ACT (ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF THOUGHT)

A group of models of the acquisition of expertise (Anderson, 1983), whose principles have been applied to second language learning.

The theory envisages two major components of long-term memory (LTM). Declarative memory contains factual and conceptual knowledge while production memory contains sets of production rules which specify how processes are to be carried out. Both supply working memory.

 A learning experience begins with pieces of declarative information which are relevant to the goals of a task: for example, the knowledge of what steps to take when starting a car. Declarative knowledge has to be employed step-by-step in order to achieve a goal. However, this makes heavy demands upon working memory. The learner therefore enters an associative stage where he/she economises on effort by simplifying the steps to be taken. Some of the steps become combined through a process of composition. Through another process known as proceduralisation, the learner comes to recognise the relevance of a particular piece of knowledge to a specific situation. Thus, instead of having to retrieve several pieces of information, a single automatic choice is made. At this stage, errors can occur when rules become over-generalised. However, the operation gradually turns abstract knowledge into a set of procedures which form the basis for production memory. Continuing the car example, the result is that the driver manages to start the car without having to focus attention upon individual steps.

Declarative memory demands a high level of control. However, in the final, autonomous stage of learning, established procedures become increasingly automatic and thus demand reduced levels of attention. At this point, the user may no longer be able to express verbally what it is that constitutes the skill.

Anderson himself has suggested that the speaking of a foreign language is a form of expertise like driving or chess-playing; and that ACTcan model the acquisition of second language syntax. One has to question the assumption that language learning necessarily employs declarative knowledge in the form of grammar rules as its point of departure; this is to take no account of inductive or communicative teaching practices or of the situation of the naturalistic learner. However, ACToffers a useful insight into the way in which a language learner progresses towards fluency as painfully assembled sentences are gradually proceduralised into chunks.

See also: Expertise, Knowledge, Second language acquisition: approaches

 Further reading: Anderson (1983); O’Malley and Chamot (1990)

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