title: Implicit and explicit instruction: what type of knowledge is promoted?
title: An empirical study investigating the effects of processing instruction,
      metalinguistic rule instruction and textual enhancement
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Moreno Vega, Jose
Publisher: name: Lancaster University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Explicit and Implicit Instruction
Textual Enhancement

description: Research has shown that input is essential to second language (L2)
      learning, but input alone may not always be enough for learning to occur.
      Specifically, adult learners need a pedagogical intervention such as
      form-focused instruction in order to gain proficiency in the L2.
      Form-focused instruction varies in its levels of explicitness as it
      comprises implicit types of training such as input enhancement and more
      explicit interventions like processing instruction. The effectiveness of
      implicit and explicit form-focused instruction has not been conclusive.
      Namely, there is contradicting evidence about whether both implicit and
      explicit form-focused instruction promote implicit or explicit knowledge
      respectively or whether each promotes both types of knowledge. There is
      also no certainty about the types of target forms that are more likely to
      be learned through implicit or explicit instruction.
      
      The present study addresses these shortcomings by reporting the main
      findings
      
      of a lab experiment conducted over a six-week period with university
      students learning English in Mexico. A pool of 124 learners of English as
      a foreign language participated. The linguistic target chosen for this
      study was the use of three prepositions: in, on and by which co-occur in
      the context of forms of transportation. Measures of implicit and explicit
      knowledge were used before and after giving all participants three
      training sessions to assess their progress. A delayed posttest was used to
      measure if any of the treatments had any long-term effects.
      
      Participants were randomly assigned to four different training conditions
      which
      
      varied in their degrees of explicitness. All participants except for those
      assigned to the control condition received exposure to textual
      enhancement. The textual enhancement condition did not involve any
      explicit type of instruction. The metalinguistic instruction condition
      comprised an explanation of three target rules in addition to textual
      enhancement. The processing instruction condition consisted of an
      explanation of the target rules plus the completion of structured input
      activities prior to exposure to textual enhancement.
      
      The current study investigates the type of knowledge that both implicit
      and
      
      explicit form-focused instruction promote. It also provides evidence of
      the delayed effects of each training condition. In addition to using the
      pre-posttest offline measures, this study also analyses participants’
      output produced during the training sessions. The results reveal that
      processing instruction, the most explicit treatment, fostered the most
      learning whereas textual enhancement, the implicit treatment, was less
      effective. Namely, textual enhancement led to explicit knowledge of the
      three target prepositions, and it facilitated the acquisition of implicit
      knowledge of the preposition by, but it did not promote implicit knowledge
      of the prepositions in and on. On the other hand, both explicit treatments
      (metalinguistic instruction and processing instruction) promoted implicit
      and explicit knowledge of the three target prepositions. In addition,
      there was less knowledge decay across time due to the explicit treatments.
      The findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical and pedagogical
      implications.