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Obviously knowledge which remains declarative is simply that: I can run through the notes of the scale, but if I want to sing, I have to practice. I can model bike-riding in a computer lab, but although that may give me some idea of what happens when you throw your leg across the bar, it won't get me to the Col de Tourmalet. Similarly, I can read a book on how to be a Yanomamo warrior, but until I've sliced someone's ear off with an axe, I won't be a happy camper in the Amazon Basin.
I don't think anyone would claim that all *learning* is acquired simply through reading books or listening to lectures. And I'm pretty much of Beppe's persuasion concerning the need to do it for yourself (I only wish my students were convinced as well). But that isn't the question I was looking at; I was wondering what *knowledge* is, and how it's stored, and how it's retrieved. And even if we do things *by ourselves*, that doesn't mean there is no linguistic account - remember the child who talks her doll through a tea party or putting her shoes on. When I do something for the first time - play a new piece of music on the piano, for example, I think I talk myself through it. As I get better, there's less vocalization, and in the end, I can do it without even looking at the marks on the page.
Doing that, I've brought to bear a whole series of *lessons*, some with a teacher, some in books or text-books, and some just doing the exercises. Those who argue that all knowledge is, ultimately, declarative, will say that at one point each of these subskills was expressed in words.
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