Tracking Microgenetic Changes in Authorial Voice Development from a Complexity Theory Perspective

Abstract

Engaging a complexity theory view of learning, this study examined an atypical timescale for tracking L2 authorial voice development through the interaction of cognitive processes that inform voice construction. A microgenetic analysis of seven adult Japanese learners of English in a three-week writing course designed to help students develop their authorial voices revealed learning dimensions that were (i) wide in breadth, (ii) isomorphic in their rate, (iii) triggered by repeated tasks in a teaching-and-learning cycle facilitated by stylistic analyses, (iv) variegated across learners, and (v) erratic and nonlinear. Interactions also showed signs of stabilizing during the final phase of the intervention. These findings are consistent with a complexity theory view of L2 development, demonstrating that repeated and similar learning tasks implicate emergentist interpretations of language and literacy development. This article contributes to understanding authorial voice construction across atypical timescales and invites L2 studies to apply timescales of development more relativistically. This study also emphasizes the importance of further exploring microgenetic interactions for understanding the ontogenesis of authorial voice and for conceptualizing its development inside and outside the classroom.