“Conscious” versus “Unconscious” Learning

This article examines the concept of consciousness in second language research. After defining theoretical assumptions and reviewing a number of controversies in the psycholinguistic and second language literature, I argue that although the terms conscious and unconscious have a place in our prescientific vocabulary, they have acquired too much surplus meaning and should be abandoned in favor of clearly defined empirical concepts. Lacking an adequate theory of mind that allows us to decide that particular mental states or operations are “conscious” or “unconscious,” one cannot falsify claims regarding consciousness in second language learning.