Learning to Learn: Why Do We Need Varied Strategy Training?
153
5.2. Models of learning in support of strategy training In order to better understand how learning strategies can help learners become (more) self-directed, it is advisable to briefly review models of learning which constitute two main domains of current learning theory and research. As Chamot et al. (1999: 157–161) emphasize, it is essential to consider both cognitive learning models, which focus on the learner’s mental processes, and social-cognitive models, which stress the role of interaction and group processes in learning. Together, the models provide a rationale for purposefully varied strategy training. Let us begin with cognitive models. In search of a theory that could offer insights into the nature of language learning, O’Malley & Chamot (1990) refer to Anderson’s 1983, 1985 information processing theory and present language learning and learning strategies as complex cognitive skills. Essential to a good understanding of the theory is the fact that Anderson differentiates between two knowledge types in long-term memory: ‘declarative’ and ‘procedural’. Declarative knowledge means ‘knowing that’, or ‘static’ information in memory (e.g. word definitions, facts, or rules that one can verbalize). Procedural knowledge is ‘knowing how to do’, or ‘dynamic’ information in memory, which covers those complex cognitive skills and processes that we know how to carry out (e.g. reading). The former can be learned quickly, but builds best upon the learner’s prior knowledge; the latter grows gradually and only with abundant practice opportunities. Anderson explains the process of complex cognitive skill acquisition proposing a three-stage model, which illustrates learners’ route from ruledependent conscious declarative knowledge, through practice, to a more automatic, or proceduralized stage. Thus, skill learning begins with the cognitive stage, in which learners receive instructions, watch experts, and consciously build declarative knowledge of how to do a task. In language learning, this may imply studying formal aspects of an L2, memorizing words or grammar rules, or attending to L2 functional use of memorized chunks. During the associative stage learners relate skill elements more strongly to one another, spot and gradually reduce the number of errors in their declarative stores. As a result, their performance becomes more fluent, though not without errors, and grammar rules are still remembered. The autonomous stage automatizes the performance of a skill, makes it effortless, and requires less conscious monitoring of, or appeal to, underlying rules.