The Emergence of English as a Lingua Digital Within Chaos/Complexity Theory Framework

Authors

Keywords:

English as a Lingua Digital, Chaos/Complexity Theory, Language learning, COVID-19, coronavirus

Abstract

English has now become a digital language with the rise of the digital age, especially with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and now due to COVID-19. Individuals’ interaction with the digital beings such as front camera, social media, and keyboards has allowed new words to emerge or caused some changes in the existing words. Regarding these dynamic changes, Chaos/Complexity Theory brought to English language teaching (ELT) field by Diane Larsen-Freeman (1997) might provide explanations while shedding light on the construction or emergence of new words. In this article, Chaos/Complexity Theory is revisited first as a transdisciplinary theory and then along with its main features in language learning field. Then, English as a Lingua Digital is proposed as a new concept to be studied by future empirical studies. In this sense, this article is the first one proposing English as a Lingua Digital within Chaos/Complexity Theory. The ideas in this paper may be the leading topics ELT research in a very near future considering the fact that there are not enough empirical studies utilizing Chaos/Complexity Theory.

Author Biographies

Hilal Peker, Independent Researcher

Hilal Peker (Ph.D., University of Central Florida, 2016) is a Fulbright alumna and an independent researcher in Florida, U.S.A. She worked as an assistant professor of TESOL/TEFL at Florida State University and Bilkent University. Her research interests include L2 Motivational Self System, teacher and student identity, academic buoyancy and resilience, simulation technology in language learning and teacher training, and foreign language teaching to students with special needs.

Özkan Akkaya, TED University - English Language School

Özkan Akkaya is an English Instructor at TED University English Language School. He is also an M.A. TEFL student at Bilkent University, Turkey. His research interests include teaching English as a foreign language to tertiary level students and organizational policies, values, and conventions at English for academic pruposes programs.

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Journal of Narrative and Language Studies (NALANS)

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Published

2020-06-30

How to Cite

Peker, H., & Akkaya, Özkan. (2020). The Emergence of English as a Lingua Digital Within Chaos/Complexity Theory Framework. Journal of Narrative and Language Studies, 8(14), 99–111. Retrieved from http://nalans.com/nalans/article/view/241

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 14 (2020): June 2020

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Articles

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Copyright (c) 2020 Hilal Peker, Özkan Akkaya

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.