ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the definition and operationalization of this thorny construct and then the empirical research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) on the role of awareness and lack of in L2 learning, or implicit learning and explicit learning. To address directly the role of awareness in the L2 learning process, it is important to include only studies that have methodologically investigated this construct as an independent variable and investigated it within naturally occurring languages. Operationalizing awareness or lack of at this stage views learning as a process and provides a richer insight into the actual point of learning the L2. From an instructional perspective, chapter has inductive instruction, that is assumed to involve implicit learning, versus deductive instruction, that is assumed to involve explicit learning. To situate the debate on the role of implicit learning in SLA, it is important to report the first studies that provided evidence of learning without awareness.
