Explicit and Implicit Cognitive Aptitudes, L2 Outcome Measures, and Learning of Morphosyntax under an Incidental Condition

Abstract

This study is the first to combine recent methodological advances to the measurement of explicit and implicit knowledge in an investigation of learning under incidental exposure. Participants were exposed to a semi-artificial language, Japlish, and subsequently tested as to the extent to which they had developed explicit and/or implicit knowledge. Subjective measures of awareness, objective measures of linguistic knowledge, and explicit and implicit cognitive aptitudes were employed to triangulate learning outcomes at two testing sessions. Overall results shed new light on the complexity of explicit and implicit learning under incidental conditions. Both learning types were confirmed in the experiment, but they occurred to a different degree and extent. Furthermore, the study identifies clear discrepancies among the four approaches to measuring explicit and implicit knowledge, with some being rigorous and others tending to underestimate or overestimate. The study calls for future research with more longitudinal and situated analyses of the phenomena.