An attempt to elaborate a construct to measure the degree of explicitness and implicitness in ELT materials

Abstract

The concepts of explicit and implicit (knowledge) are at the core of SLA studies. We take explicit as conscious and declarative (knowledge); implicit as unconscious, automatic and procedural (knowledge) (DeKeyser, 2003; R. Ellis, 2005a, 2005b, 2009; Hulstjin, 2005; Robinson, 1996; Schmidt, 1990, 1994). The importance of those concepts and components, we believe, must also be acknowledged in language teaching, and consequently in language teaching materials. However, explicitness and implicitness are rather complex constructs; such complexity allows for multiple nuances and perspectives in their analysis, and this fact poses a real challenge for their identification in the learning and teaching process and materials. We focus here on ELT materials and aim at the building of a reliable construct which may help in the identification of their potential for promoting implicit and explicit components. We first determined the features to identify the construct for implicitness and explicitness; next, we validated it and then we applied it to the analysis of the activities included in three sample units of three textbooks. The results were computed along a continuum ranging from 0 to 10 in each activity. The systematization and computation of results will hopefully offer a reliable figure regarding the identification of the degree of explicitness and/or implicitness in the materials analysed.

Patterns of Textbook Use in EFL: Adaptation Techniques and Their Effects on Form-Focused and Meaning-Focused Instruction

“…FFI and MFI in the textbooks' activities and their corresponding adaptations and unchanged cases were measured with a scale purposefully designed for this study. In order to devise the different items that the scale comprised, I consulted the previous literature, which included an initial attempt to measure explicit and implicit teaching (Criado et al, 2010) as well as FFI and MFI (Criado, 2016) in textbook activities. I did not find any scales explicitly devised to measure FFI and MFI in the context of in situ or classroom textbook consumption.…”

The Implicit-Explicit Dichotomy in Language Teaching/Learning: A Proposal for an Update

“…Therefore, the techniques were classified as "more" implicit or "more" explicit. Other studies have tried to create mechanisms to measure how much a given activity can be considered explicit/implicit (SANCHEZ et al, 2010;DOUGHTY;WILLIAMS, 1998), but this was not our objective here.…”