Planned Focus on Form: Automatization of procedural knowledge

The present study is premised on Anderson's ACT model that proposes declarative knowledge is automatizable through practice (1982). The research examined the extent to which declarative knowledge of one morphosyntactic structure, namely present perfect, can be automatized 2 days after practice and can be retained 2 weeks after practice. Twenty intermediate students participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to experimental (G1) and comparison (G2) groups. G1 received rule explanation, mechanical practice, meaningful practice, and planned communicative practice. G2, however, received rule explanation, mechanical practice, and meaningful practice. Overall, the results indicated more automatization measured in terms of reduction in error rate and reaction time on the part of G1than G2. The results obtained two weeks later showed the superiority of G1, too. The findings can be insightful for teachers who wish to have a communicative class not at the expense of discarding a focus on grammar.