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Intra-individual Variability in the Emergence of Lexical Complexity in Speaking English at Secondary School

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Rokoszewska K. J.

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

2020

vol. 6

issue 1

107-142

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) focuses on second language development (SLD) as opposed to second language acquisition (SLA). Emphasising internal complexity of the language system as well as dynamic and non-linear nature of language development, it represents a new approach to the role of variability which is rooted in developmental psychology. This approach agrees with research findings from the 1980s which identified different types and causes of variability, but it treats variability as the main factor responsible for language development and not as a peripheral phenomenon. Intra-individual variability, defined as differences in the level of a developmental variable within individuals and between repeated measurements, is said to have a positive influence on language development at various levels of proficiency. The present paper describes the third part of the case study whose aim is to analyse intra-individual variability in the emergence of lexical complexity in speaking English as a foreign language at secondary school in the case of a good, average and poor language learner. The first part of the case study examined this phenomenon with respect to general measures of complexity, accuracy and fluency, whereas the second part–with respect to specific measures of syntactic complexity. The results of the third part of the case study show some significant differences between the learners in terms of lexical variation as opposed to density, sophistication and frequency but hardly any such differences in intra-individual variability, pointing at the same time to a weak positive relationship between this type of variability and the rate of development.

Fluency and complexity as coupled growers in speaking English at secondary school – A case study of a good, average, and poor language learner

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Rokoszewska K. J.

Linguistics Beyond and Within

2020

vol. 6

160-174

One of the main assumptions of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) is that internally complex language subsystems develop non-linearly while entering different kinds of supportive, competitive, conditional, or dual relationships which are characterised by trade-offs caused by learners’ restricted cognitive processing, especially in foreign language speech. The present paper belongs to a short series of articles which examines various aspects of the development of L2 English speech at secondary school on basis of the same longitudinal, exploratory, and corpus-based case study. The aim of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of the relationships between fluency and both syntactic and lexical complexity in the speech of a good, average, and poor language learner at the level of secondary school. Syntactic complexity was investigated in terms of general sentence complexity, subordination, coordination, and nominalisation, whereas lexical complexity was construed in terms of lexical density, sophistication, and variation. In general, the results indicated predominantly supportive relationships between fluency and different measures of syntactic complexity but competitive or dual relationships between fluency and lexical complexity. However, the relationships between the selected variables fluctuated over time and often differed in the case of a good, average, and poor language learner.

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1 Linguistics Beyond and Within

1 Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

2 Rokoszewska K. J.

2 2020

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Intra-individual Variability in the Emergence of Lexical Complexity in Speaking English at Secondary School

Fluency and complexity as coupled growers in speaking English at secondary school – A case study of a good, average, and poor language learner