The complexity turn in educational linguistics

Hult, F.M.

Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, United States

Abstract

In the wake of conversations about integrating macro- and micro-levels of linguistic analysis over the last 50 years, and following theoretical and methodological debates in the 1990s about investigating the dynamics of entire social systems, complexity theory is coming of age in educational linguistics. Central to the application of complexity theory in social science is its attention to multiple scales of social organisation and how they are connected through the actions of individuals, with an emphasis on the unfolding of social processes rather than on cause-effect relationships. This provides us with a new perspective that is increasingly being adopted in the development and implementation of multilingual education throughout the world, as seen in the simultaneous management of linguistic resources across different scales - national, regional, community, classroom, and interpersonal. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Language of original document

English

Author keywords

Chaos theory; Complexity; Ecolinguistics; Education; Language diversity; Multilingualism

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Hult, F. M.; Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, United States; email:Francis.Hult@utsa.edu
© Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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Language, Culture and Curriculum
Volume 23, Issue 3, November 2010, Pages 173-177