Skip Navigation


Applied Linguistics Advance Access first published online on July 1, 2007
This version published online on July 24, 2008
Applied Linguistics, doi:10.1093/applin/amm019
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
29/3/339    most recent
amm019v3
amm019v2
amm019v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Churchill, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Oxford University Press 2007

A Dynamic Systems Account of Learning a Word: From Ecology to Form Relations

Eton Churchill

Kanagawa University


  Abstract

This paper responds to calls for studies that investigate multiple types of word knowledge and the processes of word learning. Focusing on a single word, this three-month diary study describes the micro-development of an adult male's Japanese L2 lexical knowledge. In contrast to most L2 vocabulary acquisition studies, this study posits a dynamic perspective on language and development. The theory of learning applied is based on Hutchins’ (1995) notion of coordination, supplemented by Gibson's (1979, 1986) theory of affordances. The findings suggest that the learning was non-linear, shaped in non-trivial ways by environmental affordances, and proceeded through several quasi-stable states attained in circuits of coordination. It is suggested that the learning in this case study behaved very much like a dynamic system.

Received for publication 1 December 2006.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cogn Affect Behav NeurosciHome page
S. Scherbaum, M. Dshemuchadse, and A. Kalis
Making decisions with a continuous mind
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, December 1, 2008; 8(4): 454 - 474.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.