Consciousness in Second Language Learning: Psychological Perpectives on the Role of Conscious Processes in Vocabulary Acquisition

This article reviews research related to conscious and unconscious processes in L2 and LI vocabulary acquisition. Firstly it presents a summary conceptual analysis of the different aspects of vocabulary acquisition. After demonstrating that most vocabulary acquisition typically comes as a result of incidental learning, it next considers three research areas: (i) the associations between vocabulary and academic intelligence, (ii) implicit memory, (iii) global amnesia. These diverse areas all reveal a dissociation whereby the recognition and production aspects of vocabulary learning rely on implicit learning, but meaning and mediational aspects of vocabulary heavily involve explicit, conscious learning processes. The operations of the input and output (I/O) lexical modules are briefly described, followed by an analysis of the explicit cognitive systems for mediation with semantics and conceptual systems. Finally the pedagogic implications of these findings are outlined.