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

Abstract

The division of linguistic phenomena into two-sided subsets, i.e., dichotomies, has strongly influenced discussions in the field of linguistics. While dichotomies benefit the dialogue within this field, they sometimes seem to represent a kind of limitation to the researcher, who is forced to reduce linguistic complexity to monolithic parameters. This also appears to be the case of the implicit-explicit dichotomy in the field of language teaching/learning, in which different didactic techniques necessarily must be classified either as implicit or as explicit, as if there were no alternative path. The objective of the present article is to discuss this issue and to bring forward a perspective that sees dichotomies as extremes of a continuum that enables different degrees of intermediate explanation.