Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics

Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics introduces key concepts in complexity theory to readers concerned with language, its learning, and its use. The book demonstrates the applicability and usefulness of these concepts to a range of areas in applied linguistics including first and second language development, language teaching, and discourse analysis. It concludes with a chapter that discusses suitable approaches to research investigations. This book will be invaluable for readers who want to understand recent developments in the field that draw on complexity theory, including dynamic systems theory, ecological approaches, and emergentism.

Diane Larsen-Freeman is a professor of education, a professor of linguistics, and a research scientist at the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a distinguished senior faculty fellow at the Graduate SIT Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont. She received her PhD in linguistics from the University of Michigan.

Lynne Cameron is a professor of applied linguistics at the Centre for Language and Communications, Open University. She received her MA from the University of York and her PhD from the University of London.