scholarly journals The relationships between the average semester growth rates of lexical sophistication in L2 English writing at secondary school: A learner corpus analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-102
Author(s):  
KATARZYNA ROKOSZEWSKA
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Learner Corpus Analysis

In line with Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), the aim of the paper is to examine dynamics and causality among the growth rates of lexical sophistication in L2 writing development. The study was based on The Written English Developmental Corpus of Polish Learners (WEDCPL) which consists of over 1,900 essays composed during 21 repeated measurements by 100 learners over three years (2014–2017) at secondary school. Lexical sophistication, operationalised as different frequency levels, was analysed with the Lextutor software (Cobb 2014). The results indicated that the learners relied on the first frequency level. The monthly growth rates (MGRs) of the frequency levels were variable but no significant peaks were registered. The relationships between the average semester growth rates (ASGRs) revealed competition between the first and higher frequency levels, and some support between the higher levels. Thus, developing learners’ lexis beyond the first level counteracts the production of lexically unsophisticated texts and supports the use of more advanced words.

scholarly journals Accuracy and complexity as connected growers in L2 English speech at secondary school – a case study of a good, average, and poor language learner

Neofilolog ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 71-90
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Rokoszewska
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Lexical Density

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), which originated in the natural sciences, has recently been applied to second language acquisition, underlining the interdisciplinary character of this humanistic discipline. According to this theory, language is a complex dynamic system consisting of subsystems which develop in a non-linear way, forming different kinds of supportive, competitive, or conditional relationships. What is more, these subsystems compete for the learner’s limited resources, which causes trade-offs within and between language subsystems, such as complexity, accuracy, and fluency, especially in speech. The present paper constitutes a part of a short series of articles which present different aspects of the same longitudinal case study on the development of L2 English speech at secondary school. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between language accuracy and a number of specific measures of syntactic complexity, i.e. general sentence complexity, subordination, coordination, and nominalisation; as well as lexical complexity, i.e. lexical density, sophistication, and variation, in the case of a good, average, and poor language learner at secondary school. In general, the results showed that the relationships between the selected variables fluctuated over time and often differed in the case of a good, average, and poor language learner.

scholarly journals Variability as normal as apple pie

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolijn Verspoor ◽  
Wander Lowie ◽  
Kees de Bot
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Controlled Processes ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Limited Degree ◽  
Development Phases ◽  
Longitudinal Case Studies ◽  
Over Time

Abstract In recent studies in second language (L2) development, notably within the focus of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), non-systematic variation has been extensively studied as intra-individual variation, which we will refer to as variability. This paper argues that variability is functional and is needed for development. With examples of four longitudinal case studies we hope to show that variability over time provides valuable information about the process of development. Phases of increased variability in linguistic constructions are often a sign that the learner is trying out different constructions, and as such variability can be evidence for change, and change can be learning. Also, a limited degree of variability is inherent in automatic or controlled processes. Conversely, the absence of variability is likely to show that no learning is going on or the system is frozen.

Toward a transdisciplinary integration of research purposes and methods for complex dynamic systems theory: beyond the quantitative–qualitative divide

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Hiver ◽  
Ali H. Al-Hoorie ◽  
Diane Larsen-Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Human And Social Sciences ◽  
Starting Point

Abstract Complexity theory/dynamic systems theory has challenged conventional approaches to applied linguistics research by encouraging researchers to adopt a pragmatic transdisciplinary approach that is less paradigmatic and more problem-oriented in nature. Its proponents have argued that the starting point in research design should not be the quantitative–qualitative distinction, or even mixed methods, but the distinction between individual versus group-based designs (i.e., idiographic versus nomothetic). Taking insights from transdisciplinary complexity research in other human and social sciences, we propose an integrative transdisciplinary framework that unites these different perspectives (quantitative–qualitative, individual–group based) from the starting point of exploratory–falsificatory aims. We discuss the implications of this transdisciplinary approach to applied linguistics research and illustrate how such an integrated approach might be implemented in the field.

Complex dynamic systems in students of interpreting training

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanping Dong
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Contradictory Data

Abstract Students of interpreting training may go through drastic cognitive changes, but current empirical findings are disparate and isolated. To integrate these findings and to obtain a better understanding of interpreting training, the present article tries to reinterpret students of interpreting training as complex dynamic systems. Relying primarily on longitudinal empirical data from several existing studies, the article illustrates how the initial state of some key parameters influences the progress of the systems, how the parameters themselves evolve, and how interpreting competence develops as a result of self-organization. The hope is that a metatheoretical framework such as Dynamic Systems Theory will allow specific findings and particularistic models for interpreting training to be integrated. Moreover, this approach may allow false dichotomies in the field to be overcome and seemingly contradictory data in empirical reports to be better understood, thereby providing guidelines for future research.

Second Language Development in Its Time: Expanding Our Scope of Inquiry

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-284
Author(s):  
Diane Larsen-Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Second Language Development ◽  
Interdisciplinary Theory ◽  
Nonlinear Nature

Abstract This article traces the evolution of the field of second language acquisition/development (SLA/SLD). It chronicles the evolution in terms of different disciplines and theories that have been influential, beginning with the origin of SLA/SLD in linguistic thinking and expanding its scope of inquiry to psycholinguistics. It has developed further with the disciplines of anthropology and sociology holding sway. More recently, newer cognitive theories have been influential. The article discusses the recent call for a transdisciplinary approach. More specifically, the author promotes the adoption of complex dynamic systems theory, in keeping with non-reductionist systems thinking. Not only is this sociocognitive theory an interdisciplinary theory, but it also highlights the dynamic, variable, nonlinear nature of second language development. This it does within an ecological conception of development, which insists on the relevance of context. It also maintains that SLA/SLD is not a matter of input becoming output, but rather that language patterns emerge from the interaction of its users, given the affordances that they perceive. The article concludes with a discussion of several instructional issues.

A Complex Dynamic Systems Perspective on Personal Background Variables in L1 Attrition

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
Conny Opitz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
First Language ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This chapter discusses the methodological challenges associated with studying personal background variables in first language (L1) attrition from the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). It starts with a review of extant research which, despite concerted efforts to design rigorous, comparable studies, to date has not turned up strong, unambiguous predictors for L1 attrition. I argue that this failure lies in the nature of language as a complex dynamic system, and consequently in the properties of variables, their interaction, and varying contribution to the process and outcome of L1 attrition, and indeed to L1 and L2 (second language) acquisition in the larger context of multilingual development. CDST provides a challenge not just for common empirical and analytical approaches to attrition, but for the very notion of ‘predictor’. The chapter concludes by discussing some ways in which the current stalemate may be overcome.

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