2009 Articles

Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics

Sherris, Arieh Ari

With this monograph, Diane Larsen-Freeman and Lynne Cameron unveil a complex systems approach to applied linguistics in the first book-length introduction to the topic. Stirrings of a shift in this direction have begun to appear in Larsen-Freeman’s publications this past decade (e.g., 1997, 2002). Expanding on those early papers, this work is intended “to open the conversation” (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008, p. 255) about complex systems among applied linguists; however, it is not intended to be the last word. As such, it is a rich introduction for teachers, researchers, and students who want to foreground a dynamic worldview in their theory and method for understanding complex systems. This book begins a new chapter in the intellectual history of applied linguistics by repositioning our understandings and making change central. At the very least, the development of a complex systems approach to applied linguistics at the hands of two well-respected applied linguists, each with distinguished publications records, is cause enough to engage with its ideas.