Complexity Perspectives on Researching Language Learner and Teacher Psychology

Richard J. Sampson is an Associate Professor at Rikkyo University, Japan. He uses action research approaches to give voice to the complex, situated experience of language learner psychology and is the author of Complexity in Classroom Foreign Language Learning Motivation (2016, Multilingual Matters).Richard S. Pinner is an Associate Professor at Sophia University, Japan. His research focuses on the dynamic relationship between authenticity and motivation in language teaching and learning and his publications include Reconceptualising Authenticity for English as a Global Language (2016, Multilingual Matters).

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) connects practice and research in ways that are abundantly illustrated in this excellent volume. The authors’ first person accounts make CDST accessible and show its relevance. The volume is sure to inspire practitioner-researchers to use the ecological approach afforded by CDST to investigate and make sense of the lived realities of their own classrooms.

• Chapter 1. Richard S Pinner & Richard J Sampson: Introduction: [Simple and Complex?]Chapter 2. Peter Macintyre, Sarah Mercer and Tammy Gregersen: Reflections on Researching Dynamics in Language Learning PsychologyChapter 3. Richard J Sampson: Interacting Levels and Timescales in the Emergence of Feelings in the L2 ClassroomChapter 4. Christina Gkonou and Rebecca Oxford: Working with the Complexity of Language Learners’ Emotions and Emotion Regulation StrategiesChapter 5. Tomoko Yashima: Nested Systems and their Interactions: Dynamic WTC in the ClassroomChapter 6. Lesley Smith and Jim King: Researching the Complexity of Silence in Second Language ClassroomsChapter 7. Joseph Falout: Researching Motivational Resonance Hands-On: Learner Self-Concepts, Learning Groups and Educational CulturesChapter 8. Sal Consoli: Understanding Motivation Through Ecological Research: the Case of Exploratory PracticeChapter 9. Kedi Simpson and Heath Rose: Complexity as a Valid Approach in ‘Messy’ Classroom Contexts: Promoting More ‘Ecologically Rich’ Research on the Psychology of L2 ListeningChapter 10. Takumi Aoyama and Takenori Yamamoto: Equifinality Approach to Exploring the Learning Trajectories of Language Learners and TeachersChapter 11. Ryo Nitta and Yoshiyuki Nakata: Understanding Complexity in Language Classes: A Retrodictive Approach to Researching Class ClimateChapter 12. Christine Muir: Investigating Group DMCs and Complexity in the L2 ClassroomChapter 13. Richard Pinner: The Complexity Lens: Autoethnography and Practitioner Research to Examine Group DynamicsChapter 14. Alastair Henry: A Collection of Contradictory Selves: The Dialogical Self and the Dynamics of Teacher Identity TransformationChapter 15. Anne Feryok: Using Microgenetic and Frame Analysis in Language Teacher Cognition ResearchChapter 16. Ema Ushioda: Doing Complexity Research in the Language Classroom: A Commentary