Practice and Automatization in Second Language Research: Perspectives From Skill Acquisition Theory and Cognitive Psychology

As a second-language (L2) researcher and practitioner, I have long been fascinated by the intersection of practice and skill acquisition theory, a fascination rooted in several years of dedicated research in this domain. My personal journey of learning English as a foreign language, alongside acquiring other skills (recently ice skating), has mirrored the principles of skill learning theories: from factual information to developing procedural routines and subsequently (partially) automatized skills for real-world performance. It is this keen interest that led me to review ‘Practice and Automatization in Second Language Research: Perspectives from Skill Acquisition Theory and Cognitive Psychology’, edited by Yuichi Suzuki in 2024. Before I proceed, it is crucial to emphasize (although you may be already aware of it!) that ‘practice’ as used in this piece refers to any L2 practice activity aimed at developing the skill of using the target language, distinct from the dichotomy of practice versus theory or the notion of communities of practice.