Explicit versus implicit grammar in the teaching of the ser/estar distinction in Spanish

This study addresses the question of whether an explicit or implicit method is more effective in teaching second language grammars and which method produces the best short-term and long-term results. In an explicit approach learners are given a rule, and then practice is provided in using the rule, while in an implicit approach, learners are given contextualized meaningful language samples and they are expected to induce the rules, as children do in their native language. The study focuses on the Spanish ser/ estar distinction before adjectives and with locatives.; Four classes of transitional elementary Spanish, taught by the same instructor, provided the subjects of the study. Regarding ser/ estar, she taught two groups explicitly according to William Bull's formulation of the contrast; she taught the other two implicitly. In the explicit classes, the students were given the rules governing the usage of ser and estar. In the implicit classes no rules were given until after the second posttest. Instead, the implicit subjects were exposed to many examples of ser and estar in context. Before the instructional treatments, the students were given a pre-test, consisting of a cloze test in the form of a paragraph and a short question designed to elicit a paragraph that required the use of ser and estar, and a questionnaire about their background in Spanish.; Immediately following the instructional period, the students were given the first post-test. After that, a sampling of students from both the implicit and explicit groups was interviewed to assess their spontaneous use of ser and estar. Approximately a month later a second post-test was given to measure the students' retention of the learning of the ser/estar distinction. A third post-test was administered after the explicit subjects were given a review of Bull's rules while the implicit subjects were presented with those rules for the first time.; The results showed that both explicit and implicit instruction are effective in teaching the ser/estar distinction with adjectives and locatives. The only significant difference between the two treatments was that the explicit subjects had higher scores on the first post-test on the composition.