The role of declarative and procedural knowledge in teaching foreign language grammar

Gabriela Lojová

Abstract:

The role of declarative and procedural knowledge in foreign language teaching has been permanently discussed among theoreticians as well as teacher practitioner and experts are searching for the optimal model of foreign language teaching. In this article I introduce the adaptation of Johnson´s model that enables educators to respect learners´ variables as well as current socio-cultural and educational conditions in Slovakia. The explanation of the essential characteristics of central concepts (declarative and procedural knowledge, automization) from psychological and methodological perspectives is followed by a suggested learning sequence and some recommendations for teaching practice based on psychology of learning.

Key words:

Foreign language learning/teaching, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, atomization, proceduralization,

For decades there have been never-ending discussions among experts in foreign language (FL) learning and teaching on various aspects and differences between language learning and acquisition, explicit and implicit knowledge, focus on accuracy vs. fluency, the role of knowledge and skills (DeKeyser 1997, Ellis 1997, MacWinning 2004,Rutherford and Scharwood Smith 1988 et al). Experts, in their endeavour to provide teachers and methodologists with sound theoretical background underlying various teaching methods, search for more effective approaches and models of FL teaching. In so doing, it is of vital importance to realize that to find the most suitable model they have to bear in mind not only various linguistic and psychological aspects of FL teaching processes but also various internal and environmental components determining the process of FL learning. In this article I would like to focus on the role of declarative and procedural knowledge in foreign language grammar teaching to secondary school learners.

Last two decades in Slovak education, as well as in other surrounding countries, have been characterized by many changes in foreign language teaching; the permanent re-evaluation of our teaching practice, efforts to implement newly introduced teaching approaches, methods and techniques, in order to make language learning more efficient and to meet the changing needs of our learners. In spite of all the changes our experience still shows that secondary school students achieve a relatively high level of knowledge about the language, but their ability to apply this knowledge in real communication is very often much inferior. Common practice shows that students can learn grammar rules and structures easily and are able to use them correctly in various focussed and decontextualized exercises. In real communication, however, they usually make even basic mistakes and their performance is far from fluent self-confident communication. From the perspective of grammar teaching, this phenomenon seems to be caused by the traditionally dominant focus on explicit grammar knowledge, on the presentation of grammar structures and the overemphasizing of correct forms to the detriment of their meaning and functions, i.e. overemphasizing accuracy over fluency. This approach also leads to a lack of focus and classroom time for practicing and the automization of learnt theoretical knowledge, which is crucial for fluent and correct speech perception and production in real communicative situations. Empirical evidence as well as some research findings (Lojová 2004, Straková 2001, Rafajlovičová 2000.) show that one of the reasons for this situation is the survival of “traditional” (as opposed to innovative) ways of teaching FL at our schools despite an increasing number of teachers who apply modern approaches and teaching methods.

The research findings may signal deeper problems that are rooted in the theoretical background of communicative methodology and its application to our socio-cultural and educational context resulting in confusion about the role of theoretical knowledge in FL teaching and a lack of clear guidance for teachers as for teaching grammar. The detailed theoretical analyses of the problem pointed to the urgent necessity to search for a model of teaching and learning FL grammar that would match specific Slovak conditions as well as the developmental and psychological characteristics and needs of our learners in secondary education and so increase the effectiveness of teaching English.

State-of-the-art professional literature provides us with various conceptions of language and theories and models of language learning. We consider the most suitable theory to be Keith Johnson’s conception of language learning as skill development based on Anderson’s cognitive ACT model of learning. (Anderson 1989, Johnson 1996). It offers a natural psychological learning theory framework for the communicative approach, which was previously lacking despite theoretically highly elaborated and widely applied communicative methodologies. The conception provides us with the detailed characteristics of the central psychological concepts within the study of cognitive skills acquisition: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and atomization. Psychologically speaking, the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge is the distinction in how knowledge is represented in memory. Declarative representation (i.e. the knowledge of theoretical rules) means that learners store knowledge in long-term memory as a database, which takes the form of a set of semantic networks and also a general set of interpretative procedures (rules) to use the knowledge. When parts of the database are required to perform a certain operation, a set of general procedures is used (learners consciously apply the learned rule). Procedural knowledge (i.e. the ability to use the form correctly without being aware of the explicit rule) is embedded in procedures for action and not kept in a separate storage area. When the form is required, it is there readily to hand – a set of specific programs that incorporate required data within them.

Automization is a fundamental component of skill development. A newly learned skill takes up a great deal of conscious attention, or channel capacity. The role of automization in skill learning is to free important channel capacity for the higher-level tasks which require it. Both ways of memory storage have their advantages and disadvantages and Keith Johnson in his model tries to utilize advantages of each way, as they both may be useful in different language tasks as well as in learning under different conditions and in different environments. Declarative representation has generative character, it is economical as for memory capacity, there is low risk as for an appropriate use, but it is heavy on channel capacity as it requires conscious processes, and therefore is slow in production. Procedural knowledge, on the other hand, is faster in production, light on channel capacity, but it is not in generative form, uneconomical, and there is higher risk that the form will not be used properly and adequately in new situations and contexts.

The detailed explanation of psychological characteristics of declarative and procedural knowledge, of their distinction and relations (see in Johnson, 1996) enables different sequencing of methodological steps when teaching languages in different situations, conditions and contexts. The learning sequence that seems the most suitable to our conditions, i.e. to secondary education in Slovakia is:

Declarative encoding – procedural encoding – tuning

Declarative encoding means that the information, i.e. an explicit grammar rule, is provided usually through instruction. The aim is for a learner to develop the initial declarative representation of the language structure, which is a starting point for proceduralization.

Procedural encoding is the movement from declarative to procedural, i.e. a change in how knowledge is represented in memory. With practice, the knowledge is converted into a procedural form in which it is directly applied. In that case required information is retrieved from long-term memory and held in working memory. That is, the database specific to the task becomes incorporated into the production. Proceduralization, i.e. changing declarative knowledge to procedural, occurs through the process of automization when learners gradually automate the use of consciously learnt grammar forms so that they can free their channel capacity and concentrate attention on more complex functions such as to convey the proper meaning, semantic relations, the choice of adequate linguistic devices, feedback from an interlocutor or social environment, etc. At the procedural stage three general learning mechanisms operate: generalization, discrimination and strengthening process. These mechanisms together constitute a process of tuning, which is needed in comprehending and conveying meanings clearly (Johnson 1996). Tuning is a very important long-lasting process that we tend not to be aware of and therefore underestimate. The result of sufficient tuning is that learners fully understand not only the form but mainly the possible meanings and functions of a given structure in various contexts and situations. Particularly obvious it is in the ability to differentiate between similar structures and to use them correctly and appropriately in diverse communicative situations, contexts and discourses. As the results of our research show, this seems to be the key problem of secondary school learners (Lojová 2004).

However, when the full proceduralization has been achieved, it is necessary to maintaining the declarative representation. There is a tendency for declarative representations to fall away when procedural knowledge is developed. It means that when learners use a structure automatically for a longer time, they tend to forget the initial declarative rule. This should be avoided, as declarative representation always remains important, particularly in some special writing tasks or when full proceduralization has not been achieved.

Comparing Johnson’s model with traditional teaching (based on grammar-translation and audio-lingual methods) points to crucial differences in emphasis and the proportion of time devoted to theoretical knowledge and practice, which may be illustrated as follows:

Traditional teaching

DEC focussed practice procederal.

Johnson‘s model

The model also underlines different approaches to practice, providing a thorough specification of how automization takes place and how it can be facilitated so as to result in full proceduralization. The full understanding of the above described characteristics and processes enable educators to sequence the teaching/learning stages according to their learners´ characteristics, current conditions or different contexts. The described sequence of learning stages is recommended for teaching FL in secondary education and to adult learners. For younger learners different sequence should be adopted, based more on the initial procedural stage. This is due to developmental differences, in particular the level of cognitive development, which is fundamental for the comprehension of abstract linguistic knowledge.

Theoretically speaking, Johnson’s conception reformulates the aims of communicative methodology as a shift from “message focus” to “form defocus”, which explicitly defines the place of declarative grammar knowledge in communicative teaching. In addition, it justifies and underlines the importance of meaningful practice for the development of communicative competence. The analysis of automization of language forms emphasizes its central place and points to an urgent need to focus much more on appropriate teaching and learning activities. Another important advantage of implementing Johnson’s theory to FL teaching in Slovakia is, that it respects our educational traditions which have lead to a relatively high level of metalinguistic awareness as a consequence of the ways of teaching the Slovak language in our schools.

To provide educators with an effective tool for developing FL communicative competence, the theoretical analysis and adaptation of the model to our conditions must be followed by detailed instructions for its didactic application (see in Lojova 2004). They can be summarised briefly as follows:

As for declarative knowledge, teachers may use any methods and techniques to present information and assist learners to consciously create a comprehensible inner representation of a FL grammar system, which is a starting point for proceduralization. In so doing they should bear in mind some basic rules:

o Teachers should not overestimate the importance of theoretical knowledge as it tends to create communication barriers;

o Fundamental is the choice and sequencing of theoretical knowledge, which is normally given in a textbook. However, a teacher should be flexible and adapt the content to learners;

o Learners should learn rules relevant for their communicative needs, otherwise they cannot practice them meaningfully and effectively;

o Learners should not be overloaded at a given time, to avoid creating chaos in their system of grammar knowledge.

o New rules must be connected with the learner's existing system so that permanent restructuring may occur.

As for automization, the crucial is for a teacher to facilitate it and to assist learners so that they can achieve full proceduralization. In so doing it is important to bear in mind that automization is a long-lasting process, which needs time and teacher´s conscious control. It is also a gradual process beginning with the automization of lower subskills that are components of higher-level skills. During this process learnt knowledge needs time for maturation, which must be respected also in the treatment of errors. It is obvious that in any learning activity more structures are automatized at a time. Their different stages of automization should be carefully monitored and systematically coordinated by the teacher, which seems to be the most difficult task.

It is obvious that automization may be facilitated mainly through repetition and “never-ending” practice. There is an urgent need in Slovakia to adopt appropriate teaching and learning activities that facilitate the automization of language forms much more than we have been doing so far. When organizing teaching activities and selecting appropriate techniques, teachers should be aware of some fundamental principles derived from psychology of learning that underlie the effective practice with long-lasting effect:

o It is better to thoroughly practice less than superficially more.

o It is better to develop in learners self-confident communication at a lower level than to overload them with too many rules, which may create communicative barriers, inhibitions, demotivation and frustration with their ability to use all the rules correctly and fluently.

o Newly practiced knowledge must be permanently connected with the existing system of knowledge. As a result of the cyclical practice of learnt structures, learners will comprehend differences in the usage, meaning, and function of similar structures and gradually use them correctly and fluently in communication.

o For the automization of lower subskills various drills, decontextualized and focussed activities may be effectively used. Learners, however, should not spend too much time on these activities.

o A short period of focussed activities should be followed by extensive practice in communicative and productive activities.

o Real and meaningful communication tasks must be perceived by students as an opportunity to communicate and express themselves, not as an opportunity to practice and revise grammar forms.

o Practice must also be based on the principles of task-based learning in which the tasks are sequenced according to their level of difficulty. A teacher can control the gradation of task difficulty in many ways (see in Skehan 1998b, Willis 1996 et al).

o To make automization more effective, it is vital to promote much more student-centred teaching, an approach that teachers claim to favour though its application is disproved by the research findings as well as by everyday experience.

Obviously, in Slovakia, where learners in their everyday life are not immersed in FL environment where proceduralization could be enhanced, it is not possible to achieve full automization of all grammar structures covered in secondary school syllabus. To make FL teaching more effective and to lay sound foundation for life-long learning and proceduralization, it is necessary to differenciate which structures should be fully proceduralized, which just partially and which can achieve just the declarative stage (see in Lojová 2004).

I am aware of the fact that some of these principles provoke discussion and are not compatible with current tendencies in FL teaching aiming at standardized achievements. However, when looking for the ways of achieving standards and general objectives we cannot be too content centred but we have to keep in mind learners with their developmental and individual differences, internal, environmental, social conditions and constraints (Lojová 2005, Tudor 1996). The implementation of the adapted model is a gradual process consisting of some crucial steps and various tasks. Among these the fundamental seem to be the re-evaluation of curricula, preparation of teaching materials, and approppriate teacher training.

Résumé

In Slovakia empirical evidence and research findings point to the necessity to search for a new model of teaching foreign languages that would explicitly define the place of declarative and procedural knowledge. Johnson’s conception of language learning as skill development seems to be the most suitable model. The article focuses on the explanation of its basic concepts as well as on its adaptation to our current conditions in secondary education. The theoretical analysis is followed by some suggestions for the successful implementation of the model into teaching practice.

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