Edited by Wander Lowie, Rosmawati and Vanessa De Wilde
This edited volume is a timely and significant contribution to second language development research from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective. The book addresses the growing need for consistent and practical methodologies for CDST research. Each chapter presents an innovative method… read more
This volume presents an overview of changes in paradigms, perspectives and contexts of research into bilingual development over the past two decades. During this time, the focus of perspective has changed. In the early 1990s, most investigations still proceeded from models that assumed modular… read more
Edited by Marjolijn H. Verspoor, Kees de Bot and Wander Lowie
Dynamic systems theory, a general theory of change and development, offers a new way to study first and second language development and requires a new set of tools for analysis of empirical data. After a brief introduction to the theory, this book, co-authored by several leading scholars in the… read more
CDST considers language as a fractal object. In line with Rosmawati and Lowie’s (2024) argument about the multifractal nature of syntactic structures in L1 English, we hypothesize that the distribution of syntactic structures in L2 English texts is also multifractal. In this chapter, we will use… read more
This chapter examines potential challenges for longitudinal L2 studies using quantitative CAF (complexity, accuracy, and fluency) measures. For a period of 13 months, we followed the CAF development of two L2 English students, collecting multiple samples at each monthly data point for several… read more
In this research note we argue that reading lessons for the subject of English in Dutch pre-university education require adjustments. Currently, these lessons do not prepare students well for university reading. Too often, lessons emphasize searching for information, the dominant skill to pass… read more
With the average life expectancy in especially developed countries steadily increasing, healthy ageing is prioritised on the research agenda. Various studies have looked into bilingualism as a possible anti-ageing tool to delay the onset of symptoms of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s,… read more
The complex dynamic systems theory approach to second language development has great explanatory power in accounting for the development of speaking as an emergent process. CDST approaches focus on the process of development, rather than on the products of learning, and often include the… read more
Since we can only make the observations our method allows us, we will have to adjust our method of investigation to the phenomena and questions we are interested in within the context and timescale of our focus. If we want to test hypotheses about the grand sweep effects of factors affecting… read more
We conducted a study to investigate effects of bilingualism on nonverbal and verbal cognitive performance. Here we report on the results from the first part of our study, in which 26 middle-aged (MA 46) and 26 elderly (MA 73.2) early bilingual speakers of Dutch and Frisian performed a verbal… read more
In this contribution it is argued that Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) can be seen as a comprehensive theory that can unify and make relevant a number of different ‘middle level’ theories on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) which in our view are theories that attend to different levels of granularity… read more
The CEFR is increasingly being used as the framework of choice for the assessment of language proficiency at universities across Europe. However, to attain consistent assessment, familiarization and standardization are essential. In this paper we report a case study of embedding a standardization… read more
If language processing and development is viewed as a dynamic process in which all subsystems interact over time, then some basic assumptions behind more traditional approaches to language analysis are problematic: new methods of analysis and modeling are needed to supplement and partly replace… read more
Taking a usage-based approach, this paper aims to define conventionalized ways of saying things (CWOSTs) as multi-word units so that they can be included in researching L2 development. We build on Langacker’s (2008) “normal ways of saying things”, here understood as conventionalized… read more
Levelt’s blueprint of speech production and perception (Levelt 1989; Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer 1999) has been widely accepted and is well established. One of the crucial characteristics of the model is its modularity, which is required to account for the speed with which we speak (about two to three… read more
A dynamic approach to the acquisition of morphologically complex words assumes that, initially, all words are interpreted holistically. At later stages of acquisition, increasingly more words are analyzed and morphological regularities are discovered. When productivity is defined as the chance that… read more
Studies in vocabulary acquisition have shown that guessing words from context may have a positive effect on eventual retention, but is not necessarily the most effective or efficient method in instructional settings. However, when cognitive linguistic insights into the conceptual links between… read more
This article deals with the influence of a learner's native language in the acquisition of L2 derivational morphology. Do learners acquire morphologically complex words like 'learnable' and 'explanation' as unanalysed units or do they acquire and store the stems ('learn'; 'explain') and… read more
