Development Of English Majors' Implicit And Explicit Knowledge Of Grammatical Structures In China

Since the distinction of implicit and explicit second language learning, there has been a large body of research on the two types of learning, the two types of representation of knowledge, the interface between them (both knowledge and learning) and explicit and implicit instruction in the fields of both experimental cognitive psychology and second language acquisition with different foci. Great controversy exists among literature regarding modeling and measuring the two types of knowledge. In addition, the results on the relative contributions of implicit and explicit knowledge to the development of L2 proficiency are far from being consistent. Meanwhile, few empirical studies attempted to address the EFL learners in the context of China.This study, therefore, was designed to explore the construct of second language knowledge by using a battery of four tests, and the nature of knowledge-proficiency relationship among L2 learners, especially in the context of EFL in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted, taking 91 undergraduate English majors at the first three grade levels as subjects at a top university in China.The Principal Component Factor Analysis was performed to investigate the predictions about the type of knowledge each test measured. It was found out that the Oral Imitation Test and grammatical items on the Timed GJT measures implicit knowledge while the ungrammatical items on the Untimed GJT and the Metalinguistic Knowledge Test measures explicit knowledge.A series of Kruskal-Wallis Test and Spearman Rank Correlation Analysis were performed in order to examine the relationship between implicit/explicit knowledge measures and proficiency measures which were first operationalized as grade levels and then the English achievement tests for each grade level. The major findings are as follows.First, English majors of Grades 1 and 2 belong to one homogeneous group of the lower level, and English majors of Grade 3 belong to another group of the higher level in terms of both implicit and explicit knowledge of grammatical structures. Generally, both implicit and explicit knowledge of grammatical features contribute strongly to general proficiency of a second language.Second, five grammatical structures—adverb placement, 3rd person–s, since/for, plural and possessive–s in terms of implicit knowledge, and one grammatical structure—dative alteration involving explicit knowledge developed significantly across grade levels. And only a limited number of moderately strong, statistically significant correlations emerged between scores for implicit/explicit knowledge of the specific grammatical structures and the achievement tests scores.Third, it was found out that less proficient learners counted more on their explicit knowledge of grammar, while more advanced learners were more confident to rely on their L2 implicit knowledge when completing the proficiency tests.Lastly, this study confirmed the previous finding that the difficulty of grammatical structures varied according to whether it is implicit or explicit knowledge of the structures involved. Structures that are easy in terms of explicit knowledge may be difficult in terms of implicit knowledge and vice versa.