出版物 ｜Sophia Linguistica
Yoshie Iijima
Investigating L2 Implicit Knowledge in an Instructed Setting
The study investigated implicit knowledge of second language (L2) learners in an instructed
setting. The purpose of the investigation was to highlight L2 implicit knowledge and
reveal its nature. Before the investigation, it firstly agreed with R. Ellis’s (2005) concerns
that SLA research has not given due consideration to implicit and explicit knowledge as
constructs. Then, it reviewed the characteristics of implicit knowledge in some SLA literatures
and has found that awareness, automaticity, focus on meaning and systematicity
are considered as primary characteristics of implicit knowledge. In order to make further
examination of these characteristics, the study examined EFL learners in an institutional
setting in Japan. After observing instructions, it administered the four tests which were
confirmed to elicit implicit and explicit knowledge, separately in R. Ellis’s psychometric
study (2005). The Timed Grammaticality Judgement Test (TGJT) and the Elicited Oral
Imitation Test (EI) were predicted to elicit implicit knowledge, whereas the Untimed
Grammaticality Judgement Test (UGJT) and the Metalinguistic Knowledge Test (MKT)
were predicted to elicit explicit knowledge. It found that EI elicited implicit knowledge
while TGJT, UGJT and MKT tapped into explicit knowledge. The finding provided evidence
that production tasks which require learners to focus on meaning are more likely to
induce learner’s implicit knowledge, while tasks which had time pressure was not necessarily
effective for eliciting it.
