Lourdes Ortega and Zhaohong Han (eds): Complexity Theory and Language Development: In Celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman

Abstract

As a fast growing approach to language development, complexity theory (CT) explicates how variables of a complex language system interact and give rise to the system’s collective behavior and how such a system interacts with the environment at the same time. Larsen-Freeman (1997) first introduced CT to the field of applied linguistics to explore complex language phenomena. After 20 years’ trailblazing expedition, the CT approach to language and language development is ‘cool enough to explore in a research project and hot enough to inspire new ideas’ (MacIntyre et al. 2015: 428). Therefore, the volume Complexity Theory and Language Development: in celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman is a timely contribution, offering a wealth of insights that promise a reconceptualization of language theory, research, and practice. The book consists of 10 chapters, in addition to Introduction. The introductory chapter by Ortega and Han (the editors) pays homage to Diane Larsen-Freeman, specifically her works on CT, for her profound intellectual impact on second language acquisition (SLA) and applied linguistics. It also prepares the ground for the following chapters that explore the complexity thinking theoretically and methodologically. In Chapter 1, Larsen-Freeman argues that CT as a metatheory has broad transdisciplinary implications for language—its learning and use. In rejection of traditional reductionism in applied linguistics, the CT approach acknowledges language and its development as emergent, open, adaptive, interconnected, and context-dependent. She summarizes the CT-inspired thinking in 30 aphorisms spinning language, language learners/users, and language learning/teaching. The chapter concludes with elaboration on three issues that challenge CT: dichotomous thinking, boundary problem, and generalizability.