A Language School as a Complex System

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• About the author
• About the book
• This eBook can be cited
• Table of Contents
• About the Author
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Frequently Used Abbreviations
• 1 Motivations, background, and queries
• 1.1. Complex systems in education
• 1.1.1. What are complex systems?
• 1.1.2 Describing complex systems
• 1.2 Setting the scene
• 1.2.1 ELT in state education
• 1.2.2 The private ELT sector
• 1.2.3 The school
• 1.3 Outline of this book
• 2 About complexity
• 2.1 Establishing a new discipline
• 2.2 But what is complexity?
• 2.3 Characteristics of complex systems
• 2.3.1 Complex systems are made up of heterogeneous components
• 2.3.2 Complex systems have ambiguous boundaries
• 2.3.3 Complex systems shape each other
• 2.3.4 Complex systems produce emergent phenomena
• 2.3.5 Complex systems tend to be very resilient
• 2.3.6 Complex systems connect to their past states in curious ways
• 2.4 Applications of CST
• 2.4.1 CST in the study of language and language acquisition
• 2.4.2 CST in education and ELT
• 2.4.3 CST in the psychology of language learning and teaching
• 2.4.4 CST as connective tissue among disciplines
• 2.5 Ways forward
• 3 Exploring the school’s state space
• 3.1 The linguistic dimension: understandings of language
• 3.1.1 The Standard Language ideology
• 3.1.2 World Englishes
• 3.1.3 English as a Lingua Franca
• 3.2. The pedagogical dimension: teaching and learning approaches
• 3.2.1 The transmissive approach
• 3.2.2 The communicative approach
• 3.2.3 The post-method approach
• 3.3 The political dimension: visions of society
• 3.3.1 Neutrality: seeing no evil
• 3.3.2 Awareness: developing a critical understanding
• 3.3.3 Resistance: empowering teachers and learners
• 3.4 Constraining structures
• 4 Tracing the affordance landscape
• 4.1 Learning materials creating affordances
• 4.2 Overview of the learning materials
• 4.3 Affordances in the grammar activities
• 4.4 Affordances in the vocabulary activities
• 4.5 Affordances in the reading and writing activities
• 4.6 Affordances in the listening and speaking activities
• 4.7 Putting it all together
• 5 Driving activity in the system
• 5.1 Defining intentionality
• 5.1.1 Intentionality is collective
• 5.1.2 Intentionality is nested
• 5.1.3 Intentionality is emergent
• 5.1.4 Intentionality is generative
• 5.2 Proving proficiency
• 5.2.1 What was so important about certification?
• 5.2.2 What certification options were available?
• 5.2.3 On hierarchies and determinism
• 5.3 Finding a place to belong
• 5.4 Teaching about England
• 5.4.1 Anglophile attitudes
• 5.4.2 Anglocentric input
• 5.4.3 The importance of local context
• 5.5 Being the best
• 5.5.1 Limitations of the state education system
• 5.5.2 A culture of accountability
• 5.5.3 Introduction of TEYL
• 5.5.4 Complex interactions, unpredictable outcomes
• 5.6 Preventing change
• 5.6.1 The ‘Greek reality’
• 5.6.2 Locally acquired knowledge
• 5.6.3 Primacy of practice
• 5.6.4 Incompatible beliefs working together
• 5.7 Dynamics of intentions
• 6 The shape of teaching and learning
• 6.1 About attractors
• 6.1.1 Terminological ground-clearing
• 6.1.2 The shape of teaching and learning
• 6.2 Reading and Vocabulary
• 6.2.1 Prompt
• 6.2.2 Reading and Listening
• 6.2.3 Reading aloud
• 6.2.4 Reading comprehension
• 6.2.5 Vocabulary consolidation
• 6.2.6 Practice
• 6.2.7 Dictation
• 6.2.8 Emergence in teaching and learning
• 6.3 Traditional Grammar
• 6.3.1 Prompting
• 6.3.2 Explanation
• 6.3.3 Practice
• 6.3.4 Application
• 6.3.5 Emergence as a localised phenomenon
• 6.4 Process-based Writing
• 6.4.1 Collaborative writing tasks
• 6.4.2 Individual writing practice
• 6.4.3 Feedback
• 6.4.4 Reorienting the system
• 6.5 An evolving system
• 7 Using complexity to describe a language school
• 7.1 Situating a system in place and time
• 7.1.1 Rethinking boundaries
• 7.1.2 Thinking about timescales
• 7.2 Looking at the structure of the system
• 7.2.1 Some tentative findings…
• 7.2.2 …and some theoretical insights
• 7.3 Examining the intentionalities that drive the system
• 7.3.1 Defining intentionality
• 7.3.2 Insights associated with the study of intentionalities
• 7.4 Pedagogical activity emerging in the system
• 7.4.1 Pedagogical activity as an outcome of intentionalities and resources
• 7.4.2 The role of local context
• 7.4.3 ELT and globalisation
• 7.5 Future directions
• Appendix. Methodological remarks
• References
• Index