Foreign language aptitude has long been a controversial issue in SLA studies. Skehan ( 1998 ) explores two aptitudinal components -- analytic ability and memory -- with a conclusion that the two capacities are mutual exclusive. To demystify Skehan's hypothesis, this paper tentatively advances an alternative view of mutual dependence on the basis of a considerable amount of empirical findings. This view suggests that adult L2 learners can exploit both capacities in order to achieve overall linguistic goals in L2 learning.