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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES The weak interface position, however, offers a compromise between the two extremes. It holds that there is a possibility of explicit knowledge becoming implicit (Ellis 2009: 207) and that “explicit knowledge facilitates the development of implicit knowledge through promoting other processes (e.g., noticing) that aid acquisition.” According to Schmidt (1993, 1995, 2001), noticing helps learners spot certain linguistic features they can acquire. Nassaji (2017) points out that the significance of the interface position lies in the fact that it raises learners’ awareness by channeling their attention to linguistic elements “in meaning-focused contexts.” In the case of EE activities, for instance, it is not necessarily enough to be exposed to the given L2, but a certain degree of noticing is required for the input to become intake, even if it occurs implicitly, i.e., if a certain linguistic element is not noticed, it is not likely to be registered by the learner. This is what Gass (1988) calls noticing the gap: when learners compare and contrast the L2 linguistic feature in the input with their existing knowledge. In this respect, both form and meaning are simultaneously attended to, by which criticism of the non-interface and the strong interface position is tackled as the weak interface position does not overemphasize neither the importance of meaning nor form; it claims that both are equally important. Implicit learning and incidental learning are closely related concepts and may indeed seem, at first glance, to describe the same process. However, it is vital to distinguish between the two as they address different dimensions of learning, and though there may be a significant overlap between them, this overlap is incomplete. Hulstijn (2003: 360) points out that incidental learning and implicit learning are not synonyms, as the latter “entails more than what is meant by incidental learning.” Therefore, it is important to address this terminological issue and distinguish between incidental and implicit learning. 2.2.2.3 Distinguishing between incidental/intentional and implicit/explicit learning When determining and identifying the kind of learning taking place when engaging in EE activities, intentional and incidental learning, as well as explicit and implicit learning, may be taken into consideration. Ellis (2009) claims that intentional and explicit learning and incidental and implicit learning are similar concepts. On the one hand, in the case of both intentional and explicit learning, there is an attempt of the learner to “understand” what is to be acquired. On the other hand, incidental and implicit learning “both involve the absence of intentionality (Ellis 2009: 263). However, researchers such as Hulstijn (2003) and Dörnyei (2009b) defined incidental learning through testing. In their interpretation, incidental learning occurs when learners do not + 28 +
