A complex systems perspective on English Language Teaching: A case study of a language school in Greece

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Abstract

This thesis is a complexity-informed case study of a language school in Greece, which provides a rich description of how language pedagogy develops in the periphery of the English-using world. In addition, this study demonstrates the feasibility and potential of using Complex Systems Theory (CST) in the study of educational settings. The thesis begins by describing English Language Teaching (ELT) in Greece, thus setting the scene for the empirical investigation. This is followed by a review of ELT literature, with particular reference to theories of language, pedagogy and society, and by an overview of CST, which pragmatically synthesises complex realism and post-modern ways of knowing, and defines a set of principles to guide complexity-informed empirical inquiry. Having conceptualised the language school as a complex system, it is suggested that activity in the school was sustained by multiple intentionalities, i.e., collective, emergent, nested and generative drivers of activity. These included: (a) an imperative to provide certification to learners, (b) some learners’ desire to integrate in transnational discourse communities, (c) the expectation that language learning should lead to increased awareness of ‘English’ culture, (d) competition against the state school system, and (e) the unstated aim of protecting the professional interests of the school’s staff and stakeholders. Intentionalities were associated with specific pedagogical outcomes and cultural outlooks, and their synthesis is defined as a dynamic of intentions. Next, the thesis looks into the learning materials used at the language school, and it is suggested that these generate affordances which impacted pedagogy. The distribution of learning activities in the books was associated with synchronic and diachronic changes in the dynamics of intentions underpinning activity in the school. Complexity-inspired conceptual instruments, such as an ‘affordance landscape’ and ‘attractors’, are developed to describe the influence of the learning materials, and it is suggested that the learning resources used at the language school made transmissive and communicative pedagogy more likely. The empirical component of the study concludes by describing prototypical instruction sequences that typified ELT in the language school, which evidenced traces of transmissive and communicative pedagogy. Some sequences (e.g., Reading and Vocabulary, and Transmissive Grammar) evidenced transmissive influences, which were associated with local pedagogical traditions, whereas others, such as Process-Based Writing, were more closely aligned with the communicative ideology that is mainstream in ELT. The thesis concludes by synthesising the findings with insights from the CST literature. In doing so, it demonstrates the theoretically generative potential of a complexity-informed inquiry, which can help to formulate understandings of ELT that are sensitive to the interface between systems and their environments, while providing ontologically coherent accounts of structure and agency, and of behaviours that are neither completely random nor entirely predictable.  

Layman's Abstract

In this thesis, I look into the way English Language Teaching (ELT) is practiced in a language school in Greece, and I use complex systems theory (or simply ‘complexity’) to help me understand how motivations, resources and practices came together to shape language teaching. This is important for two reasons: Firstly, because it provides a rich, coherent description of how the English language is taught outside English-speaking countries; and secondly, because it shows that complexity can useful in guiding our understanding of social phenomena.The thesis begins by providing background information about ELT in Greece. Next, I review the ELT literature, focussing especially on theories of language, pedagogy and society. After that, I describe my own understanding of complexity, which is a synthesis of various concepts that have been put forward in the literature, and I define a set of complexity-informed principles that guided my research. To study the language school, I thought of language teaching as a complex phenomenon, which I approached from three perspectives: what motivated and sustained language teaching (its ‘intentionalities’), the learning resources (e.g., coursebooks), and the actual lessons. There were five main intentionalities in the language school, including (a) the belief that learners must obtain language learning certificates, (b) the desire by some students to become part of English-speaking communities, (c) the expectation that English language learners should also learn about ‘English’ culture, (d) competition against the state school system, and (e) the need to protect the professional interests of the school’s staff and stakeholders. These intentionalities interacted with each other, producing what I called ‘dynamics of intentions’. Next, I looked into the learning materials that were used at the language school. I argued that different activities in the courseware tended to be associated with specific intentionalities and specific ways of teaching and learning. I further argued that the distribution of learning activities hinted at processes of change in the dynamics of intentions in the school. Drawing on complex systems theory, I developed a set of conceptual tools, such as an ‘affordance landscape’ and ‘attractors’, which helped me to describe teaching and learning. Finally, I used these tools to hypothesise that the learning materials in the school privileged transmissive and communicative pedagogy at different stages of instruction. I then went on to describe common lesson patterns (or ‘prototypical instruction sequences’) in the language school, which confirmed my hypothesis that transmissive and communicative pedagogy prevailed at different stages of instruction. Some sequences (e.g., Reading and Vocabulary, and Transmissive Grammar) seemed to be associated with local pedagogical traditions, which were predominantly transmissive. Others, such as Process-Based Writing, were more closely aligned with the communicative ideology that is mainstream in ELT. In the final chapter of the thesis, I bring the findings together and connect them to the complexity literature. In doing so, I show that complexity-informed investigations can be used to formulate elaborate and yet economic understandings of ELT, i.e., understandings that are sensitive to the way a school connects to the social contexts in which it is embedded; understandings that help to understand the ways in which structure and agency interconnect; and understandings of behaviours that are neither completely random nor entirely predictable.

Keyword(s)

Complex Systems Theory; Complexity; ELT; English Language Teaching; Greece; Language teaching; TESOL

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