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Exploring the compatibility of Complex Systems Thinking and Exploratory Practice

Susan Dawson, The University of Manchester

Very few experienced teachers would deny that the classroom is a complex and dynamic entity with many factors, both human and contextual, affecting teaching and learning. While complexity theory is being increasingly used to describe and understand the reality of teaching and learning in the classroom by researchers and academics, does it have a role to play in enabling teachers (and learners) to understand the ongoing dynamics and unpredictableness of classroom life and respond in a way that enhances the quality of life in the classroom? In an attempt to answer this question, I will begin by briefly exploring the value of CST to myself as a practitioner. I will then draw on data from a recent case study that uses the principles of Exploratory Practice (a form of inclusive practitioner research that focuses first and foremost on quality of life and understanding in the language classroom) as an approach to both pedagogy and research in an EAP classroom context, to examine and evaluate how this might further our understanding of the possible compatibility between complex systems theory and Exploratory Practice in relation to classroom teaching and learning/language pedagogy.

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