Learner agency and assessment co-adaptation from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory perspective

Abstract

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory has redefined second language development as co-adaptation between language users and context, but few studies have proactively manipulated the context to model and optimize such co-adaptation. The applied nature of the field calls for research to move beyond observation toward intentional, Complex Dynamic Systems Theory-informed intervention and the development of corresponding methodological frameworks. This study addresses this gap by theorizing and operationalizing the context as an applied construct to examine the dynamics of agency–context co-adaptation. The context is more than a passive environment for language practice, serving as an actively shaped site that facilitates agency–context co-adaptation. Situated within a semester-long business Chinese course, this study delineated a closed-to-open context which took the form of a rubric co-constructed assessment series where learners proceeded from the recipients, to editors, to creators of the assessment rubrics, engaging reflexively with their evolving roles. Process tracing on qualitative data, including student reflections and rubric construction recording, revealed a progression in collective learner agency from taking control of grades over an opening context to improving performance over a guided context. Individual learner agency exhibited diverse profiles dependent on students’ varying focuses on task completion and language skills, buy-in of the assessment and rubric construction, and acknowledgment of the instructor’s guidance. In response, the closed-to-open context adapted to these variations through an ad hoc intervention addressing emerging needs for guidance.