Measuring Implicit and Explicit Linguistic Knowledge

Abstract

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.

Spanish heritage language learners vs. L2 learners: What CAF reveals about written proficiency

“…The authors stated that "accuracy scores of the written tasks could be taken to reflect ability with metalinguistic, explicit knowledge (typically acquired later)" (p. 514). These findings seem to corroborate those reported earlier (Bowles, 2011;Montrul, 2010;Potowski, 2014). Along these same lines, Montrul (2011), examined whether morphological variability differed significantly when comparing L2 and HL adult learners.…”

“…In this study, HL learners who were at a comparable curricular stage as L2 learners, benefited from a less controlled type of task. However, as previous studies have shown (e.g., Bowles, 2011), in more controlled type of writing tasks, HL learners appear to be outperformed by their L2 peers.…”

“…As has been discussed previously in the literature, L2 learners who have learned Spanish in the classroom setting tend to outperform HL learners on written tasks that require high levels of metalinguistic awareness. As stated before, HL learners are better at oral tasks that minimize metalinguistic knowledge (Bowles, 2011;Montrul, 2010). High levels of metalinguistic awareness and explicit knowledge might not have been relevant for the type of assignment employed in this study: a non-academic, semi-guided and rather spontaneous written assignment in which both L2 and HL learners had to write about a topic quite familiar to 18-21 yearold college students.…”

“…Los resultados muestran que los aprendientes de HL superaron a los de L2 en dos parámetros, complejidad y fluidez. Una posible explicación de estos resultados puede estar relacionada con el tipo de tarea (más espontánea y menos controlada), que requiere un conocimiento más implícito y favorecería así a los aprendientes de HL (Bowles, 2011 IT I bisogni di apprendimento di apprendenti una lingua ereditaria (HL) sono recentemente diventati oggetto di un crescente interesse.Nelle ricerche che hanno confrontato apprendenti di una HL e di una lingua seconda (L2), il secondo tipo di apprendenti consegue risultati migliori del primo nell'abilità di scrittura (Montrul, 2010;Potowski, 2013). Tuttavia, nell'esame della capacità di scrittura nella lingua ereditaria, complessità, precisione e fluidità (CAF nell'abbreviazione inglese) sono spesso sottovalutate, mentre potrebbero fornire un quadro più accurato delle loro abilità di scrittura in compiti spontanei non a tempo.…”

“…Valutata la loro capacità di scrittura sulla base di misurazioni della CAF (Norris & Ortega, 2009), gli apprendenti HL hanno superato gli apprendenti L2 in due misure, precisione e scorrevolezza. Una possibile spiegazione è da ricercarsi nel tipo di compito (più spontaneo e meno controllato) che fa leva su un tipo di conoscenza più implicita favorendo gli/le apprendenti HL (Bowles, 2011). …”