Human Spoken Interaction as a Complex Adaptive System

Aki Siegel is an Assistant Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden and a Senior Lecturer at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Her research focuses on language development in and through spoken interactions from a longitudinal and a complex dynamic systems theory perspective. She investigates English as a lingua franca and multilingual multicultural interactions using multimodal and mixed methods approaches. Recently, she is interested in the dynamics of human relationship-building in interaction through multiple encounters. Paul Seedhouse is Professor of Educational and Applied Linguistics and Director of ilab:learn at Newcastle University, UK. He researches what is universal about human spoken interaction, using a complex systems approach to argue that all human populations combine the same basic interaction engine with diverse overlaid languages.With colleagues in Computing Science over 14 years, he has worked on 4 grants to use digital technology to enable users to learn languages through cultural activities, resulting in the ENACT web app. This provides a universal infrastructure to enable people around the world to display and appreciate their commonality and diversity.He has also had 5 grants from the IELTS consortium to study spoken interaction in the IELTS Speaking Test. His book The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective (2004) won the 2005 Modern Language Association of America Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize.

• DedicationsList of Figures and TablesAcknowledgementsOverview1. Introduction to Human Spoken Interaction as a Complex Adaptive System2. L2 Interaction: Word Searches, Development and CDST3. Mirroring Methodology4. Patterns of Word Search Sequences at the Group Level5. Longitudinal Changes in Word Search Sequences6. Seeing Human Spoken Interaction as a Complex Adaptive System7. Conclusions and ImplicationsAppendix 1: Recording of ParticipantsAppendix 2: Transcription ConventionsReferencesIndex

Highly recommended, it is eminently readable for both newcomers to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) and thought-provoking for experienced academics. Using CDST as a metatheory and Conversation Analysis as a methodology, it expands upon the claim that language is a complex adaptive system, to propose that human spoken interaction, a second underlying system, is also a complex adaptive system.