Complexity & ELT

This talk will explore, with the audience, whether and how the ‘images’ of Complexity Theory can provide useful insights into the practice of language teaching. Images include visual-everyday ones such as the butterfly effect and sand pile experiments, visual-abstract images such as fractal shapes, attractor landscapes and non-linearity, and finally less visual and abstract ones such as embedded systems, self-organisation and collective variables. Using plain language, the Complexity Theory meaning of each of these images is introduced. Next, ‘metaphorical extensions’ to language teaching are suggested for each image. For instance, apparently small classroom events - the butterfly flapping its wings - having big impacts, or the nonlinearity associated with students appearing to make a lot of progress one day, and then little progress on other days. The audience will be invited to contribute their own metaphorical extensions. The final part explores and invites discussion of the ‘so what’ aspect; i.e. what, if any, practically useful insight do these Complexity Theory images, and their metaphorical extensions, provide for language teachers and teaching, or language learners and learning.