Complexity, Emergence, and Causality in Applied Linguistics / Progress in Mathematics (PDF)

"This is an important book. Jeremie Bouchard calls for a renewal of applied linguistics, as he fearlessly challenges applied linguists to make clear their ontology. Bouchard himself offers complex realism, combining CDST with critical realism, both of which make emergence central. Although he does not hesitate to point out the conceptual limitations of CDST (in part attributed to its relatively recent arrival in applied linguistics), he maintains that the combination offers an invaluable middle way between objectivism and subjectivism, and successionist and interpretivist tendencies and integrates them within a robust social ontology. I believe it is incumbent upon applied linguists to take up the challenge Bouchard has presented us with."

--Diane Larsen-Freeman, Professor Emerita of Education and of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Research Scientist Emerita and Former Director, English Language Institute, University of Michigan, Professor Emerita, SIT Graduate Institute, Visiting Faculty, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

"Jeremie Bouchard has produced a persuasive manifesto for a realist approach to applied linguistics. A wide-ranging critique of the social theory traditions relied on by the currently dominant approaches paves the way for a sophisticated alternative drawing on critical realism and complex dynamic systems theory. The result is a framework that offers new levels of theoretical depth to research in language use and language policy."

--Dave Elder-Vass, Honorary Fellow, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University, UK.

Jérémie Bouchard is a language teacher and sociolinguist with a penchant for social theory. His current interest centers on claims about language and its real-world uses made within applied linguistics research