Implicit and Explicit Learning, Knowledge and Instruction

(1) Implicit learning proceeds without making demands on central attentional resources. As N. Ellis (2008: 125) puts it, ‘generalizations arise from conspiracies of memorized utterances collaborating in productive schematic linguistic productions’. Thus, the resulting knowledge is subsymbolic, reflecting statistical sensitivity to the structure of the learned material. In contrast, explicit learning typically involves memorizing a series of successive facts and thus makes heavy demands on working memory. As a result, it takes place consciously and results in knowledge that is symbolic in nature (i.e. it is represented in explicit form). (2) In the case of implicit learning, learners remain unaware of the learning that has taken place, although it is evident in the behavioral responses they make. Thus, learners cannot verbalize what they have learned. In the case of explicit learning, learners are aware that they have learned something and can verbalize what they have learned.