SLA RESEARCH ON SELF-DIRECTION: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES

Within the scheme of the present study, the essential role of practice for
restructuration makes me conceptualise these processes together.

In Johnson’s, proceduralisation refers to the process of declarative knowledge
being turned into procedural knowledge (1996, 96)⁶. However, as I see it,
proceduralisation is not the only process present in the PRO stage of language learning.
For me, this stage consists of two main processes: restructuration and proceduralisation.
In terms of learners’ goals, restructuration leads to accuracy while proceduralisation aims
to fluency. Any of them, or, in most cases, the combination of both also trigger
complexity.

7.2.3.1 The issue Ofpractising

The issue of practising is very salient in the learners’ view. As it was seen in
section 6.2 (p. 163), one of the learners’ beliefs about language learning is conceiving
language learning as grammar + practice. There were even some learners who gave more
weight to practice (than to grammar) as a key element to master a language. However,
they also showed evidence of having problems when dealing with practising.

After having studied and understood a grammar rule, the participants responded
that they needed practice in order to manage the form. Their responses denote different
issues. S, for instance, mentioned practice as the factor that he needed to improve his
language; however, he was never able to give a concrete situation for practising. A, in
contrast, shows that he is aware of his problem:

A: I know now that what I need is practise but how?

This uncertainty of how to handle the practice factor of learning a language was very
evident when they were working with the assigned forms. They did not have any
problems for planning the first stages but they were very insecure, unhappy, reluctant
and unrealistic when planning their practice of the grammatical form. Here are some
examples of this. S talks about his ‘unhappiness’ about his lack of practice:

S: I am not happy because I don’t use the words I learned

E also feels the need to practice but she replaces it with imagination. That is,
instead of actually producing the language in order to practice it, E imagines linguistic

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