Environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning success: a Complex Dynamic Systems conceptual model

Abstract

This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay [World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 67(4/5), 304–315 (2011)], who observed that the systems approach is separate from, and complimentary to, the analytical/experimental model of analysis, the authors use a systems analysis approach to identify a typology of environmental factors that are internal and external to the CALL student, and internal and external to the school. The typology is presented in a CALL ecology model (CEM) along with implications for pedagogy. The authors believe that the systems orientation will become more and more important in the overall understanding of best practices in computer assisted language learning.