Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz

SSLLT 10 (1). 2020. 15-19
http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2020.10.1.1

http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/ssllt

Editorial

The goal of the special issue is to provide robust examples of how we as a field
can research the dynamic nature of learner individual differences (IDs). The pa-
pers in this volume provide both a sound theoretical discussion of several IDs in
relationship to their (posited or empirically attested) role(s) in L2 learning, as well
as specific methodological ideas on how to best reveal the dynamic nature of IDs.

As repeatedly mentioned in the field (Dewaele, 2013; Dörnyei, 2005,
2009, Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009; Gurzynski-Weiss, 2020),
including in a special issue within this very journal (de Bot & Bátyi, 2017), learner
IDs are no longer seen as static and stable but as dynamic and changing over
time and in response to other IDs (Dörnyei, 2009, 2010; Gurzynski-Weiss, 2020;
Kormos & Csizér, 2014; Serafini, 2017), as well as context (de Bot & Fang, 2017;
Lowie, van Djik, Chan, & Verspoor, 2017; Mercer, 2015; Serafini, 2020). While
this is mentioned frequently in relationship to complex dynamic systems theory
(CDST; de Bot, Lowie, & Verspoor, 2007; Larsen-Freeman, 1997, 2011, 2015, 2020),
there still exists a general lack of understanding with respect to how to investigate
the dynamicity of IDs, particularly for those who have worked in other frame-
works and are newer to CDST and/or approaching IDs as dynamic with respect
to longitudinal design.

In this special issue, I invited a renowned expert to explore the dynamicity
of a commonly investigated learner ID within the field of second language ac-
quisition (SLA). The impressive list of contributors and the ID they examine is as
follows: Carmen Amerstorfer on learning strategies; Jean-Marc and Livia
Dewaele on classroom emotions; Tammy Gregersen on anxiety, Daniel O. Jackson
on working memory, Peter MacIntyre on willingness to communicate, Ellen J.
Serafini on the L2 self, and Amy S. Thompson on multilingual selves. Each author
ensures the accessibility of their expertise by first describing their ID of focus,
the role it plays in L2 learning, and then moving on to the heart of the special
issue: a discussion on how the ID in question can change, what influences this

change, and, critically, concrete examples of research methodology that will allow
us to explore the dynamicity of their ID. The special issue concludes with the first
semester data of a multi-year study exploring multiple learner IDs (Jung, DiBar-
tolomeo, Melero-García, Giacomino, Gurzynski-Weiss, Henderson, & Hidalgo).

Carmen Amerstorfer opens the special issue with her article on learning strat-
egies titled, “The Dynamism of Strategic Learning: Complexity Theory in Strategic
L2 Development.” In this article, Amerstorfer discusses how a holistic investigation
of L2 strategies requires the integration of numerous interconnected, flexibly-inter-
acting influences at constant interplay. Most importantly, she re-examines data
from a previous study through a CDST lens, demonstrating how CDST offers addi-
tional insight compared to methods that have viewed IDs as more static.

Jean-Marc and Livia Dewaele then write on classroom emotions in their
contribution “Are Foreign Language Learners’ Enjoyment and Anxiety Specific to
the Teacher? An Investigation Into the Dynamics of Learners’ Classroom Emotions,”
focusing specifically on the interplay between foreign language enjoyment and
foreign language classroom anxiety, and how they are influenced by (and un-
doubtedly influence in turn) the specific language teachers. Analyzing multiple
factors at play, Dewaele and Dewaele demonstrate how foreign language enjoy-
ment appears to be more dynamic and teacher-dependent than foreign language
classroom anxiety, which is comparatively more stable and less teacher-dependent.

In her “Dynamic Properties of Language Anxiety,” Tammy Gregersen, using
published data from existing studies, first demonstrates how anxiety is in fact a dy-
namic learner ID. Gregersen then moves on to describing the roles language anxiety
plays within a dynamic system, and how these considerations change all levels of re-
search: theory, research questions, methodology, as well as pedagogical implications.

Daniel O. Jackson follows with a discussion on working memory, with an arti-
cle entitled “Working Memory and Second Language Development: A Complex, Dy-
namic Future?” Jackson begins by asserting that working memory (WM) has always
been considered as dynamic and interrelated, at least internally with its multiple
facets. Considering WM as a complex learner ID, however, has been less discussed,
particularly with respect to CDST. Jackson reappraises WM within a CDST frame-
work, highlighting theoretical and methodological challenges and opportunities.

In his “Expanding the Theoretical Base for the Dynamics of Willingness to Com-
municate,” Peter MacIntyre examines how learners navigate a multitude of con-
siderations in the moments they decide whether or not to communicate in the
L2. Using his idiodynamic method, MacIntyre demonstrates how his team is able
to examine the nuances of willingness to communicate at the timescale of a few
minutes, and how this detailed examination is leading to new theory, research
methods, and pedagogical implications.

Ellen J. Serafini, in her “Further Exploring the Dynamicity, Situatedness, and
Emergence of the Self: The Key Role of Context,” examines how learner selves man-
ifest across contexts and timescales, critically considering existing research and call-
ing for much-needed work that examines how learner perceptions of themselves
and their interlocutors impact the system and, ultimately, language learning.

Exploring multilingual selves in “My Many Selves Are Still Me: Motivation and
Multilingualism,” Amy S. Thompson investigates the dynamicity of multilingual
learners’ language systems and the influences that induce change. Specifically,
through a re-examination of data published earlier through the lens of the dynamic
model of multilingualism (Herdina & Jessner, 2002; Jessner, 2006, 2008), Thompson
demonstrates how researchers can utilize dynamic analysis to increase understand-
ing within their existing data sets, as well as in larger conversations within the field.

Finally, the empirical study “Tracking the Dynamic Nature of Learner Individ-
ual Differences: Initial Results from a Longitudinal Study” by Jung et al. presents the
first semester data of a study examining multiple learner IDs over several years. Fo-
cusing on the L2 motivational self system (Dörnyei, 2009), personality (Ashton &
Lee, 2009), learning and cognitive styles (Reid, 1995; Oxford, 1993), and working
memory (Stone & Towse, 2015), the study examines what learner IDs are present
in the initial semester of study, how they vary between learners and relate to other
IDs, and how four learner profiles emerged in the initial semester dataset.

Together, the papers in this issue provide cutting-edge examples of how
to approach learner IDs from a CDST framework: theoretically, empirically, and
even at times providing guidance on how to use this information in pedagogical
contexts. Each paper has an exceptionally thoughtful discussion of the dy-
namicity of the ID in question, what this reconceptualization means for existing
research, with some studies even reexamining published data to demonstrate
how additional insight can be uncovered through dynamic approaches, and how
viewing these learner IDs as dynamic reshapes our work at all levels of research.

I would like to thank Mirosław Pawlak for the honor of the invitation to
edit a special issue for Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (and
the freedom to choose a topic – what a dream!). My sincerest thanks to the
contributors for the outstanding contributions they have shared in this collec-
tion, and their camaraderie and enthusiasm from the get-go. I would also like to
thank the reviewers who generously lent their time and expertise to critique
and constructively comment on earlier drafts of these papers. Finally, my sin-
cerest thanks to Daniel Jung at Indiana University, who tirelessly assisted in edi-
torial work throughout this process.

Finally, it is important to mention that many of these research projects
will be presented in our AILA ReN symposium at the World Congress of Applied
Linguistics (AILA) in Groningen, the Netherlands, in August 2020. I invite you all

to join us there for additional conversation and collaboration in moving dynamic
ID research forward.

Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

lgurzyns@indiana.edu

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