Chaos Theory In Complex Language

That language is a complex system in which a multitude of factors interact in known and unknown ways is a wellestablished fact. Many theories and models have been proposed and adopted in studying this complex system. An

interesting

theory which has been applied to the study of this intricacy is the “complexity” or “chaos theory”.

Chaos theory is a branch of study in applied mathematics which has found applications in other disciplines including physics, economics, biology, philosophy and language acquisition. The name chaos theory comes from the fact that the systems described by the theory are seemingly disordered, but chaos theory seeks to find the underlying order in the seemingly random data. Chaos theory was formulated during the

This idea is well-depicted in the concept of

“sensitivity to initial conditions” in chaos theory. Other theoretical studies conducted in the realm of language teaching and learning using complex or chaos theory include Ellis, (2007), Finch, (2001), Feryok, (2010), Hadidi

Tamjid, (2007), Harshbarger, (2007), Larsen-Freeman,(2002), Oekerman, (1997), Valle, (2000), and Swan,

(2004). Unfortunately very few studies have overall been conducted on the application of complexity and chaos theory to language acquisition in general and foreign language learning in particular. This scarcity of research is more conspicuous when it comes to language assessment. To the best of researcher’s knowledge no study has ever been conducted on the application of chaos theory to language assessment, mostly because “complexity in the EFL classroom continues to be difficult to research” (Finch, 2002, p.3). Furthermore, the studies conducted on language learning are of theoretical nature. Lack of empirical studies is greatly felt in this regard. As such, the present study can pave the way for empirical studies on the application of chaos theory to language learning

2. Purpose of the study and research questions The present study was an attempt at investigating the representation of chaos theory in language assessment. To do so; however, the study focused only on one of the major tenets of the chaos theory; that is, sensitivity to initial conditions. The study developed to investigate the effect of sensitivity to initial conditions on language test performance by studying the effect that changing the first item could have on test takers’ performance. More specifically, the study was after the following question: Does changing the first item of a MC test affect the test takers’ performance? 3. Method Participants Twenty Iranian EFL students took part in this study. The participants, 6 males and 14 females, were all freshmen majoring in English Literature at Shiraz University, Iran. At the time of study, the participants had finished the first academic semester and were just at the beginning of their second semester. They all had passed a 4-credit course of grammar in the first semester and were thus familiar with the basic structure of the English language.