On the roles of repetition in language teaching and learning
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Diane Larsen-Freeman,
Diane Larsen-Freeman is a Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics, and Research Scientist (English Language Institute) at the University of Michigan, USA. She is also a Faculty Associate of the Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan.
Abstract
Repetition is common in language use. Similarly, having students repeat is a common practice in language teaching. After surveying some of the better known contributions of repetition to language learning, I propose an innovative role for repetition from the perspective of complexity theory. I argue that we should not think of repetition as exact replication, but rather we should think of it as iteration that generates variation. Thus, what results from iteration is a mutable state. Iteration is one way that we create options in how to make meaning, position ourselves in the world as we want, understand the differences which we encounter in others, and adapt to a changing context.
About the author
Diane Larsen-Freeman is a Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics, and Research Scientist (English Language Institute) at the University of Michigan, USA. She is also a Faculty Associate of the Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan.
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- On the roles of repetition in language teaching and learning
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- A neo-Hymesian trajectory in applied linguistics
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- On the roles of repetition in language teaching and learning
- Cognitivism, adaptive intelligence, and second language acquisition
- A neo-Hymesian trajectory in applied linguistics
- Migrant ethnic identities, mobile language resources: Identification practices of Sri Lankan Tamil youth
- Dominant pedagogical approaches and diverse teaching conditions: Integrating CLT in a Chinese university as a danwei community of practices
- The language of development and the development of language in contemporary Africa
- Language plurality of South Asia: A search for alternate models in knowledge construction
- Linguistic inequality and its effects on participation in scientific discourse and on global knowledge accumulation – With a closer look at the problems of the second-rank language communities
