Abstract
Writing competence is crucial for second language learners. Studying strange attractors in the development of writing competence is essential in understanding the laws of language development of foreign students. This study is aimed at investigating the state and laws of the development of Chinese as a second language (CSL) writing competence. Mathematical modeling and phase space construction methods in sensor research were used to investigate strange attractors in high‐level Chinese learners studying in China in the development of CSL from the perspective of complexity theory based on the measurement framework of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The results showed the following: (1) there are trends in the concentration and volatility of trigonometric function in different dimensions; (2) the group dynamic characteristics of writing development in CSL are simulated precisely by mathematical modeling; and (3) there are strange attractors with lexical density in CSL writing development. The development of CSL writing tends to maintain the state of strange attractors. The strange attractor reflects regularity in the dynamic, complex, and chaotic development of Chinese for international students, revealing the probabilistic prediction competence of different states in the development of CSL.
Highlights
Quantitative experimental research under the paradigm of reductionism has explored the statistical law of language development by controlling changes of factors, making this approach the mainstream method of second language writing research since the 1980s
Based on an analysis of the characteristics of attractors, this study demonstrated the coexistence of individual differences and statistical laws in the development of Chinese as a second language (CSL) writing
Individual difference was manifested in the unique dynamic curve of language development, and statistical law was manifested learners’ CSL writing development, which preferred certain intervals with fluctuations
Summary
Quantitative experimental research under the paradigm of reductionism has explored the statistical law of language development by controlling changes of factors, making this approach the mainstream method of second language writing research since the 1980s. Without constructing the unified research paradigm, researchers have aimed to explore the consilience of reductionism and complexity theory to probe the statistical characteristics of second language development hidden in the differentiated developments of second language writing [1,2,3]. The present study incorporates phase space construction and mathematical modeling methods used in sensor research to explore attractors. The application of interdisciplinary methods in the present research is the first instance of which academia has explored the strange attractors in the development of CSL writing competence, Journal of Sensors providing a reference for future research.
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