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THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
without the intention of learning. Schmidt (1990) posits that incidental learn¬
ing occurs only as the by-product of communication or engagement in any
activity where the main goal is not language learning. Consequently, it is pos¬
sible for learners to unknowingly acquire L2 forms, mainly but not only vo¬
cabulary items, through exposure to L2 input. In contrast, intentional learning
occurs when a learner decides to learn the vocabulary or the grammar of an
L2. In the case of the English language, extramural English activities may serve
the purpose of providing learners with such input. In contrast, in a classroom
context, learners usually do tasks with the intention of learning the vocabulary
or the grammar of the given L2, which is called intentional learning.
Incidental learning, however, is not restricted to extramural contexts, just
as intentional learning is not restricted to classroom learning, either. Schmidt
(1994) posited that incidental learning may occur in class, too, when learners,
for instance, learn about a certain grammatical structure or do a reading
comprehension task in a coursebook and their attention is centered on one
phenomenon, be they vocabulary items or grammatical structures, but simul¬
taneously, they acquire another linguistic form on which their attention was
not originally focused. An example of this would be a reading comprehension
text with specific vocabulary items, such as environmental protection, where
the main intentional goal of the learning, or in this case reading, process is to
learn related vocabulary items. Nevertheless, learners may incidentally pay
attention to other vocabulary items unrelated to environmental protection
and may infer the meaning of the item from the context.
Furthermore, incidental learning may happen with or without conscious¬
ness, depending on the extent to which the learner’s attention is allocated to
the given L2 forms (Ellis-Shintani 2014). Incidental learning, in this respect,
basically does not involve consciousness, but “impromptu conscious attention
to some features of the L2” may also take place (Loewen et al. 2009: 263). Ellis
and Shintani (2014: 174) emphasize that even though it would be logical to
assume that incidental learning, by nature, is an unconscious or subconscious
process, they point out that “allocating primary attention to one feature or to
comprehending the input does not preclude the possibility of peripheral at¬
tention being paid to some other linguistic feature,” which means that inten¬
tional and incidental learning both require at least a certain degree of con¬
sciousness.
2.2.2.2 The role of consciousness in SLA:
implicit and explicit learning
There is an ongoing debate in SLA about the possibility of learning without
any consciousness at all (Ellis 2008). When taking consciousness into account,
Nick Ellis (1994) distinguishes between two ways of second language learning;
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