A complex systems approach offers an enticingly fresh yet phenomenologically grounded perspective on the dynamic process of motivation to learn in the foreign language classroom. To recall from Chapter 1, Mitchell (2009: 13) defines complex systems as those ‘in which large networks of components with no central control and simple rules of operation give rise to complex collective behaviour, sophisticated information processing, and adaptation via learning or evolution’. In order to provide a glimpse into the potential of complex systems theory, this chapter is split into two broad sections: an overview of the commonly noted features of complex systems, and an examination of theoretical and empirical work exploring education and language learning from a complex systems perspective. While the chapter is predominantly theory based, it also forms a bridge between the description of the action research cycles in the previous chapters and revised analysis grounded in complex systems theory. It serves as a foundation for the presentation of results of my study in the chapters that follow.

Features of Complex Systems

In light of the multiple and dynamic influences on the development of EFL learner motivation in the classroom, the following sections draw on a range of literature to offer a synthesis of the common features and terminology in complex systems theory. Besides offering a useful vocabulary, these features also suggest new angles from which to interpret motivational change in the classroom.

Multiple agents

An important feature in complex systems is that they are thought to be made up of multiple agents. These agents are defined by the level at which we choose to look at a system. Proteins, organs, individual animals or species might all be taken as agents depending on the level of the complex system under study. Focusing on motivation in a language learning class group, we can consider learners and teachers as agents in the classroom system.