Christine Muir is an Assistant Professor in Second Language Acquisition in the School of English, University of Nottingham. She has published on varied topics relating to the psychology of language learning and teaching, particularly in the area of individual and group-level motivation in language education. Recent publications include Directed Motivational Currents and Language Education: Exploring Implications for Pedagogy (2020, Multilingual Matters) and ‘Role models in language learning: Results of a large scale international survey’ (2019, Applied Linguistics, with Zoltán Dörnyei & Svenja Adolphs).
Yoshiyuki Nakata is a Professor of English Language Education in the Faculty of Global Communications at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan. He has been involved mainly in in-service (as well as pre-service) language teacher education in Japan for more than 20 years. His research interests include self-regulated language learning, language learning motivation, learner/teacher autonomy in the school context and language teacher education. Relevant publications have appeared in journals such as Teaching and Teacher Education, International Journal of Educational Research, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, EuroSLA Yearbook, TESL Canada Journal, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, System and Contemporary Educational Psychology.
Ryo Nitta is a Professor and Dean of the Center for Foreign Language Education and Research, Rikkyo University, Japan. He completed his PhD at the University of Warwick, UK. His research interests are language learning motivation, task-based language teaching and second language writing from the perspective of CDST.
Rebecca L. Oxford (PhD, University of North Carolina) is Professor Emerita and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, University of Maryland. She is interested in emotional (affective) complexity, self-regulation and peace. Among her 15 books are three on peace, including Peacebuilding in Language Education (2020), and several on language learning strategies, involving affective self-regulation. She co-edits two book series: Spirituality, Religion and Education (Palgrave) and Transforming Education for the Future (Information Age). She edited the Tapestry ESL/EFL book series, with North American, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Japanese editions. A Lifetime Achievement Award states, ‘Rebecca Oxford’s work has changed the way the world teaches languages.’
Richard S. Pinner is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature at Sophia University. He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT from King’s College London and a PhD from The University of Warwick. He is the author of three books, as well as several articles which have appeared in international journals such as Language Teaching Research and Applied Linguistics Review. His research focuses on the dynamic relationship between authenticity and motivation in language teaching and learning.
Heath Rose is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford. His research covers self-regulation, language learner strategies, Global Englishes and English Medium Instruction. Publications include a number of authored and edited books on topics associated with language teaching and research methods in applied linguistics, including the Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. His research on the psychological aspects of language learning has appeared in such journals as Applied Linguistics, Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly and Applied Linguistics Review.
Richard J. Sampson began working in the Japanese educational context in 1999, and is currently an Associate Professor at Rikkyo University. He holds a Master of Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) and a PhD from Griffith University (Australia). He is the author of one research monograph and numerous research articles published in international journals such as System, Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching and Language Teaching Research. He uses action research approaches to give voice to the complex, situated experience of language learner psychology.
Kedi Simpson is a part-time doctoral student at the University of Oxford, as well as a part-time teacher of French, German and Spanish in an English comprehensive school. She is interested in how second language listening (particularly French among English learners) develops in the complex and messy environment of the English L2 classroom, and the chapter in this volume describes the methodology of her doctoral research. She has a particular interest in methodology and ontology within applied linguistics and second language listening in particular.
Lesley Smith is a third-year PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of South Carolina. She previously worked as an English language instructor at the University of Notre Dame and Richland County, South Carolina. She is particularly interested in instructed language acquisition, and her research interests include group dynamics in second and foreign language contexts and the effects of instruction on second language processing.
Ema Ushioda is a Professor and Head of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, where she has been based since 2002. Ema is known for her work on motivation and autonomy in language learning, particularly for promoting qualitative approaches to researching motivation, and she has published widely in these areas. Her books include International Perspectives on Motivation: Language Learning and Professional Challenges (2013), Teaching and Researching Motivation (co-authored with Dörnyei, 2011), Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self (co-edited with Dörnyei, 2009), and the forthcoming title Language Learning Motivation: An Ethical Agenda for Research (2020).
Takenori Yamamoto is an Associate Professor at Kobe City College of Technology, Japan. His research interest focuses on the collaboration of second language education and engineering education. He is currently working on a project which focuses on English vocabulary learning in a course of engineering education in Japan. He finished his MA degree at Chiba University. He is a member of The Council of College English Teachers (COCET) and Japan Society of English Language Education (JASELE).
Tomoko Yashima is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Communication at Kansai University, Japan. Her research interests include L2 learning motivation, affect and language identity. Her research has been published in journals such as Modern Language Journal, Language Learning, System and International Journal of Intercultural Relations. She has authored book chapters such as those in Motivational Dynamics in Language Learning (edited by Dörnyei, MacIntyre & Henry, 2015, Multilingual Matters) and Psychology for Language Learning (edited by Mercer, Ryan & Williams, 2012; Palgrave MacMillan) as well as books published in Japanese, including Intercultural Communication: Global Mind and Local Affect (2012, Shohakusha).
Introduction: [simple and complex?]
Richard S. Pinner and Richard J. Sampson
This edited volume brings together both established and emerging researcher voices from around the world to illustrate how complexity perspectives might contribute to new ways of researching and understanding the psychology of language learners and teachers in situated educational contexts. We have encouraged contributors to very much include themselves in their discussions of the research of which they are a part. At this juncture, we are reminded of a pertinent thought from Miyahara (2015: 177):
It is somewhat surprising that not many researchers make transparent their journeys as learners, teachers or researchers. Rarely do we find information about them in their writings, yet we are expected to read, contemplate and discuss their research.
We hope that the voices and stories of our contributors are ‘visible’ in the chapters that follow. We also would like to make ourselves as editors more transparent by including here two short vignettes detailing our own roads into appreciating what complexity might offer.
Our (abridged) Journeys into Complexity
Richard P
My interest in complexity comes initially from a single chapter which I read about chaos theory and complexity by Menezes (2013) in an edited volume by Benson and Cooker (2013) called The Applied Linguistic Individual. I was reading up on autonomy and identity as part of my work on authenticity, which shows that I was already looking at other concepts in order to understand connections between abstract phenomena. Until reading this paper