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This paper sets out to present a novel construal of one of the notions of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory viz., zone of proximal development (ZPD) drawing upon dynamic systems theory. The principal thesis maintains that ZDP is an emergent and dynamic system which is engendered by a dialectical concatenation of psychogenesic and sociogenesic facets of human development over time. It is reasoned that Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development, by invoking dialectical logic, has transcended Cartesian substance dualism and in turn has proffered a monistic and process-anchored ontology for emerging becoming of human consciousness. Likewise, it is contended that dynamic systems theory, having assumed fluent flux of reality with a capital R as its ontological axiom, entails a consilience of cognitive and contextual conceptual schemes to describe, explain, and optimize human development. The paper concludes by drawing some interpretive conclusions in regard to ZPD from dynamic systems theory perspective. peerReviewed

Moving toward a Supertheory for All Seasons: Dialectical Dynamic Systems Theory and Sociocultural Theory – A Reply to McCafferty (2016)

Saeed Karimi-Aghdam (PhD in Applied Linguistics) defended his doctoral dissertation entitled “Developing a Metatheoretical Framework for Second Language Development: A Cultural- Historical Theory and Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective” at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland on 26 June 2017. This article is a slightly revised version of the lectio praecursoria delivered by him before the public defense of his doctoral dissertation. His supervisors were Professors Hannele Dufva and Mika Lahteenmaki, both from the Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyvaskyla and his opponent was Professor James P. Lantolf of the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Center for Language Acquisition, the Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Dynamic systems theory (DST) has affordances to be a quintessential metatheoretical architecture for the nuancing of the time-locked mechanisms and processes of the L2 system. The received construal of DST in L2 studies presumes the emergence of structural regularities and the cognitive organization of the L2 system as simply a function of lower-level language use in social milieux. Critiquing some of the bedrock assumptions anchoring the extant reading, this article sketches a complementary dialectical construal of DST. Explicating circular causality, a nexus of causality types, and self-organizational emergence and their attendant implications for an adequate description and explanation of L2 as an emerging, dynamic and complex system are discussed respectively. The article concludes with some interpretive remarks. peerReviewed