Perceptions of Explicit and Implicit Knowledge Use among Korean Advanced L2 Learners

This study explores how five Korean advanced L2 learners perceive their use of explicit and implicit knowledge. Using linguistic autobiographies and in-depth interviews, the participants’ perceptions of L2 linguistic knowledge was investigated. To analyze the degree of explicitness and implicitness, five elements―levels of awareness, learning strategies, speech monitoring, systematicity, and the influence of their L1―were considered. The findings indicate that participants tend to perceive L2 vocabulary and idioms as explicit knowledge, while their perception of grammatical knowledge considered either explicit or implicit. The results of the study suggest that the participants' L2 knowledge may either remains explicit or has the potential to convert to implicit, partially supporting the claims of the non-interface or the weak interface position.