Unconscious language learning

When linguists talk about unconscious or implicit language learning, they don’t mean learning while you sleep. Rather, they are talking about one of the most intriguing of all mental phenomena: the ability to learn the complex and subtle regularities that underlie a language without even realising. For children, such ‘implicit’ language learning seems to happen spontaneously in the first few years of life; yet, in adulthood, learning a second language is generally far from effortless and has varied success. So marked is the difference between first- and second-language learning – at least when it takes the form of classroom learning – it might suggest that implicit learning makes no significant contribution to learning a second language. Or it may indicate that typical foreign language teaching doesn’t take full advantage of the process. “In a teaching situation, merely teaching the rules of a language may not be the only answer,” explained Dr. Williams at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics of Cambridge University. “Instead, using tasks that focus attention on the relevant grammatical forms in language could help learners access unconscious learning pathways in the brain. This would greatly enhance the speed of acquisition of a second language.” http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-unconscious-language.html Sam: Implicit learning highlights the strength of the immersion method of language learning. Classroom teaching focuses on one point at a time, vocabulary, grammar or comprehension. This piecemeal approach does not reflect a language in its totality. Le Beaumont opts for immersion and drops the classroom teaching approach.