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Diane Larsen-Freeman

Professor, School of Education; Professor, Department of Linguistics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; Research Scientist, English Language Institute

Diane Larsen-Freeman received her PhD in linguistics from the University of Michigan. Following appointments at UCLA and the Graduate SIT Institute (where she remains affiliated as distinguished senior faculty fellow), she returned to the University of Michigan in January 2002 to direct the English Language Institute for six years. She is currently a research scientist at the English Language Institute, as well as a professor of education, professor of linguistics, and faculty associate of the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at Michigan. Her interests include second language acquisition, language teacher education, English linguistics, language teaching methodology, and complexity theory. Larsen-Freeman has made presentations in sixty-five countries around the world and is the author of eight books. She was the editor of the journal Language Learning for five years.

Larsen-Freeman focuses her research and interests on attempting to understand the process of second language acquisition. She also researches English grammar. She regards English grammar not only as a set of structural patterns, but also as an important resource for making meaning and for adapting language appropriately to the communicative context. In addition, she has found that chaos/complexity theory provides new insights into language, its acquisition, and its use. She sees all three as complex, non-linear, dynamic processes. Such a perspective has contributed to her dynamic view of language, which she has applied to teaching grammar, or “grammaring” as she calls it. The approach also acknowledges the individual paths that students chart to second language success and views teaching as fundamentally a process of managing learning.
 

Larsen-Freeman teaches courses in the following program(s): Literacy, Language, and Culture ;Elementary Teacher Education;Elementary Teacher Education (ELMAC).

Selected Publications

Recent Books

Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching.  (2011). (With M. Anderson). Third Edition.  Oxford:  Oxford University Press.

Language as a Complex Adaptive System.  (2009).  (Edited with N. Ellis).  Wiley/Blackwell.

Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics. (2008).  (with L. Cameron).  Oxford:  Oxford University Press.  (winner of the 2009 Kenneth W. Mildenberger book prize, awarded by the Modern Language Association) 

 

Recent Articles

Complex, dynamic systems:  A new transdisciplinary theme for applied linguistics? (2011). Language Teaching.  (doi:10.1017/S0261444811000061)

A complexity theory approach to second language development/acquisition. (2011). In D. Atkinson (Ed.), Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.

Key concepts in language learning and language education. (2011). In J. Simpson (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics.

Teaching grammar versus teaching grammaring. (2011). Praxis Fremdspachenunterricht Basisheft.  01/11 Januar/Februar.

An Introduction (with M. Schmid and W. Lowie) to Modeling bilingualism. (2011). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Researching second language development from a dynamic systems perspective. (K. de Bot andD. Larsen-Freeman). (2011). In M. Verspoor, K. De Bot, W. Lowie (Eds.), A Dynamic Approach to Second Language Development: Methods and Techniques. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 

Having and doing:  Learning from a complexity theory perspective. (2010).  In P. Seedhouse, S. Walsh, and C. Jenks (Eds.), Conceptualising Learning in Applied Linguistics.  Hampshire, UK:  Palgrave Macmillan.

The dynamic co-adaption of cognitive and social views: A chaos/complexity theory perspective. (2010). In R. Batstone (Ed.), Sociocognitive Perspectives on Second Language Use/Learning. Oxford University Press.

Affiliations

• Educational Studies
• Teacher Education

Committees

• Promotion & Tenure Committee

Courses

Term	Catalogue Course Description	Syllabus
Fall 2011	EDUC 593 (ELI 593). Educational Linguistics	EDUC 593. Educational Linguistics
Spring 2011	EDUC 579. Second Language Learning	EDUC 579. Second Language Learning
Fall 2010	EDUC 593 (ELI 593). Educational Linguistics	EDUC 593 (ELI 593). Educational Linguistics

Last edited by Bob Brustman on Wed, March 07, 2012 - 11:20:37