Diane Larsen‐freeman
Biographic Data
| ID | 113860 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Diane Larsen‐freeman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Diane |
| FAMILY NAME | Larsen‐freeman |
| SIGNATURE | FREEMAN D L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1033-9860 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 690 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 41 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Diversity within unity
Let me begin by addressing the guest editors and authors of this special issue directly: My response is necessarily limited, but know that I find your research perspective and synergy statements to be richly stimulating. I pay homage to your generosity in your willingness to pursue common ground with colleagues who might understand second language acquisition (SLA)—or second language development—differently from you. I know from first-hand experi…
Complex dynamic systems theory
The following is an edited transcript of a webinar that took place on 11 June 2022 between Diane Larsen-Freeman and seven colleagues (in alphabetical order: Anne Burns, Hossein Farhady, Mathias Schulze, Scott Thornbury, Benjamin White, Henry Widdowson, and Yasin Yazdi-Amirkhiz), who generously took the time to formulate and submit questions in advance of the webinar and to participate in the event. The focus of the webinar was on Complex Dynamic …
From replication to substantiation
In contemporary methodological thinking, replication holds a central place. However, relatively little attention has been paid to replication in the context of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST), perhaps due to uncertainty regarding the epistemology–methodology match between these domains. In this paper, we explore the place of replication in relation to open systems and argue that three conditions must be in place for replication research to …
Combinations and Connections
The data‐rich articles in this special issue invite readers to consider how grammar and multimodality enact social practices. In particular, they propose a reconceptualization of grammar, moving beyond an autonomous system of items and combinatorial rules to demonstrate how grammar is an embodied resource for social interaction. In this discussion, I build on this important reconceptualization of grammar in order to identify cross‐cutting themes—…
Toward a transdisciplinary integration of research purposes and methods for complex dynamic systems theory
Complexity theory/dynamic systems theory has challenged conventional approaches to applied linguistics research by encouraging researchers to adopt a pragmatic transdisciplinary approach that is less paradigmatic and more problem-oriented in nature. Its proponents have argued that the starting point in research design should not be the quantitative–qualitative distinction, or even mixed methods, but the distinction between individual versus group…
Chaos/Complexity Theory for Second Language Acquisition/Development
Chaos/complexity theory (C/CT) is a transdisciplinary systems theory that deals fundamentally with change. Although it originated in the physical sciences and mathematics, it has been widely used in the social sciences and humanities. In essence, it is a poststructural metatheory with its own ontology and epistemology. Complex systems are dynamic, nonlinear, open, interconnected with the environment, and comprised of many components. As the compo…
On Language Learner Agency
Agency has attracted considerable attention, especially of late. Nevertheless, perceptions of language learners as nonagentive persist. In this article the Douglas Fir Group's call for a transdisciplinary perspective is heeded in a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory's (CDST) conceptualization of agency. It is suggested that CDST maintains the structure–agency complementarity while bringing to the fore the relational and emergent nature of agency. Coo…
Second Language Acquisition, WE, and language as a complex adaptive system (CAS)
The field of Second Language Acquisition/Development (SLA/D) has evolved to a point where the paradigm gap between SLA/D and world Englishes (WE), identified by Sridhar and Sridhar (1986), has narrowed. The closing of the gap is due in part to SLA/D and WE leaving behind their ontological inheritance of a static competence from linguistics and finding common ground in a view of language as a complex adaptive system. While differences between the …
Looking ahead
This article begins by situating modern-day second language acquisition (SLA) research in a historical context, tracing its evolution from cognitive to social to sociocognitive accounts. Next, the influence of the zeitgeist is considered. In this era of rapid change and turmoil, there are both perils and opportunities afforded by globalization. In addition, what globalization is bringing to the forefront is a need to grapple with the complexity o…
Complexity Theory
Interest in Complexity Theory (CT) is growing. This is not surprising, considering the state of the modern world – its dynamism, interconnectivity, mobile populations, changing climate, pattern of unintentional consequences, space-time compression, and technological innovation. These qualities make the non-reductionist, ecological, dynamic systems view that CT affords appropriate for our post-structural times. This is not to say that CT is withou…
Just learning
I have always been interested in learning. I chose to study psychology as an undergraduate because it was in my psychology courses that I got to study theories of learning. I learned that the psychologists couldn't agree on what the explanandum was. Some thought it was human behavior; others argued for mental competence. It was only later that I found my own focus: I became interested in understanding the learning of language (although the issue …
Research into practice
This selective review of the second language acquisition and applied linguistics research literature on grammar learning and teaching falls into three categories: where research has had little impact (the non-interface position), modest impact (form-focused instruction), and where it potentially can have a large impact (reconceiving grammar). Overall, I argue that not much second language acquisition or applied linguistics research on grammar has…
Saying what we mean
As applied linguists know very well, how we use language both constructs and reflects our understanding. It is therefore important that we use terms that do justice to our concerns. In this presentation, I suggest that a more apt designation than multilingual or second language acquisition (SLA) is multilingual or second language development (SLD). I give a number of reasons for why I think SLD is more appropriate. Some of the reasons that I poin…
Transfer of Learning Transformed
Instruction is motivated by the assumption that students can transfer their learning, or apply what they have learned in school to another setting. A common problem arises when the expected transfer does not take place, what has been referred to as the inert knowledge problem. More than an academic inconvenience, the failure to transfer is a major problem, exacting individual and social costs. In this article, I trace the evolution of research on…
On the roles of repetition in language teaching and learning
Repetition is common in language use. Similarly, having students repeat is a common practice in language teaching. After surveying some of the better known contributions of repetition to language learning, I propose an innovative role for repetition from the perspective of complexity theory. I argue that we should not think of repetition as exact replication, but rather we should think of it as iteration that generates variation. Thus, what resul…
Complex, dynamic systems
In this plenary address, I suggest that Complexity Theory has the potential to contribute a transdisciplinary theme to applied linguistics. Transdisciplinary themes supersede disciplines and spur new kinds of creative activity (Halliday 2001 [1990]). Investigating complex systems requires researchers to pay attention to system dynamics. Since applied linguists study language systems that change (for example, as they develop in learners, this is a…
Not So Fast
Adjusting Expectations
It is a good practice to try to understand matters at hand by first stepping back and adopting an historical perspective, which I will begin this review by doing. Next, I will take up the challenges that each of the authors in the articles in this volume has presented for the study of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in second language acquisition. Finally, I will conclude by issuing a few challenges of my own, along with proposing a broad…
Language Is a Complex Adaptive System
Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same complex adaptive system (CAS). Language as a CAS involves …
Constructing a Second Language
This article presents an analysis of interactions in the usage, structure, cognition, coadaptation of conversational partners, and emergence of linguistic constructions. It focuses on second language development of English verb-argument constructions (VACs: VL, verb locative; VOL, verb object locative; VOO, ditransitive) with particular reference to the following: (a) Construction learning as concept learning following the general cognitive and a…
Does Tesol Share Theories With Other Disciplines
Peer Reviewed
Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics
This book introduces and develops the potential of complex systems as a metaphor or supra-theory for systems in applied linguistics. Change and heterogeneity are central to complex systems theory and to the resonances that we find between complex systems and applied linguistics systems. The book explores these resonances and what happens when complex systems theory is used to make sense of central areas of applied linguistic concerns: language, l…
Reflecting on the Cognitive-Social Debate in Second Language Acquisition
Firth and Wagner's (1997) call for a more socially and contextually situated view of second language acquisition (SLA) research has generated a great deal of discussion and debate, a summary of which is offered in this reflective commentary. Given the individualistic, cognitive origin of the SLA field, such controversy is entirely understandable. With different ontologies and epistemologies, the two views, individual/cognitive and social/contextu…
The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English
Journal Article The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English Get access Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 590-619, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml029 Published: 01 December 2006 Article history Accepted: …
Language Emergence
Journal Article Language Emergence: Implications for Applied Linguistics-Introduction to the Special Issue Get access Nick C. Ellis, Nick C. Ellis University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 558-589…
Chaos/Complexity Science and Second Language Acquisition
There are many striking similarities between the new science of chaos/complexity and second language acquisition (SLA) Chaos/complexity scientists study complex nonlinear systems They are interested in how disorder gives way to order, of how complexity arises in nature 'To some physicists chaos is a science of process rather than state, of becoming rather than being' (Gleick 1987 5) It will be argued that the study of dynamic, complex nonlinear s…
Language Is a Complex Adaptive System
Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same complex adaptive system (CAS). Language as a CAS involves …
The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English
Journal Article The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English Get access Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 590-619, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml029 Published: 01 December 2006 Article history Accepted: …
Language Emergence
Journal Article Language Emergence: Implications for Applied Linguistics-Introduction to the Special Issue Get access Nick C. Ellis, Nick C. Ellis University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 558-589…
On Language Learner Agency
Agency has attracted considerable attention, especially of late. Nevertheless, perceptions of language learners as nonagentive persist. In this article the Douglas Fir Group's call for a transdisciplinary perspective is heeded in a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory's (CDST) conceptualization of agency. It is suggested that CDST maintains the structure–agency complementarity while bringing to the fore the relational and emergent nature of agency. Coo…
Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics
This book introduces and develops the potential of complex systems as a metaphor or supra-theory for systems in applied linguistics. Change and heterogeneity are central to complex systems theory and to the resonances that we find between complex systems and applied linguistics systems. The book explores these resonances and what happens when complex systems theory is used to make sense of central areas of applied linguistic concerns: language, l…
Reflecting on the Cognitive-Social Debate in Second Language Acquisition
Firth and Wagner's (1997) call for a more socially and contextually situated view of second language acquisition (SLA) research has generated a great deal of discussion and debate, a summary of which is offered in this reflective commentary. Given the individualistic, cognitive origin of the SLA field, such controversy is entirely understandable. With different ontologies and epistemologies, the two views, individual/cognitive and social/contextu…
An Explanation for the Morpheme Acquisition Order of Second Language Learners
Second language acquisition researchers (Dulay and Burt 1973, 1974a; Bailey, Madden and Krashen 1974) have claimed there exists an acquisition order of English morphemes to which ESL learners, despite their different ages and language backgrounds, adhere. Thus far, however, an explanation for the occurrence of such a morpheme order has eluded researchers.A study by this author was designed to yield data which would hopefully suggest a reason for …
Looking ahead
This article begins by situating modern-day second language acquisition (SLA) research in a historical context, tracing its evolution from cognitive to social to sociocognitive accounts. Next, the influence of the zeitgeist is considered. In this era of rapid change and turmoil, there are both perils and opportunities afforded by globalization. In addition, what globalization is bringing to the forefront is a need to grapple with the complexity o…
Research into practice
This selective review of the second language acquisition and applied linguistics research literature on grammar learning and teaching falls into three categories: where research has had little impact (the non-interface position), modest impact (form-focused instruction), and where it potentially can have a large impact (reconceiving grammar). Overall, I argue that not much second language acquisition or applied linguistics research on grammar has…
Complex, dynamic systems
In this plenary address, I suggest that Complexity Theory has the potential to contribute a transdisciplinary theme to applied linguistics. Transdisciplinary themes supersede disciplines and spur new kinds of creative activity (Halliday 2001 [1990]). Investigating complex systems requires researchers to pay attention to system dynamics. Since applied linguists study language systems that change (for example, as they develop in learners, this is a…
An ESL Index of Development
This paper is a report on the progress we are making in an attempt to establish a second language acquisition index of development. Such an index would be a developmental yardstick by which researchers could expediently and reliably gauge a learner's proficiency in a second language. Encouraged by the findings of an earlier pilot study, a more ambitious project involving the analysis of 212 compositions was undertaken. These compositions, written…
Saying what we mean
As applied linguists know very well, how we use language both constructs and reflects our understanding. It is therefore important that we use terms that do justice to our concerns. In this presentation, I suggest that a more apt designation than multilingual or second language acquisition (SLA) is multilingual or second language development (SLD). I give a number of reasons for why I think SLD is more appropriate. Some of the reasons that I poin…
Constructing a Second Language
This article presents an analysis of interactions in the usage, structure, cognition, coadaptation of conversational partners, and emergence of linguistic constructions. It focuses on second language development of English verb-argument constructions (VACs: VL, verb locative; VOL, verb object locative; VOO, ditransitive) with particular reference to the following: (a) Construction learning as concept learning following the general cognitive and a…
Second Language Acquisition Research
Since its emergence some 20 years ago, the field of second language acquisition research has focused on two areas: the nature of the language acquisition process and the factors which affect language learners. Initial research was essentially descriptive. More recently, researchers have been attempting to explain how acquisition occurs and how learner factors lead to differential success among learners. The focus has alternately broadened as rese…
The Construction of a Second Language Acquisition Index of Development 1
Second language (L2) acquisition researchers have acknowledged the need for an index of development (Hakuta 1975), comparable to the MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) of first language acquisition research, with which L2 researchers could compare populations with similar target language proficiencies. In an attempt to delineate a L2 index of development, 48 compositions written by non‐native speakers of English were examined. On an impressionistic b…
From replication to substantiation
In contemporary methodological thinking, replication holds a central place. However, relatively little attention has been paid to replication in the context of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST), perhaps due to uncertainty regarding the epistemology–methodology match between these domains. In this paper, we explore the place of replication in relation to open systems and argue that three conditions must be in place for replication research to …
Not So Fast
The Grammar Book
Helps teachers and future teachers grasp the linguistic system and details for English grammar structures and relate them to the everyday needs of ESL/EFL students
Transfer of Learning Transformed
Instruction is motivated by the assumption that students can transfer their learning, or apply what they have learned in school to another setting. A common problem arises when the expected transfer does not take place, what has been referred to as the inert knowledge problem. More than an academic inconvenience, the failure to transfer is a major problem, exacting individual and social costs. In this article, I trace the evolution of research on…
Complex dynamic systems theory
The following is an edited transcript of a webinar that took place on 11 June 2022 between Diane Larsen-Freeman and seven colleagues (in alphabetical order: Anne Burns, Hossein Farhady, Mathias Schulze, Scott Thornbury, Benjamin White, Henry Widdowson, and Yasin Yazdi-Amirkhiz), who generously took the time to formulate and submit questions in advance of the webinar and to participate in the event. The focus of the webinar was on Complex Dynamic …
Just learning
I have always been interested in learning. I chose to study psychology as an undergraduate because it was in my psychology courses that I got to study theories of learning. I learned that the psychologists couldn't agree on what the explanandum was. Some thought it was human behavior; others argued for mental competence. It was only later that I found my own focus: I became interested in understanding the learning of language (although the issue …
Research Notes
Dennis Godfrey, Evelyn Hatch, Nancy Backman, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Kenji Hakuta, Jacquelyn Schachter, Beverly Hart, John Schumann, Research Notes, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 347-350
An Explanation for the Morpheme Acquisition Order of Second Language Learners
Second language acquisition researchers (Dulay and Burt 1973, 1974a; Bailey, Madden and Krashen 1974) have claimed there exists an acquisition order of English morphemes to which ESL learners, despite their different ages and language backgrounds, adhere. Thus far, however, an explanation for the occurrence of such a morpheme order has eluded researchers.A study by this author was designed to yield data which would hopefully suggest a reason for …
Research Notes
John W. Oller, Jr., Alan J. Hudson, Phyllis Fei Liu, James M. Hendrickson, Tetsuro Chihara, John Oller, Seid M. Ziahosseiny, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Research Notes, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Mar., 1977), pp. 105-108
The Construction of a Second Language Acquisition Index of Development 1
Second language (L2) acquisition researchers have acknowledged the need for an index of development (Hakuta 1975), comparable to the MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) of first language acquisition research, with which L2 researchers could compare populations with similar target language proficiencies. In an attempt to delineate a L2 index of development, 48 compositions written by non‐native speakers of English were examined. On an impressionistic b…
Implications of The Morpheme Studies for Second Language Acquisition
Preview this article: Implications of The Morpheme Studies for Second Language Acquisition, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/itl.39-40.06lar-1.gif
An ESL Index of Development
This paper is a report on the progress we are making in an attempt to establish a second language acquisition index of development. Such an index would be a developmental yardstick by which researchers could expediently and reliably gauge a learner's proficiency in a second language. Encouraged by the findings of an earlier pilot study, a more ambitious project involving the analysis of 212 compositions was undertaken. These compositions, written…
Research Notes
Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching
Recent Innovations in Language Teaching Methodology
Five innovative methodologies currently practiced in the teaching of foreign languages are discussed: the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, the Comprehension Approach, and the Communicative Approach. In order to understand how these methodologies are innovative, a discussion of teaching practices during the first half of the twentieth century is offered. Following the historical perspective, the five innovative methodologies…
Research on Language Teaching Methodologies
Second Language Acquisition Research
Since its emergence some 20 years ago, the field of second language acquisition research has focused on two areas: the nature of the language acquisition process and the factors which affect language learners. Initial research was essentially descriptive. More recently, researchers have been attempting to explain how acquisition occurs and how learner factors lead to differential success among learners. The focus has alternately broadened as rese…
Language as a Complex Adaptive System
The five graces group / (Clay Beckner, Richard Blythe, Joan Bybee, Morten H. Christiansen, William Croft, Nick C. Ellis, John Holland, Jinyun Ke, Diane Larsen-Freeman, and Tom Schoenemann) -- Language is a complex adaptive system: position : paper A usage-based account of constituency and reanalysis / Clay Beckner and Joan Bybee --The speech community in evolutionary language dynamics / Richard A. Blythe and William A. Croft -- Linking rule acqui…
Chaos/Complexity Science and Second Language Acquisition
There are many striking similarities between the new science of chaos/complexity and second language acquisition (SLA) Chaos/complexity scientists study complex nonlinear systems They are interested in how disorder gives way to order, of how complexity arises in nature 'To some physicists chaos is a science of process rather than state, of becoming rather than being' (Gleick 1987 5) It will be argued that the study of dynamic, complex nonlinear s…
On the Scope of Second Language Acquisition Research
Language Teacher Educators Collaborative Conversations
Francis Bailey, Maggie Hawkins, Suzanne Irujo, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Ellen Rintell, Jerri Willett, Language Teacher Educators Collaborative Conversations, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, Research and Practice in English Language Teacher Education (Autumn, 1998), pp. 536-546
The Grammar Book
Helps teachers and future teachers grasp the linguistic system and details for English grammar structures and relate them to the everyday needs of ESL/EFL students
The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English
Journal Article The Emergence of Complexity, Fluency, and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English Get access Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 590-619, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml029 Published: 01 December 2006 Article history Accepted: …
Language Emergence
Journal Article Language Emergence: Implications for Applied Linguistics-Introduction to the Special Issue Get access Nick C. Ellis, Nick C. Ellis University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman University of Michigan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Applied Linguistics, Volume 27, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 558-589…
Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics
This book introduces and develops the potential of complex systems as a metaphor or supra-theory for systems in applied linguistics. Change and heterogeneity are central to complex systems theory and to the resonances that we find between complex systems and applied linguistics systems. The book explores these resonances and what happens when complex systems theory is used to make sense of central areas of applied linguistic concerns: language, l…
Reflecting on the Cognitive-Social Debate in Second Language Acquisition
Firth and Wagner's (1997) call for a more socially and contextually situated view of second language acquisition (SLA) research has generated a great deal of discussion and debate, a summary of which is offered in this reflective commentary. Given the individualistic, cognitive origin of the SLA field, such controversy is entirely understandable. With different ontologies and epistemologies, the two views, individual/cognitive and social/contextu…
Does Tesol Share Theories With Other Disciplines
Peer Reviewed
Adjusting Expectations
It is a good practice to try to understand matters at hand by first stepping back and adopting an historical perspective, which I will begin this review by doing. Next, I will take up the challenges that each of the authors in the articles in this volume has presented for the study of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in second language acquisition. Finally, I will conclude by issuing a few challenges of my own, along with proposing a broad…
Language Is a Complex Adaptive System
Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same complex adaptive system (CAS). Language as a CAS involves …
Constructing a Second Language
This article presents an analysis of interactions in the usage, structure, cognition, coadaptation of conversational partners, and emergence of linguistic constructions. It focuses on second language development of English verb-argument constructions (VACs: VL, verb locative; VOL, verb object locative; VOO, ditransitive) with particular reference to the following: (a) Construction learning as concept learning following the general cognitive and a…
Not So Fast
Linguistics (28 works) · Psychology (26 works) · Computer Science (25 works) · Philosophy (21 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (19 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Artificial Intelligence (14 works) · Second Language Learning and Teaching (11 works) · Second-language acquisition (11 works) · Epistemology (10 works)