Towards a complexity-informed pedagogy for language learning

Abstract

Focusing on the language classroom, this article attempts to formulate potential principles which could guide, but not prescribe, a complexity-informed pedagogy. To do so, it draws on both existent literature and a consideration of the theoretical framework of complexity for pedagogy. Firstly, the article begins by consolidating key findings from appropriate methodology, postmethod pedagogy, exploratory practice, and ecological perspectives on learning relevant to a complexity perspective. It then continues by explicitly focusing on three sets of key characteristics of complex dynamic systems and suggests potential implications of these for pedagogy: multidimensionality and interrelations, non-linearity and decentralized causality, and dynamism and emergence.