Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Urmia University

Abstract

This study was an attempt to investigate the developmental rate of fluency, accuracy and complexity among 12 EFL learners within the framework of chaos complexity theory. To carry out this study, 6 female and 6 male participants in two levels of proficiency (pre-and upper-intermediate) were put in two classes taught by the same teacher and following the same course. Every two months (for a period of four months) they were asked to write a narrative using the pictorial sequence of a story, and they were also asked to tell the same story orally after three days. Their productions were analyzed for fluency, accuracy and complexity (lexical and grammatical). The results, compared inter and inrta-individually, revealed that there was no common pattern of development among different learners with different proficiency or gender. A closer examination of the oral and written productions of these learners showed that the emergence of complexity, fluency, and accuracy could be seen as a system adapting to a changing context, in which the language resources of each individual were uniquely transformed through use and in which chaos, dynamicity, unpredictability, and self-organization were clearly observed in the participants’ productions.  

Keywords

Ahmadian, M. J. (2012). The effects of guided careful online planning on complexity, accuracy and fluency in intermediate EFL learners’ oral production: The case of English articles. Language Teaching Research, 16(1), 129-149. Doi: 10.1177/1362168811425433.
Bot, K., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M. (2005). Second language acquisition: An advanced resource book. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G. (2005). Analyzing learner language (1st ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (2009). The differential effects of three types of task planning on the fluency, complexity, and accuracy in l2 oral production. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 474-509.  doi: 10.1093/applin/amp042.
Hawkins, B. (2016). Using sociocultural theory to examine the context(s) of language learning and teaching. Working papers in TESOL and applied linguistics. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://tesolal.columbia.edu/article/using-sociocultural-theory/
Hsu, H. (2015). The effect of task planning on l2 performance and l2 development in text-based synchronous computer-mediated communication. Applied Linguistics. doi: 10.1093/applin/amv032.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1991). Second language acquisition research staking out territory. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 315-350.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18, 141-165.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). The emergence of complexity, fluency and accuracy in the oral and written production of five Chinese learners of English. Applied Linguistics, 27(4), 590-619.
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Research methodology on language development from a complex systems perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 92(2), 200-213. Doi: 10.1111/j.1540- 4781.2008.00714.x.s
Marchman, V., & Thal, D. (2005). Words and grammar. In M. Tomasello and D. Slobin (Eds), Beyond nature-nurture: Essays in honor of Elizabeth Bates, (pp. 224–226).  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2009). Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 555-578.
Polat, B., & Kim, Y. (2013). Dynamics of complexity and accuracy: A longitudinal case study of advanced untutored development. Applied Linguistics, 35(2), 1-25.  doi:10.1093/applin/amt013.
Revesz, A., Ekiert, M., & Torgersen, E. (2014). The effects of complexity, accuracy, and fluency on communicative adequacy in oral task performance. Applied Linguistics. 37(6), 828-848. doi:10.1093/applin/amu069.
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research. New York: Basic Books, Inc. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Skehan, P. (2009). Modelling second language performance: integrating complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 510-532.
Soars, L., & Soars, J. (2011). New Headway (4th Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Soleimani, H., & Alavi, M. (2013). A dynamical system approach to research in second language acquisition. Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 5(11), 127- 143.
Spoelman, M., & Verspoor, M. (2010). Dynamic patterns in development of accuracy and complexity: A longitudinal case study in the acquisition of Finnish. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 532-553.
Steenbeek, H. W., & Van Geert, P.(2005). A complexity and dynamic systems approach to development: Measurement, modeling and research. In K.W. Fischer, A. Battro and P. Lena (Eds.). Mind, Brain and Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thelen, E., & Smith, L. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Tomasello, M. (2000). First steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition, Cognitive Linguistics, 11, 61-82.
TOEFL Equivalency Table. (2016, March). Retrieved from: http://secure.vec.bc.ca/toefl-equivalency-table.cfm
ESOL EXTRAS. (2016, March). Retrieved from: http://esolepacks.com/language-levels/
Vercellotti, L.M. (2012). Complexity, accuracy, and fluency as properties of language performance: The development of the multiple subsystems over time and in relation to each other. Doctoral dissertation, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved from: file:///E:/system%20chaos%20complexity/Vercellotti_CAF_v3.pdf
Vercellotti, L.M. (2015). The development of complexity, accuracy, and fluency in second language performance: A longitudinal study. Applied Linguistics.  doi: 10.1093/applin/amv002.
Wigglesworth, G., & Storch, N. (2009). Pair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity and accuracy. Language Testing, 26(3), 445-466. Doi: 10.1177/0265532209104670.
Xi, W. (2016). The discursive construction of intercultural understanding in China: A case study of an international baccalaureate diploma program (Emerging perspectives on education in China). London: Rowman and Littlefield.