Chapter published in:

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and L2 Writing Development
Edited by Gary G. Fogal and Marjolijn H. Verspoor
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 54] 2020
► pp. 241–270

Chapter 10. Envisioning L2 writing development in CDST under a curricular optic

A proposal

Heidi Byrnes | Georgetown University

The chapter presents an integrated proposal for viewing CDST-inspired inquiry into L2 writing development under a curricular optic. After establishing the need for an object theory of language that aligns with the principles of complexity theory, it considers how the educational setting itself, composing abilities and their development, and the agentive L2 writer might be imagined within a complexity theory approach. On that basis it posits that the educational construct of curriculum, interpreted as a subsystem of the complex system of formal education, can provide an environment for studying L2 writing development in an educationally motivated, holistic, and dynamic way that interprets the L2 composer’s evolving agency toward textual meaning-making in light of the structures, processes, and affordances that hold in a particular educational setting. The chapter concludes by considering broader theoretical, research, and education-oriented implications of such a proposal.

Keywords: curriculum, CDST, writing development, educational context, meaning-making

Published online: 04 June 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.54.10byr

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2020. In Writing and Language Learning [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 56],

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