and the end of a semester of university-level study. To track engagement in the activity types, participants completed self-reported language exposure logs across five days throughout the semester. The results from an autoregressive cross-lag analysis suggest L2 explicit and implicit knowledge influenced each other reciprocally over time. Neither activity type predicted knowledge development. We conclude that language acquisition is a developmental process typified by a dynamic, synergistic interface between explicit and implicit knowledge.
This paper puts forward a research agenda in the area of explicit and implicit knowledge and learning of second or additional languages. Based on a brief overview of reliable findings as well as open questions in the field, three agenda items are highlighted. First, valid and reliable measures of explicit and, in particular, implicit knowledge and learning need to be identified and their suitability for participants of different ages established. Second, and closely related to the previous point, explicit and implicit knowledge and learning should be investigated across the human lifespan. Therefore, studies need to include to a greater extent hitherto under-represented groups such as children and older adults in order to pinpoint the benefits or otherwise of implicit and, in particular, explicit knowledge and learning in these age ranges. Third, researchers should aim to capture with their designs the complex and dynamic interplay of the multiple cognitive, affective, biographical and contextual factors that influence the development of explicit and implicit knowledge over time. Concrete tasks for future research are proposed under these three agenda items, with a view to assisting interested investigators in formulating research questions and specifying research designs.
Today, we globally observe a sharp increase in learners’ engagement in extramural (out-of-class) English (EE; Sundqvist 2009). This undoubtedly affords new opportunities for, but also challenges to, English language teaching (ELT) and learning. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore this topic from a cross-national perspective. Upper secondary English teachers (N = 534) from Austria, France (‘dubbing countries’), Finland, and Sweden (‘subtitling countries’) answered a web-based survey on their students’ EE practices and the estimated impact on teaching and learning. Results showed that overall EE use appears lower in the dubbing countries, especially France (p < 0.001). The teachers’ estimated effect of EE on different areas of learning overall was also the weakest in France (p ≤ .01). Further, teachers in subtitling countries agreed more strongly with statements about adapting instruction to what is (not) learned extramurally (p < 0.001). As EE use is growing, individual learner needs within a class, such as emerging gaps in learner motivation and/or language knowledge and skills, will increasingly have to be catered to in ELT.
European learners of English are increasingly using this language recreationally, which is referred to as Extramural English (henceforth EE). The level of EE use in a given country might be reflected in English Language Teaching (ELT) practices. Yet, no research so far has examined cross-nationally what potential for language learning teachers perceive in their learners’ EE engagement and how this relates to ELT practices. To address this gap, the present study draws on interview data from lower secondary English teachers from Austria, France, and Sweden (n = 20). They were enquired about (1) their students’ EE engagement and its effects on learning, (2) their accuracy and fluency teaching methods, and (3) the perceived link between EE and ELT. Swedish teachers seemed to have a more positive and fine-grained conceptualization of the impact of EE on learning than Austrian and French participants, especially in terms of grammar acquisition. The implicit learning environment that Swedish students encounter extramurally might extend to the classroom, where the use of explicit grammar rules occurs less dominantly than in the Austrian and French samples. The countries converged in the type of fluency-based instruction they reported. Gaps in language areas not (fully) developed through EE seem to be more intentionally addressed in ELT in Sweden.
This study investigates whether potential differences in the weight of out-of-school and in-school learning environments affect the acquisition of L2 English by teenagers in two geographical contexts, more and less English-rich, and with less and more linguistic distance to English, respectively. Participants were two groups of 14-15-year-olds, from Denmark and Spain. Language measures included a listening comprehension test, a metalinguistic knowledge test, and a grammaticality judgment test. Data about out-of-classroom exposure was elicited via a questionnaire. The study showed that (a) the Danish group attained a significantly higher level in all language tests except for the metalinguistic knowledge test; (b) the Danish group engaged longer in out-of-school activities although the preference for some activities over others was similar in the two groups; and (c) the types of associations between out-of-school activities and language measures were different between the two groups. These results suggest that the potential influence of out-of-school activities on different language aspects is related to the particular context in which the L2 is learned and to the language proficiency of the learner.
This study addresses the role of domain-general mechanisms in second-language learning and knowledge using an individual differences approach. We examine the predictive validity of implicit-statistical learning aptitude for implicit second-language knowledge. Participants ( n = 131) completed a battery of four aptitude measures and nine grammar tests. Structural equation modeling revealed that only the alternating serial reaction time task (a measure of implicit-statistical learning aptitude) significantly predicted learners’ performance on timed, accuracy-based language tests, but not their performance on reaction-time measures. These results inform ongoing debates about the nature of implicit knowledge in SLA: they lend support to the validity of timed, accuracy-based language tests as measures of implicit knowledge. Auditory and visual statistical learning were correlated with medium strength, while the remaining implicit-statistical learning aptitude measures were not correlated, highlighting the multicomponential nature of implicit-statistical learning aptitude and the corresponding need for a multitest approach to assess its different facets.
Today, the Common European Framework of Reference (2009), and with it the action-based approach, underlies English Language Teaching (ELT) curricula throughout Europe. However, actual teaching practices are likely to vary according to factors such as the educational level and supra-national differences, including legal guidelines and the level of extramural English, i.e. out-of-school use of English (Sundqvist, 2009). Those factors presumably influence the role of grammar teaching in foreign language classrooms, which has been the subject of continuous debate (see Graus & Coppen, 2016; Thornbury, 1999; Ur, 2011). Such potential differences in teacher-reported ELT practices across Europe have not yet been investigated in instructed second language acquisition research. Therefore, the present study aims to compare the type of instruction in lower vs. upper secondary school in Sweden, Austria, and France, countries ranking differently in the EF Proficiency index (Education First, 2019). 615 secondary English teachers across the three countries filled in an online questionnaire designed to assess their use of planned vs. incidental form focus, implicit vs. explicit, and inductive vs. deductive instruction (Ellis, 2001a, 2009; Long, 1991). Results seem to indicate that (1) in lower secondary, Swedish teachers teach less explicitly than teachers in Austria and France; (2) Sweden provides ELT that is more implicit-fluency-based than does Austria and France; (3) incidental (rather than planned) grammar teaching is more dominant in upper than in lower secondary across countries and in Sweden and France as compared to Austria; and (4) French teachers differ from the other groups in their application of more inductive rather than deductive instruction. We argue that both the educational level and a country’s language policies and ideologies – and consequently also the extent to which they encourage use and exposure to extramural English – may be determining factors in the type of instruction applied in ELT.
This meta-analysis offers a snapshot of thirty-five years (1980–2015) of research on instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). Fifty-four empirical studies involving a total of 5,051 second language learners – sampled from six applied linguistics journals, Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, The Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and TESOL Quarterly – were aggregated for the effects of second language (L2) instruction, yielding an overall large effect size, g = 1.06, 95 % CI = 0.84−1.29. Data were further analysed to identify factors that can modulate the efficacy of instruction. While a minor difference was detected between explicit and implicit instruction, statistically significant effects were found for modes of outcome measures, learners’ onset L2 proficiency, research settings, and intensity of instruction.
Cronbach’s alpha is a statistic commonly quoted by authors to demonstrate that tests and scales that have been constructed or adopted for research projects are fit for purpose. Cronbach’s alpha is regularly adopted in studies in science education: it was referred to in 69 different papers published in 4 leading science education journals in a single year (2015)—usually as a measure of reliability. This article explores how this statistic is used in reporting science education research and what it represents. Authors often cite alpha values with little commentary to explain why they feel this statistic is relevant and seldom interpret the result for readers beyond citing an arbitrary threshold for an acceptable value. Those authors who do offer readers qualitative descriptors interpreting alpha values adopt a diverse and seemingly arbitrary terminology. More seriously, illustrative examples from the science education literature demonstrate that alpha may be acceptable even when there are recognised problems with the scales concerned. Alpha is also sometimes inappropriately used to claim an instrument is unidimensional. It is argued that a high value of alpha offers limited evidence of the reliability of a research instrument, and that indeed a very high value may actually be undesirable when developing a test of scientific knowledge or understanding. Guidance is offered to authors reporting, and readers evaluating, studies that present Cronbach’s alpha statistic as evidence of instrument quality.
Recent research has called for the use of fine‐grained measures that distinguish implicit knowledge from automatized explicit knowledge. In the current study, such measures were used to determine how the two systems interact in a naturalistic second language (L2) acquisition context. One hundred advanced L2 speakers of Japanese living in Japan were assessed using tests of automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge, along with tests of phonological short‐term memory and aptitude tests for explicit and implicit learning. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that aptitude for explicit learning significantly predicted acquisition of automatized explicit knowledge, and automatized explicit knowledge significantly predicted acquisition of implicit knowledge. The effects of implicit learning aptitude and phonological short‐term memory on acquisition of automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge were limited. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that automatized explicit knowledge, which develops through explicit learning mechanisms, may impact the acquisition of implicit knowledge.
Open Practices
This article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All original materials are publicly accessible in the IRIS digital repository at http://www.iris-database.org. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.
Accumulating evidence suggests that time-pressured form-focused tasks like grammaticality judgment tests (GJTs) can measure second language (L2) implicit knowledge. The current paper, however, proposes that these tasks draw on automatized explicit knowledge. A battery of six grammar tests was designed to distinguish automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge. While three time-pressured form-focused tasks (an auditory GJT, a visual GJT, and a fill in the blank test) were hypothesized to measure automatized explicit knowledge, three real-time comprehension tasks (a visual-world task, a word-monitoring task, and a self-paced reading task) were hypothesized to measure implicit knowledge. One hundred advanced L2 Japanese learners with first language Chinese residing in Japan took all six tests. Confirmatory factor analysis and multitrait-multimethod analysis provided an array of evidence supporting that these tests assessed two types of linguistic knowledge separately with little influence from the method effects. The results analyzed separately by length of residence in Japan (a proxy for the amount of naturalistic L2 exposure) showed that learners with longer residence in Japan can draw on implicit knowledge in the real-time comprehension tasks with more stability than those with shorter residence. These findings indicate the potential of finely tuned real-time comprehension tasks as measures of implicit knowledge.
Lack of valid means of measuring explicit and implicit knowledge in acquisition of second language is a concern issue in investigations of explicit and implicit learning. This paper endeavors to validate the use of four tests (i.e., Untimed Judgment Grammatical Test, UJGT; Test of Metalinguistic Knowledge, TMK; Elicited Oral Imitation Test, EOIT; and Time pressured Judgment Grammatical Test, TJGT) from a set of instruments introduced by Ellis (2005) to measure explicit and implicit knowledge of ESL learners. The result of Principal Component Analysis shows the UJGT and TMK loaded on the first factor (i.e., explicit knowledge) and the EOIT and TJGT loaded on the second factor (i.e., implicit knowledge) when a two factor solution was imposed. The study also shows that second language students respond in a different way to ungrammatical and grammatical sentences in the UJGT. Hence, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient tests have been conducted amid the ungrammatical and grammatical sentences in the UJGT and other instruments. The outcome suggests that in the case of UJGT ungrammatical sentences would provide a superior measurement of explicit knowledge.
This is an ambitious work, covering the whole breadth of the field from its theoretical underpinnings to research and teaching methodology. The Editors have managed to recruit a stellar panel of contributors, resulting in the kind of 'all you ever wanted to know about instructed SLA' collection that should be found on the shelves of every good library. " Zoltán Dörnyei, University of Nottingham, UK The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition is the first collection of state-of-the-art papers pertaining to Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA). Written by 45 world-renowned experts, the entries are full-length articles detailing pertinent issues with up-to-date references. Each chapter serves three purposes: (1) provide a review of current literature and discussions of cutting edge issues; (2) share the authors' understanding of, and approaches to, the issues; and (3) provide direct links between research and practice. In short, based on the chapters in this handbook, ISLA has attained a level of theoretical and methodological maturity that provides a solid foundation for future empirical and pedagogical discovery. This handbook is the ideal resource for researchers, graduate students, upper-level undergraduate students, teachers, and teacher-educators who are interested in second language learning and teaching.
The implicit/explicit distinction is central to our understanding of the nature of L2 acquisition. This book begins with an account of how this distinction applies to L2 learning, knowledge and instruction. It then reports a series of studies describing the development of a battery of tests providing relatively discrete measurements of L2 explicit/implicit knowledge. These tests were then utilized to examine a number of key issues in SLA - the learning difficulty of different grammatical structures, the role of L2 implicit/explicit knowledge in language proficiency, the relationship between learning experiences and learners language knowledge profiles, the metalinguistic knowledge of teacher trainees and the effects of different types of form-focused instruction on L2 acquisition. The book concludes with a consideration of how the tests can be further developed and applied in the study of L2 acquisition. © 2009 Rod Ellis, Shawn Loewen, Catherine Elder, Rosemary Erlam, Jenefer Philp and Hayo Reinders. All rights reserved.
Several previous factor-analytic studies on the construct validity of grammaticality judgment tests (GJTs) concluded that untimed GJTs measure explicit knowledge (EK) and timed GJTs measure implicit knowledge (IK) (Bowles, 2011; R. Ellis, 2005; R. Ellis & Loewen, 2007). It has also been shown that, irrespective of the time condition chosen, GJTs’ grammatical sentences tap into IK, whereas their ungrammatical ones invoke EK (Gutiérrez, 2013). The current study examined these conclusions by employing two more fine-grained measures of IK: that is, a self-paced reading task and a word-monitoring task. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that manipulating GJTs’ time conditions and/or the grammaticality of the sentences does not render them distinct measures of EK and IK. The current work shows that GJTs are too coarse to be measures of IK, and that the different types of GJTs measure different levels of EK.
Although many theoretical issues revolving around implicit and explicit knowledge in second language (L2) acquisition hinge on the ability to measure these two types of knowledge, few empirical studies have attempted to do so. However, R. Ellis (2005) did develop a battery of tests intended to provide relatively separate measures. This study aims to validate the use of Ellis’s test battery in an English as a foreign language context and to investigate the extent of Chinese first-year university students’ implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. Test scores loaded on two factors, as in R. Ellis (2005), thus demonstrating construct validity for the tests as measures of implicit and explicit knowledge in a population of Chinese university-level learners of English in a Chinese (as opposed to English as a second language) context. These learners were found to have higher scores on measures of explicit knowledge than on those of implicit knowledge because of the instruction they had received and their English learning environment.
Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) allows researchers to determine whether a research inventory elicits similar response patterns across samples. If statistical equivalence in responding is found, then scale score comparisons become possible and samples can be said to be from the same population. This paper illustrates the use of MGCFA by examining survey results relating to practising teachers' conceptions of feedback in two very different jurisdictions (Louisiana, USA, n = 308; New Zealand, n = 518), highlighting challenges which can occur when conducting this kind of cross-cultural research. As the two contexts had very different policies and practices around educational assessment, it was considered possible that a common research inventory may elicit non-equivalent responding, leading to non-invariance. Independent models for each group and a joint model for all participants were tested for invariance using MGCFA and all were inadmissible for one of the two groups. Inspection of joint model differences in item loadings, scale reliabilities, and scale inter-correlations established the extent of non-invariance. This paper discusses the implications of non-invariance within this particular study and identifies difficulties in using an inventory in cross-cultural settings. It also provides suggestions about how to increase the likelihood that a common factor structure can be recovered.
The present study challenges the validity of elicited imitation (EI) as a measure for implicit knowledge, investigating to what extent online error detection and subsequent sentence repetition draw on implicit knowledge. To assess online detection during listening, a word monitoring component was built into an EI task. Advanced‐level Japanese L2 speakers with Chinese as their native language performed the EI task with the built‐in word monitoring component, a metalinguistic knowledge test, and a probabilistic serial reaction time (SRT) task, which served as a measure of aptitude for implicit learning. Results showed that EI scores were correlated positively with metalinguistic knowledge, but they were not related to the SRT scores. Word monitoring performance, in contrast, was not related to metalinguistic knowledge but correlated positively with SRT scores only among L2 speakers with longer lengths of residence. These results suggest that online error detection can index implicit knowledge, whereas EI may measure automatized explicit knowledge.
Open Practices
This article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All original materials are publicly accessible in the IRIS digital repository at http://www.iris-database.org . Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a vast field and widely used by many applied researchers in the social and behavioral sciences. Over the years, many software pack-ages for structural equation modeling have been developed, both free and commercial. However, perhaps the best state-of-the-art software packages in this field are still closed-source and/or commercial. The R package lavaan has been developed to provide applied researchers, teachers, and statisticians, a free, fully open-source, but commercial-quality package for latent variable modeling. This paper explains the aims behind the develop-ment of the package, gives an overview of its most important features, and provides some examples to illustrate how lavaan works in practice.
This study examined the effectiveness of explicit instruction on second language (L2) learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge of English. Explicit instruction on the generic and non-generic use of English articles was delivered by CALL activities. Four tasks assessed acquisition: elicited imitation, oral production, grammaticality judgement, and metalinguistic knowledge tasks. A pretest and two posttests were conducted immediately and six weeks after the treatment. Durable effects for explicit instruction were found on measures of implicit knowledge and on ungrammatically supplied items on measures of explicit knowledge. This study’s findings contribute towards our understanding of the efficacy of explicit instruction on implicit and explicit knowledge at relatively advanced stages of L2 acquisition.
The place of grammar instruction in second or foreign language (L2) pedagogy has always been highly controversial and although there is currently consensus that such pedagogic intervention is beneficial, numerous questions remain as to how it should most propitiously be conducted. Different theoretical perspectives have resulted in a wide array of instructional options intended to enhance the effectiveness of grammar teaching, both with respect to ensuring fuller understanding of grammar rules and helping learners use these rules in communicative interaction. The paper provides a selective overview of such “new solutions” and argues that they have not really contributed much to solving the “old problems” of grammar instruction. Reasons for this state of affairs are considered and some suggestions for how the situation can be improved are offered.
Most studies showing the benefits of caption-supported audio-visual input for second language (L2) learning have focused on vocabulary learning and content comprehension, and there is a dearth of research on the effects on grammar learning. The present study aims to contribute to filling this gap focusing on L2 grammar learning from a constructionist perspective of language. It reports an extensive classroom intervention in which learners viewed an original version TV series under two conditions, Captions and Non-Captions. The results demonstrated that the Captions group outperformed the Non-Captions group, and that individual differences, such as proficiency and working memory (WM) capacity, played an important role in learning grammar constructions from audio-visual input, while language aptitude had no effect on learning gains. Intermediate-level learners benefited most from the viewing intervention, suggesting that their proficiency level was optimally suited to the difficulty level of the series. WM and group interacted significantly, indicating that the group that did not have the support of captions relied more strongly on WM. This study extends the known benefits of audio-visual input for vocabulary and comprehension to the underexplored area of L2 constructions and suggests that grammar learning may need a substantial amount of exposure to this input.
The study investigates to what extent English as a second language (ESL) learners develop explicit and automatised explicit knowledge of two target-forms (third person singular ‘s’ and future conditional if-clause) after input and output based instruction and whether learning effects differ depending on the target forms. The study follows a pre-test–post-test design. Seventy-two intermediate level ESL learners from three intact classes were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (input and output) and one control group. The experimental groups completed a pre-test and received relevant instructional treatment: the input group received processing instruction that did not involve any production of output, whereas the output group received output based instruction. Immediately after the instructional treatment, the experimental groups took a post-test and after two weeks, a delayed post-test. The control group took the same tests without receiving any instructional treatment. An error correction test and an oral narrative production test were used to measure explicit and automatised explicit knowledge, respectively. The results showed that both the input and output groups outperformed the control group in developing explicit knowledge of the target forms, and the output group outperformed the input group in developing automatised explicit knowledge of both target forms.
Timed grammaticality judgment tests (TGJT) and oral elicited imitation tests (OEIT) are considered reliable and valid measures of implicit linguistic knowledge, but studies consistently observe better performances on the TGJT than the OEIT due to the different types of processing they require: comprehension for the TGJT and production for the OEIT. This study examines whether degree of access to implicit knowledge is a function of processing type. Results from a series of factor analyses suggest that the OEIT requires greater access to implicit knowledge—implying that it measures stronger implicit knowledge—than the TGJT. Furthermore, the study examines effects on construct validity of time pressure in the OEIT (uncontrolled vs. controlled) and modality in the TGJT (written vs. aural). The results indicate that the tests reached higher construct validity, or measured
stronger
implicit knowledge, when the OEIT employed controlled time pressure and the TGJT used aural stimuli.
This study builds on research investigating the construct validity of elicited imitation (EI) as a measure of implicit second language (L2) grammatical knowledge. It differs from previous studies in that the EI task focuses on a single grammatical feature and time on task is strictly controlled. Seventy-three EFL learners and 20 native English speakers completed the EI and four other tests hypothesized as measures of implicit or explicit L2 knowledge. Factor analytic results indicated that learners’ EI scores loaded on the factor labeled implicit L2 knowledge, confirming previous findings. Results from other tests and methodological issues concerning EI design and use suggest that the construct validation of EI as a measure of implicit L2 grammatical knowledge awaits further investigation.
In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (pp. 5239-5244). Oxford, England: Pergamon. 0. Abstract Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a quantitative data analysis method that belongs to the family of structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. CFA allows for the assessment of fit between observed data and an a priori conceptualized, theoretically grounded model that specifies the hypothesized causal relations between latent factors and their observed indicator variables. In this entry, typical steps in a CFA are introduced. First, during model specification, a model is conceptualized by indicating how latent, unobserved factors relate to measurable variables. Second, if each parameter can be expressed as a function of the variances and covariances of observed variables, model identification is assured and parameters can be estimated. Third, iterative techniques such as the maximum likelihood, generalized least squares, or asymptotically distribution free estimation methods can be utilized to estimate the unknown model parameters. Fourth, assessments of fit between observed data and an a priori specified model can be made via a multitude of absolute, parsimonious, and incremental fit indices. Fifth, if data-model inconsistencies are observed, model modifications might be appropriate, provided they are consistent with an underlying substantive theory and the modified model is cross-validated using an independent sample. The entry closes with applied and methodological references appropriate for a more in-depth study of CFA and SEM in the social and behavioral sciences.
A problem facing investigations of implicit and explicit learning is
the lack of valid measures of second language implicit and explicit
knowledge. This paper attempts to establish operational definitions of
these two constructs and reports a psychometric study of a battery of
tests designed to provide relatively independent measures of them. These
tests were (a) an oral imitation test involving grammatical and
ungrammatical sentences, (b) an oral narration test, (c) a timed
grammaticality judgment test (GJT), (d) an untimed GJT with the same
content, and (e) a metalinguistic knowledge test. Tests (a), (b), and (c)
were designed as measures of implicit knowledge, and tests (d) and (e)
were designed as measures of explicit knowledge. All of the tests examined
17 English grammatical structures. A principal component factor analysis
produced two clear factors. This analysis showed that the scores from
tests (a), (b), and (c) loaded on Factor 1, whereas the scores from
ungrammatical sentences in test (d) and total scores from test (e) loaded
on Factor 2. These two factors are interpreted as corresponding to
implicit and explicit knowledge, respectively. A number of secondary
analyses to support this interpretation of the construct validity of the
tests are also reported. a
Ellis (2005) and his coresearchers developed a number of tests with a view to providing relatively separate measures of explicit and implicit knowledge. The aim in the development of these tests was to resolve a continuing problem in SLA studies - namely the construct validity of tests used to measure acquisition - and, more specifically, to provide a basis for investigating the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge (i.e., the strong interface, the weak interface, and the noninterface positions).
Although claims about explicit and implicit language knowledge are central to many debates in SLA, little research has been dedicated to measuring the two knowledge types (R. Ellis, 2004, 2005). The purpose of this study was to validate the use of the battery of tests reported in Ellis (2005) to measure implicit and explicit language knowledge. Whereas Ellis (2005) tested only second-language (L2) learners (of English), this study tested both L2 and heritage language (HL) learners (of Spanish). Results showed that test scores loaded on a two-factor model, as in Ellis (2005), thereby providing construct validity for the tests, on a population of HL learners who have little explicit knowledge by virtue of the environment in which they acquired Spanish.
A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit instruction on the acquisition of simple and complex grammatical features in English. The target features in the 41 studies contributing to the meta-analysis were categorized as simple or complex based on the number of criteria applied to arrive at the correct target form (Hulstijn & de Graaff, 1994). The instructional treatments were classified as explicit or implicit following Norris and Ortega (2000). The results indicate larger effect sizes for explicit over implicit instruction for simple and complex features. The findings also suggest that explicit instruction positively contributes to learners’ controlled knowledge and spontaneous use of complex and simple forms.
This article examines the adequacy of the “rules of thumb” conventional cutoff criteria and several new alternatives for various fit indexes used to evaluate model fit in practice. Using a 2‐index presentation strategy, which includes using the maximum likelihood (ML)‐based standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) and supplementing it with either Tucker‐Lewis Index (TLI), Bollen's (1989) Fit Index (BL89), Relative Noncentrality Index (RNI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Gamma Hat, McDonald's Centrality Index (Mc), or root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA), various combinations of cutoff values from selected ranges of cutoff criteria for the ML‐based SRMR and a given supplemental fit index were used to calculate rejection rates for various types of true‐population and misspecified models; that is, models with misspecified factor covariance(s) and models with misspecified factor loading(s). The results suggest that, for the ML method, a cutoff value close to .95 for TLI, BL89, CFI, RNI, and Gamma Hat; a cutoff value close to .90 for Mc; a cutoff value close to .08 for SRMR; and a cutoff value close to .06 for RMSEA are needed before we can conclude that there is a relatively good fit between the hypothesized model and the observed data. Furthermore, the 2‐index presentation strategy is required to reject reasonable proportions of various types of true‐population and misspecified models. Finally, using the proposed cutoff criteria, the ML‐based TLI, Mc, and RMSEA tend to overreject true‐population models at small sample size and thus are less preferable when sample size is small.
This study employed (and reports in detail) systematic procedures for research synthesis and meta-analysis to summarize findings from experimental and quasi-experimental investigations into the effectiveness of L2 instruction published between 1980 and 1998. Comparisons of average effect sizes from 49 unique sample studies reporting sufficient data indicated that focused L2 instruction results in large target-oriented gains, that explicit types of instruction are more effective than implicit types, and that Focus on Form and Focus on Forms interventions result in equivalent and large effects. Further findings suggest that the effectiveness of L2 instruction is durable and that the type of outcome measures used in individual studies likely affects the magnitude of observed instructional effectiveness. Generalizability of findings is limited because the L2 type-of-instruction domain has yet to engage in rigorous empirical operationalization and replication of its central research constructs. Changes in research practices are recommended to enhance the future accumulation of knowledge about the effectiveness of L2 instruction.
In this chapter, I sketch a conceptual framework which takes it as a starting point that conscious and unconscious cognition are rooted in the same set of interacting learning mechanisms and representational systems. On this view, the extent to which a representation is conscious depends in a graded manner on properties such as its stability in time or its strength. Crucially, these properties are accrued as a result of learning, which is in turn viewed as a mandatory process that always accompanies information processing. From this perspective, consciousness is best characterized as involving (1) a graded continuum defined over "quality of representation", such that availability to consciousness and to cognitive control correlates with quality, and (2) the implication of systems of metarepresentations. A first implication of these ideas is that the main function of consciousness is to make flexible, adaptive control over behavior possible. A second, much more speculative implication, is that we learn to be conscious. This I call the "radical plasticity thesis"--the hypothesis that consciousness emerges in systems capable not only of learning about their environment, but also about their own internal representations of it.
semPlot: Path diagrams and visual analysis of various SEM packages' Output. R package(Version 1.1.6). [Computer software
- S Epskamp
International standard classification of occupations ISCO-08: With ISEI-08 scores
- H B G Ganzeboom
Ganzeboom, H. B. G. (2010). International standard classification of occupations
ISCO-08: With ISEI-08 scores.
http://www.harryganzeboom.nl/isco08/isco08_with_isei.pdf
Past continuous tense vs. past simple: The mysterious stalker (Suspense Thriller Short - ESL Video
- Oomongzu
Oomongzu. (2016a, August 4). Past continuous tense vs. past simple: The mysterious
stalker (Suspense Thriller Short -ESL Video) [Video] YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_lrUe7sAAc.
Past simple tense - regular verbs: The story of Alice & Josh
- Oomongzu
Oomongzu. (2016b, September 18). Past simple tense -regular verbs: The story of
Alice & Josh [Video] YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xzjFaHcoxk&t=113s.
Which pedagogic practices are adopted in English Language Teaching across Europe?
- M Coumel
- A Schurz
Coumel, M., & Schurz, A. (2022, April 6). Which pedagogic practices are adopted in
English Language Teaching across Europe? [Conference presentation].
Formation des Formateurs, Saint-Éstève, France. Council of Europe
- Académie De
Académie
de Montpellier. Formation des Formateurs, Saint-Éstève, France.
Council of Europe. (2009). Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (10th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
semPlot: Path diagrams and visual analysis of various SEM packages' Output. R package (Version 1.1.6)
- S Epskamp
Epskamp, S. (2022). semPlot: Path diagrams and visual analysis of various SEM
packages' Output. R package (Version 1.1.6). [Computer software].
Measures of implicit knowledge revisited: Processing modes, time pressure, and modality
- J Kim
- H Nam
Kim, J., & Nam, H. (2017). Measures of implicit knowledge revisited: Processing
modes, time pressure, and modality. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
39(3), 431-457. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263115000510