Complex dynamic systems theory in the field of linguistics is a perspective and approach to the study of second, third and additional language acquisition.
[2] Ahmar Mahboob has applied Complexity Theory/Dynamic Systems Theory to a dynamic approach to language assessment.
Second and additional language development is mainly studied by applying dynamical systems theory.
The main characteristics of multilingual development from a dynamic systems perspective are:[9] There is sensitive dependence on initial conditions usually cited as the Butterfly effect.
In a study on the role of self-regulation in linguistic development, Wind and Harding (2020) found that the low degree of variability in lexical and syntactic complexity in writing might be attributed to salient attractor states that dominated the participant's self-regulatory systems.
[11] Herdina and Jessner (2002) point out in their DMM that the complexity of multilingual systems is partly due to a number of individual factors, such as attitude, motivation and anxiety.
[12] Complexity Dynamic Systems Theory has also been applied to language assessment (e.g. by Ahmar Mahboob), self-assessment or self-reflection.
[17] More recently the hidden Markov model is used to detect phase shifts or transitional jumps in the development of language systems such as lexical or syntactic complexity.
[20] The application of dynamical systems theory to study additional language acquisition has received criticism in the field.
[21] In contrast to traditional cross-sectional studies, the DST approach does not use componential observations, generalizability, or linear causality.
[citation needed] The following is a list of those researchers who support the idea that second, third, x-th language development should viewed from a dynamic systems perspective and have made major contributions to the field: