Complexity Perspectives on Researching Language Learner and Teacher Psychology

Edited by Richard J. Sampson, Richard S. Pinner

Publication date:

23 October 2020

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781788923552

This edited volume brings together both established and emerging researcher voices from around the world to illustrate how complexity perspectives might contribute to new ways of researching and understanding the psychology of language learners and teachers in situated educational contexts. Chapter authors discuss their own perspectives on researching within a complexity paradigm, exemplified by concrete and original examples from their research histories. Moreover, chapters explore research approaches to a variety of learner and teacher psychological foci of interest in SLA. Examples include: anxiety, classroom group dynamics and group-level motivation, cognition and metacognition, emotions and emotion regulation strategies, learner reticence and silence, motivation, self-concept and willingness to communicate.

Chapter 1. Richard S Pinner & Richard J Sampson: Introduction: [Simple and Complex?]

Chapter 2. Peter Macintyre, Sarah Mercer and Tammy Gregersen: Reflections on Researching Dynamics in Language Learning Psychology

Chapter 3. Richard J Sampson: Interacting Levels and Timescales in the Emergence of Feelings in the L2 Classroom

Chapter 4. Christina Gkonou and Rebecca Oxford: Working with the Complexity of Language Learners’ Emotions and Emotion Regulation Strategies

Chapter 5. Tomoko Yashima: Nested Systems and their Interactions: Dynamic WTC in the Classroom

Chapter 6. Lesley Smith and Jim King: Researching the Complexity of Silence in Second Language Classrooms

Chapter 7. Joseph Falout: Researching Motivational Resonance Hands-On: Learner Self-Concepts, Learning Groups and Educational Cultures

Chapter 8. Sal Consoli: Understanding Motivation Through Ecological Research: the Case of Exploratory Practice

Chapter 9. Kedi Simpson and Heath Rose: Complexity as a Valid Approach in ‘Messy’ Classroom Contexts: Promoting More ‘Ecologically Rich’ Research on the Psychology of L2 Listening

Chapter 10. Takumi Aoyama and Takenori Yamamoto: Equifinality Approach to Exploring the Learning Trajectories of Language Learners and Teachers

Chapter 11. Ryo Nitta and Yoshiyuki Nakata: Understanding Complexity in Language Classes: A Retrodictive Approach to Researching Class Climate

Chapter 12. Christine Muir: Investigating Group DMCs and Complexity in the L2 Classroom

Chapter 13. Richard Pinner: The Complexity Lens: Autoethnography and Practitioner Research to Examine Group Dynamics

Chapter 14. Alastair Henry: A Collection of Contradictory Selves: The Dialogical Self and the Dynamics of Teacher Identity Transformation

Chapter 15. Anne Feryok: Using Microgenetic and Frame Analysis in Language Teacher Cognition Research

Chapter 16. Ema Ushioda: Doing Complexity Research in the Language Classroom: A Commentary

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) connects practice and research in ways that are abundantly illustrated in this excellent volume. The authors’ first person accounts make CDST accessible and show its relevance. The volume is sure to inspire practitioner-researchers to use the ecological approach afforded by CDST to investigate and make sense of the lived realities of their own classrooms.