Speaker
Description
This presentation applies CDST and ecological perspectives to show how language learning emerges through nonlinear interactions among learners, tasks, and environments—perspectives still underrepresented in Japanese ELT. It clarifies key constructs and links them to practical techniques such as project based tasks, affordance rich environments, and dynamic assessment. It also introduces a scalable action research model for busy early career teachers, offering onboarding support, collaborative structures, light data routines, and tools adaptable to diverse institutional contexts.
Special scheduling requests
Saturday prior to CEFR-SIG Forum
Short summary
This presentation applies CDST and ecological perspectives to show how language learning emerges through nonlinear interactions among learners, tasks, and environments—perspectives still underrepresented in Japanese ELT. It clarifies key constructs and links them to practical techniques such as project based tasks, affordance rich environments, and dynamic assessment. It also introduces a scalable action research model for busy early career teachers, offering onboarding support, collaborative structures, light data routines, and tools adaptable to diverse institutional contexts.
Keywords
Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, Ecological perspectives, Professional Development, Action Research
Abstract
Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (Larsen Freeman, 1997) and ecological perspectives (van Lier, 2004) reconceptualize language development as emergent and nonlinear—shaped by interactions among learners, tasks, tools, and environments. Despite growing scholarship, these perspectives are not yet broadly reflected in Japanese ELT (e.g., Terasawa, 2023). This practice oriented presentation has two goals. First, it distills core constructs—nonlinearity, variability, emergence, affordances, and learner agency—and maps them to concrete pedagogical moves (e.g., project based task design, affordance rich ecologies, and dynamic assessment). Second, it presents a scalable model for building an action research (AR) community tailored to early career, time constrained practitioners. Drawing on a multi site AR initiative (2020–2024; Birch et al., 2024) and an ongoing KAKENHI project launched in April 2025 I will outline: (a) an onboarding and coaching protocol for the initial stage of the AR process; (b) collaborative working group structures; (c) lightweight data collection routines aligned with teachers’ workloads; and (d) feedback/reflection cycles that foster agency and context sensitive innovation. Attendees will leave with a concise theory to practice framework, an AR starter kit (a step by step AR guide, worksheet set, reflection worksheet) implemented within typical Japanese school constraints. The session targets the teacher education, pragmatics, and CUE contexts and invites participants to adapt the model to their own institutions.
References
Birch, G. C., Nagai, N., Schmidt, M. G., & Bower, J. V. (2024). Putting the CEFR into practice through action research. Springer.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18(2), 141–165.
Terasawa, T. (寺沢, 拓敬). (2023). 日本の英語教育学の特徴：テキストマイニングによる国際比較 [Comparing English education research in Japan to international trends: A text mining study]. KATE Journal, 37, 29–42.
van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
| Scheduling preference | Special request (enter below) |
|---|---|
| Title | Building an action research community for busy, early career teachers |