Inert Knowledge

Inert Knowledge Problem

The term inert knowledge was first used in 1929 by Alfred North Whitehead. Inert knowledge is the problem of know what and know how and it refers to learners' lack of ability to use the knowledge in authentic settings when the knowledge is relevant.

Examples of inert knowledge in foreign language education was described by many researchers. For example, Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) noted

Learning from dictionaries, like any method that tries to teach abstract concepts independently of authentic situations, overlooks the way understanding is developed through continued, situated use... the meaning of a word cannot, in principle, be captured by a definition, even when the definition is supported by a couple of exemplary sentences (p.33)

and suggested that even though students may identify these words in exams and pass, still they may not be able to use their vocabulary knowledge actively in authentic settings (namely in daily conversations).

Furthermore, it is very common for language teachers in EFL settings to see their students talking about grammar rules wisely but be unable to use them in communicative activities, much less in unstructured, ill-defined novel contexts outside the classroom. In their research, Johnston and Goettsch (2000) argue that there is a difference between understanding (knowing what) and production (knowing how) in language education. In the extract below they report how an ESL teacher articulated the transfer problem:

They oftentimes don’t understand the rules. They just read a rule and go, ‘OK, I’ve read this since I was eleven years old. I have read it a million times back in my country and here.’ And they’re still not using it right. They all know they need to use the third person singular ‘s’ but half the class still doesn’t use it. They use it in the grammar exercises, but they don’t apply it while they are speaking or writing. (p. 456)

Larsen-Freeman (2003) contends that while language learners can cope with the presentation and practice sections of a lesson, they struggle at the production stage which is the more communicative part of a lesson that necessitates transfer of knowledge. She indicates that despite the fact that students understand and thus know a rule, they are not necessarily able to apply it. Hence, their output may be inaccurate or diffluent. The author notes that “students can recall the grammar rules when they are asked to do so but will not use them spontaneously in communication, even when they are relevant” (p. 8), a clear indication of inert knowledge. Therefore, she suggests that if the aim is to help language learners overcome their inert knowledge problem, then grammar should be thought as something people do rather than know (p. 143), a suggestion that aligns well with the construct of authentic and situated learning.

Further resources:

  • Herrington, J., Reeves, T. C., & Oliver, R. (2010). A guide to authentic e-learning. New York: Routledge. (https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/1903/)

  • Kosunen, R. (2009). Discussing course literature online: analysis of macro speech acts in an asynchronous computer conference. ReCALL, 21(3), 337-351.

  • Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching language: from grammar to grammaring. Heinle: Cengage Learning.

  • Ozverir, I., Herrington, J., & Osam, U. V. (2016). Design principles for authentic learning of English as a foreign language. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(3), 484-493.

  • Perkins, D. (1999). The many faces of constructivism. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 6-11.

  • Whitehead, A. N. (1929). The aims of education. Daedalus, 88(1), 192-205.