scholarly journals Variety, Volatility, Intensity: Understanding Key Characteristics of Individual Learner Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Nathan Ducker
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Individual Learner ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Learner Differences ◽  
New Research

Individual Learner Differences (ILDs), such as motivation, anxiety, and willingness to communicate, account for varying rates and extents of successful L2 learning. Traditional quantitative approaches to studying ILDs render constructs to a one-size-fits-all explanation of factors and relationships that affect learning outcomes. A Complex Dynamic Systems Theory approach to studying ILDs rectifies this situation and supports teachers by investigating the interrelated, variable, and situated aspects of ILDs. In this study, students selected ILDs that most impacted their partner’s classroom participation. They then used idiodynamic methodology, a relatively new research method, to elicit factors that influenced changes to their partner’s ILDs in class. Unexpected constructs, such as concentration, happiness, and anger, were chosen. Within those ILDs, a wide range of volatility and intensity of change was reported. Internal-, linguistic-, topic-, social-, and stage-of-the task-factors initiated chains-of-events leading to variations in ILD constructs. Implications for pedagogy and further research are discussed. 第二言語学習者の学習速度や到達レベルの違いは、モチベーション、不安感、話をしたいという意欲の様な「学習者の個人差」に起因する。従来の個人差を研究する定量的アプローチでは、学習結果に影響を与える要因や関連性について画一的な説明であったが「複雑ダイナミックシステム理論」の導入によって、複雑な相互関係や変動性、直面している要素等を複合的に調査できる様になった。本研究において、学生は、活動相手の従業参加に最も影響を与えた個人差の要素を自身で選択した後、その要因を導き出す為に、新しい研究法である「イディオダイナミック法」を使用した。その結果、集中力、幸福感、怒りの様な想定外の要素が選択され、変化の頻度や起伏の浮き沈みが広範囲に及ぶ事も判明した。内面的、言語的、トピックや社会的な要素、タスクの進度状況等の要素が一連の出来事に起因し、学習者の様々な個人差の構成に影響を与えた。本論文では教授法や更なる研究結果も述べる。

Willingness to communicate in a second language and the promise of complex dynamic systems theory: A narrative review

2021 ◽  
pp. 003452372110312
Author(s):  
Hassan Syed ◽  
Shumaila Memon ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali Chachar ◽  
Sharique Zameer ◽  
Tanweer Shah
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems

Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a speaker’s voluntary engagement in communication using a target language. WTC has undergone several conceptualisations over the past twenty years or so. The aim of the current article is to present a narrative review of the major conceptual developments in research on L2 WTC. First, the article discusses the strengths and limitations of the major conceptualizations of L2 WTC, i.e. MacIntyre et al. pyramid model, Wen and Clement Chinese conceptualization, and Kang’s situational model of L2 WTC. Second, the article presents the basic features of the complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and discusses how it serves as a meta-theory with immense explanatory power to encompass the complex, dynamic and non-linear behaviour of L2 WTC. Finally, corresponding to a CDST construal of L2 WTC, the paper discusses some of the methodological developments and possible directions for future research. The article aims to contribute to language teachers’ and teacher educators’ awareness of the complex and dynamic nature of L2 WTC and provide future researchers with an alternative theoretical framework and corresponding methods to study L2 WTC.

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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