This article first appeared in TESOL Journal, Volume 2, Number 4, pgs. 510–520. Members can access all issues for free here. To become a member of TESOL, please click here. © TESOL International Association.

Language is a familiar phenomenon to all of us and an integral part of our lives. We communicate and even think through a language. Thus, language is the vehicle of communication in the social world (MacWhinney, 1999). Furthermore, language links us to each other in human society. This down-to-earth proposition involves two key aspects of the phenomenon of language. First, communication is the fundamental function of language. We employ language for a number of interpersonal as well as intrapersonal communication needs in our lives. Second, language exists in the social world (a social tool, as Atkinson, 2002, calls it) in which it fulfills communicative functions.

In linguistic studies, capturing the intricacies of language is quite a daunting task, because no one theory or perspective can offer a comprehensive or illuminating view of language (van Lier, 2004). This perplexity remains a perennial concern of language practitioners. Also, it is important to note that language learning capability is exclusive to humankind (Jackendoff, 2003; Pinker, 1994), and human beings are capable of learning languages other than their native or mother tongue. This language learning process takes place within the sociocultural context and the relevant macrostructures that influence language use and development. During the learning process, communication plays the central role in the emergence of a language system in a learner, and grammatical structures emerge out of discourse as a result of the interaction between the learner and the environment. This article, while building on the emergentist perspective of language learning, examines the emergence of language during the learning process and the implications of emergentism for English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) instruction. Thus, the article offers a blueprint for language learning by illustrating the theory with some exemplars. The discussion is limited to the development of syntactic structures during the language learning process, which is also an area of focus within linguistic emergentism.

Emergentist View of Language Learning
As mentioned earlier, language is a social entity employed for a variety of interpersonal communication needs. Therefore, second language learning (SLL) is motivated by communicative needs and functions. Communication is the prime objective of any language system, and that learners should be introduced to language through discourse. This belief is based on my realization that communication (and environment) plays a pivotal role in the emergence of a language system in an individual, and language rules are shaped and reshaped by communication events. To capture the emergence of a language (in a learner), emergentism provides a valid account of language structure and its evolution during the language acquisition process. It is pertinent to mention, however, that emergentism shares a great deal with several approaches in SLL literature, such as complex systems theory, cognitive linguistics, and usage-based theories (see, e.g., Larsen-Freeman, 1997; Robinson & Ellis, 2008; Tomasello, 2003).

Previous Article