Declarative vs. procedural memory in language learning: What every learner & teacher should know

Introduction

Why do so many people spend years studying a language; memorising verb tables, drilling grammar rules, passing exams; yet still struggle to speak fluently? The answer lies in how the human brain learns.

Language learning isn’t just about knowledge, it’s about memory & not just any memory, but the right kind. Most traditional language instruction is built on the idea that if we understand the rules, we can apply them. But cognitive science & language acquisition research tell a different story; the brain doesn’t work that way. The kind of memory that stores grammar rules (declarative memory) is not the same system we use when we listen, speak, read, write, & understand language (procedural memory) & crucially, the brain can’t simply transfer knowledge from one to the other.

To become fluent, learners need to move beyond memorising rules & focus on something deeper; exposure, pattern recognition, & meaningful use. This view has profound implications for how we teach & learn languages & it starts with understanding how memory actually works.

Declarative vs. procedural memory

Understanding how we learn language begins with understanding how our memory works. Human memory is not a single, uniform system. In fact, we have two main types of memory that play different roles in learning: declarative memory & procedural memory. Each one stores different kinds of information & is activated in different ways & this distinction is critical for language learners.

Declarative memory handles facts & information we can consciously recall. This includes things like the capital of France, the names of friends, or where we parked our car, sometimes referred to as encyclopedic knowledge. It’s the type of memory activated when we’re trying to memorise vocabulary lists or grammar rules. Language items stored in declarative memory tend to be more non-compositional, idiosyncratic, & therefore less flexible.

Procedural memory, on the other hand, deals with skills & patterns; the things we do without conscious thought, such as riding a bike, brushing our teeth, or catching a ball. It’s typically used for sequences, processes, activities, functions, rules, categories, & routes (for navigation). We don’t think about every muscle involved in catching a ball; through practice & diffuse attention, our brain encodes the necessary motor patterns until they run automatically. This is procedural memory at work.

In fact, the moment we start thinking about each movement in a practised task, like trying too hard to catch a ball, we often mess it up. That’s because declarative memory interferes with a process that’s meant to be run on autopilot, by procedural memory.

Reflective questions:

What types of classroom activities are more likely to activate declarative memory? What about procedural memory?
Can you think of examples from your own learning where trying to consciously recall a rule disrupted your performance?
Why is it important to distinguish between knowing about a language & being able to use it fluently?

How this relates to language learning

Language, like catching a ball, is largely a procedural skill. When we speak fluently, we’re not consciously retrieving grammar rules. Instead, our brain retrieves the appropriate, pre-formed chunks of language; patterns stored in procedural memory; & adapts them according to the meaning & circumstances of the situation.

Over time & with enough exposure & practice, we internalise these patterns through diffuse attention to language input. At first, we may not fully understand what we’re hearing or reading. But each encounter with familiar patterns makes a subtle imprint on our brain. Eventually, our neural pathways become sensitive enough that we begin to recognise these patterns consciously. That’s when language starts to “click.” Indeed, conscious “noticing” (Richard Schmidt) may more likely be the result of language development rather than the cause of it.

Procedural memory is slow to learn but fast & effortless to use

Language characteristics stored as procedural memory tend to be more schematic, abstract, & therefore more flexible. The ‘slots’ in constructions (CxG) are examples of where procedural memory processes can add flexibility to learnt language patterns. Once schematicised, constructions can quickly & non-consciously construct well-formed language output, while the speaker’s/writer’s conscious thought is on making purposeful real-world meaning. This schematicisation process requires a lot of meaningful practice in order to develop the fluency & flexibility, i.e. where the ‘slots’ are & what is preferred & dispreferred, & their semantic, form-meaning mappings.

Reflective questions:

If language fluency relies on procedural memory, how should we structure lessons to support pattern recognition & automaticity?
What role does “noticing” play in language development according to this view? How does this compare to how you’ve thought about noticing before?

The problem with rule-based learning

So what happens when we try to learn a language by focusing on grammar rules & memorising word lists?

In this case, we’re encoding information into declarative memory, which is great for facts but not ideal for procedural tasks like speaking a language fluently. This rule-based approach has been around for centuries. It feels intuitive because language can be analysed. We can point to a word on the page & describe its role. But just knowing this contributes little, if anything, to our communicative competence.

When we study grammar analytically, we’re doing a very focused, goal-directed activity, like memorising a shopping list or learning someone’s name. This kind of attention triggers declarative memory processes. Unfortunately, the brain can’t transfer knowledge from declarative memory to procedural memory directly.

That doesn’t mean grammar study is completely useless. Explicit knowledge of grammar can support procedural learning indirectly. If we understand a grammar rule, we may be better able to process it in real language input. This kind of processing can help our brain encode the rule procedurally over time but this effect is limited. In other words, because the benefits of explicit grammar teaching are so small, they shouldn’t be prioritised over reading, writing, listening, & speaking for contextualised, meaningful, purposeful language use. Unfortunately, all the dominant ELT coursebook series in Spain & elsewhere around the world prioritise grammar learning activities that trigger declarative memory processes & provide insufficient procedural memory language processing practice, resulting in poor progress & frustration for many students.

Reflective questions:

What are the limitations of teaching grammar rules explicitly & expecting learners to apply them in real-time communication?
Have you experienced or witnessed frustration in learners caused by an overemphasis on grammar? What might have helped instead?

What the research shows

For a long time, grammar instruction was evaluated by how well students could remember grammar rules; an approach that proves little beyond confirming that students can memorise what they’ve been taught. More recent studies have taken a more realistic approach, measuring whether grammar instruction improves real-time comprehension.

These studies have revealed several key findings:

Explicit grammar instruction has only a small effect on a learner’s ability to comprehend language using those rules later on.
How grammar is taught matters. When grammar patterns are introduced through meaningful input (e.g. reading stories & highlighting past-tense verbs), students internalise those patterns more effectively.
Simpler & more frequent rules (like adding “-ed” for past tense) are retained more easily than complex or rare rules.
Grammar is only internalised through exposure & use, either by processing it in input or by practising it in meaningful output. It’s especially powerful when the grammar structure is necessary to understanding what’s being said.

Reflective questions:

Which findings from the research surprised you most? Why?
How could you redesign &/or adapt a typical coursebook lesson to focus more on exposure & meaningful use rather than rule memorisation?

Grammar is a tool, not the goal

The most important takeaway is this; it’s far more effective to use grammar as a tool to understand language input than to memorise rules & then try to apply them.

There’s a significant & critical difference between analysing a sentence & processing a pattern. When we’re focused on grammar rules, we’re using declarative memory but when we’re reading or listening & thinking “What does that mean?”, our brain is more likely to engage procedural memory; the system that leads to communicative competence & fluent, purposeful language use.

Reflective questions:

In your own teaching or learning, do you treat grammar more as a tool or as an end goal? How could that change?
What’s the difference between analysing a sentence & processing a pattern? Which one do your learners do more often?

A practical tip

Instead of asking for detailed grammatical explanations or full sentence translations, try this: when you encounter a sentence you don’t understand, copy it into your favourite large language model (LLM) & ask for a simple explanation of what the forms mean in context. This promotes the kind of pattern recognition your brain needs to proceduralise language.

In summary, language learning is less about memorising & more about pattern exposure & processing. When we engage with language in meaningful, context-rich ways, without overthinking, we allow our procedural memory to do what it does best: internalise patterns & make language feel natural.

Reflective questions:

How could tools like LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT) support pattern recognition & contextual understanding rather than just rule explanation?
What strategies could you adopt (or encourage students to adopt) to better support proceduralisation of language?
What are three things you’d like to do differently in your language learning or teaching after reading this?
How might you explain the difference between declarative & procedural memory to a fellow teacher or a student?

Introduction

Declarative vs. procedural memory

Reflective questions:

How this relates to language learning

Procedural memory is slow to learn but fast & effortless to use

Reflective questions:

The problem with rule-based learning

Reflective questions:

What the research shows

Reflective questions:

Grammar is a tool, not the goal

Reflective questions:

A practical tip

Reflective questions:

Further reading