Reviewing the Effects of Explicit and Implicit Grammar Instruction in Second Language Acquisition : A Literature Review

Abstract: The syllabus for English 5 in Swedish upper secondary school has a strong communicative focus, and grammar is only explicitly mentioned once throughout the syllabus. This raised my interest about the role and importance of explicit grammar teaching in Swedish upper secondary schools. The aim of this thesis is to review the effectiveness of explicit and implicit grammar instruction in second language learning contexts. To guide the research, the following research questions were formulated: 1) What are the effects of explicit grammar instruction on L2 learners' grammar knowledge? 2) What are the effects of implicit grammar instruction on L2 learners' grammar knowledge? 3) How are these effects sustained in the long term? Subsequently, empirical articles on the topic were read and analysed to answer the research questions. The results showed that explicit grammar instruction was more effective than implicit grammar instruction, although in some cases relating to the complexity of structures, explicit grammar instruction was found to be more effective for complex structure. Explicit grammar instruction facilitated the learning of both explicit and implicit knowledge whereas implicit grammar instruction primarily facilitated learning of implicit knowledge. Also, explicit grammar instruction showed positive effects for receptive and productive skills, while implicit instruction primarily benefitted receptive skills. Lastly, results showed that explicit instruction needed to be accompanied by follow-up instruction or communicative tasks in order to facilitate long-term effects. In the only longitudinal study reviewed, it was concluded that exposure to naturalistic language was more important than the type of explicit grammar instruction (FonF vs. FonFs) in predicting language proficiency. Thus, it can be argued that explicit grammar instruction should have a significant role in second language classrooms, although either incidentally or intentionally accompanied by communicative or consciousness-raising tasks.