The role of Procedural Memory in Language Acquisition

Language acquisition is based on skill, not knowledge. Although a learner may have a very good grasp of the rules of grammar and a large vocabulary, they may not be able to correctly formulate a spoken sentence when called upon to do so. Language fluency depends upon the acquisition of habits, or “automatization,” in which repeated activities (in this case, speech patterns) become engrained “procedural memories.”
Procedural memories (habits and skills) do not depend on the cereal cortex like conscious memory, but on deep brain structures such as basal ganglia and the cerebellum. Developing these habits, where the speaker is not aware of the exact nature of the task they are accomplishing, is essential for fluency, since it frees the conscious mind from dealing with the form of language, and allows them to focus on content. Given the central role Procedural Memory plays in fluency, it behooves language instructors to do everything in our power to aid the automatization process in students.
Repetition is the key to fluency. Because we cannot move information into long-term memory without repetition, teachers need to make sure their students are using and being repeatedly exposed to the same specific language. This language should not include only vocabulary, but phrases, or “delexicalized chunks.” These phrases which allow the speaker to quickly call upon correct constructions when speaking by activating “the relevant basal ganglia circuit,” rather than laboriously deriving grammar rules and hunting for vocabulary in memory.
This repetition can be accomplished by:
-Keeping an ongoing list of vocabulary. The student and teacher both keep a list of vocabulary and phrases, which the student is expected to study.
-Ongoing quizzing. At the beginning of every lesson, the student is quizzed on the vocabulary they learned the previous day. At the very least, this ensures the student gets repeated exposure to target vocabulary during class. Hopefully, desire to do well in these quizzes will motivate the student to prepare for class.
-Reinforcement/repetition of vocabulary in listening, reading, conversation. Some textbooks have themes for each chapter, and the student has many opportunities to read, hear, and use each new form.
-Constant exposure. The student should read, speak, and listen to L2 constantly, thereby increasing the chances that they will stumble upon a word they are currently working to automatize. This “binding,” of a word to a discrete event in life helps a word remain fixed in long-term memory.
All of these techniques require work on the part of the student. This is why, especially at the early stages of language-learning, the student’s attitude and motivation are the best predictors of success. Students subconsciously “appraise” the vocabulary drills they are doing, and, according to Scherer according to vide “dimensions:” novelty, pleasantness, goal relevance, coping, potential, and self and social compatibility. Also, it seems that “integrative motivation” (an interest in the culture of the people who speak L2) is more effective than “instrumental motivation” (a desire to learn the language for a prosaic reason, such as career development). Keeping these facts in mind, the teacher can improve the chances that the students will be motivated to automatize their language in these ways:
-Identify something you can only do in L2. Books, movies, and music produced by the L2 culture, if they appeal to the student, will give a direct incentive to understand the L2.
-Mnemonics, if they are funny, will entertain students. For example, for the word startle, the student can imagine a tutle, which sees a star and is surprised.
-Using music. Music that makes use of a particular kind of language (for example Queen’s “We are the Champions” and the present perfect) will give the student extra support as they memorize the form.
-Associate with pictures. Visual learners especially will respond well to exercises that associate words with pictures. For example, the student can look at a complex picture and describe what is happening in the picture.
-Associating with movement or signs. Students can write words in the air with their fingers, reinforcing the connection between the shape of the letters and the sound of the word. Associating words with hand signals (the word “hit” with the right fist hitting the left palm, for example) also significantly decreases the difficulty of memorizing certain words.
-Say it with feeling. Student practices saying specific phrases in different emotional registers (angry, happy, etc.), which helps to bind the language to an emotional state (for example: the first conditional in a hopeful voice, “If I get money, I will go to Jamaica,” the second conditional in a pessimistic voice, “If I got money, I would go to Jamaica…I guess,” the third conditional in a complaining voice, “If I had gotten money, I would have gone to Jamaica!” Another activity to bind language to emotion is for the student to memorize a scene from a play or movie, and recite the scene like an actor.

Works Cited:
Fabbro, F. (1999). The neurolinguistics of bilingualism: An introduction. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Leaver, B. Lou, Ehrman, M., and Shekhtman, B. (2005) Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge, UKL Cambridge University Press.
Lee, Namhee (2004). The Neurobiology of Procedural Memory. In J. Schumann(Ed.), The Neurobiology of Learning: Perspectives From Second Language Acquisition (pp. 43-74). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Naiman, N., Frohlich, M. Stern, H. H. and Todesco, A. (1978). The Good Language Learner. Toronto: OISE.
Scherer, K R (1984). Emotion as a multi-component process: A model and some cross-cultural data. In P. Sharer (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology: Vol. 5. Emotions, relationships and health (pp. 37-63). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Sinclair, I. M. (1991). Corpus, concordance, and collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The Verbal (Linguistic) Learning Style. http://www.learning-styles-online.com/style/verbal-linguistic/