A Study Of The Differences Of Implicit And Explicit Grammar Knowledge Application By College EFL Learners

Grammar knowledge has been a long-standing interest in the studies of applied linguistics. Numerous researchers have made a distinction between implicit and explicit grammar knowledge by clarifying their definitions, measurements and relationship accordingly, which contributes to the development of relevant studies. Based on previous researches, the present study mainly focuses on the differences of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge application by college EFL learners, which not only reaffirms the importance of grammar knowledge, but also suggests that enough attention should be paid to learners‘ individual difference in the practice of grammar knowledge teaching and learning so as to improve the pertinence of grammar instruction and enhance college EFL learners‘ ability of grammar knowledge application.There were altogether 78 sophomores in the experiment of the present study, all of whom were non-English majors from Soochow University. An Implicit Grammar Knowledge Test(timed grammaticality judgment test) and an Explicit Grammar Knowledge Test(untimed proofreading test) were conducted to examine the participants‘ application of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge respectively. The participants were assigned to different groups according to their language proficiency level, gender and major in the course of data analysis, to detect whether these three variables make any difference to college EFL learners‘ application of grammar knowledge.It can be concluded from the study that high EFL achievers‘ ability of applying implicit and explicit grammar knowledge is much better than that of medium and low EFL achievers, which is remarkably embodied in their application of certain grammar structures. Good ability of grammar knowledge application is certainly a distinctive feature between high EFL achievers and lower ones, which is an indispensable component of excellent language competence. After dividing the participants into different groups according to their gender and major, the author finds that female learners perform better than males in the application of both implicit and explicit grammar knowledge, but the difference is not significant. Although social science majors‘ ability of applying implicit and explicit grammar knowledge is slightly better than that of natural science ones, there is no statistically significant difference between them, either. As a result, the analysis of such influential factors as gender and major to grammar knowledge application is eliminated in the present study.The study also presents a scenario of all the participants‘ application of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge. Generally speaking, college EFL learners‘ ability of applying implicit grammar knowledge remains at an intermediate level, which is significantly better than that of explicit one. Their ability of explicit grammar knowledge application needs to be improved. The study indicates that much importance should be attached to learners‘ explicit grammar knowledge application to ensure the organic unity of functionality and accuracy of language. Moreover, implicit and explicit grammar knowledge instruction may be included ingeniously rather than excluded mutually to help college EFL learners cultivate their ability of applying grammar knowledge in a more comprehensive way.The author also summarizes some limitations of the study at the end of the thesis according to the research procedures and the data analysis results, trying to provide some referential suggestions for future studies.