Complexity Theory and Language Development: In Celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman

Nearly two decades of development of Complexity Theory (CT) call for a celebration of how it has been successfully applied to understanding language learning and to issues in the field of applied linguistics. Such a celebration is, in fact, a critical reflection of how CT has transcended beyond disciplinary boundaries and been so overwhelmingly embraced in the field, as evidenced in the large amount of research that has been published in various platforms (e.g. Zhang, 2010). Investigating issues ranging from meteorology to mathematics, neurology and psychology, CT, as is now widely understood, is an overarching theory that is poised to account for interacting variables, non-linear behaviour, and unpredictable outcomes. By virtue of CT’s many attributes, Larsen-Freeman has successfully brought CT to the fore for holistically understanding and interpreting language learning and applied linguistics. Language is seen as a dynamic system with intertwined sub-systems (e.g. phonological, lexical, grammatical), and emerging from the bottom-up interaction of multiple speakers in communicative exchanges. Learners experience a non-linear learning process with complex interactions between them as individuals and the learning environment (Larsen-Freeman, 2017).