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a. Explicit Learning
To master a language, consciously or unconsciously ones will not be able to avoid the process of learning. Based on language acquisition theory, there are
two types of learning. They are implicit learning and explicit learning. Implicit learning happens when the learners have internalized linguistic features without
realizing it, whereas explicit learning is the opposite of implicit one in which there must be consciousness in acquiring the linguistic features.
What is so important in these two learning dichotomies is consciousness. Consciousness is the central idea of these learning dichotomies. Schmidt has
contributed so much to clarify the roles of consciousness in learning Ellis, 2008:434-435. He classifies consciousness into four senses. The first one is
consciousness as control. That is, students‘ performance to show their actual use of knowledge by involving conscious processes of selection and assembly. This
performance can be seen in guided practice activity in which learners are asked to perform a dialog by using certain linguistic forms in which they are learning at
that time. The second one is consciousness as intentionality. That is, the learners can deliberately decide to learn any elements of the target language, such as
grammatical forms, vocabularies, and language strategies. The third one is consciousness as attention. To make learning take place, learners need to pay
special attention to language form. This idea encompasses Noticing Hypothesis which believe that learning will take place when learners focus on forms. The
last one is consciousness as awareness. That is, learners should become aware of what they are learning. Schmidt in Ellis 2008: 449 distinguishes two types of
44 awareness; awareness as noticing and metalinguistic awareness. The former
refers to the awareness which involves conscious attention to surface elements, whereas the later refers to awareness of the processes involved in incorporating
intake into long- term memory. According to this framework, pragmatic information must be consciously attended to for the learning of pragmatics to
take place Ishihara, 2010:101. When the pragmatic features are noticed by learners deliberately or inadvertently, the input of learning materials possibly
becomes intake and will be stored in learners‘ long term memory. According to Schmidt in Ellis 2008:436, it is not possible to separate
attention and awareness. To notice a certain linguistic form, learners should be aware of the correct target forms. In other words, there should be an attempt to
raise learners aware of the existence of the specific linguistic features in the language students learn through explicit learning. To support his argument, he
uses his own experience in acquiring his Portugese when he was in Brazil. According to him, the correct forms of Portugese that he could produce were
those which he had previously noticed people using when they communicated with him Schmidt in Ellis, 2003: 55.
Based on some reports mentioned by Ellis 2008:451, many studies show that explicit learning is effective. The studies found that explicit learning is more
effective than implicit learning. In addition, there is no study report that implicit learning could work better than explicit learning does.
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b. Noticing Hypothesis
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