This is a report of a longitudinal case study carried out in a German international school. The researcher traced the language development of two learners of English (both eleven years old at the beginning of the study) by collecting writing samples periodically (every four weeks) for 22 months.
This study is the product of a longitudinal case study at a private international school in Germany. It employs the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory as its theoretical background. The paper focuses on how L2 writing production unfolds over time and focuses on three main topics. First, it explores the role of intra-individual variability in language development. Second, it traces complexification considering three different layers of the syntactic construct (supra-clausal, clausal and phrasal levels). Finally, it investigates the relation between lexical and syntactic development. The participants in the study wrote 31 texts over the course of twenty-two months. The investigation has three relevant outcomes. First, it did not corroborate finding from previous studies that have indicated the presence of high variability before phase shifts occur. Second, the interactions among the three syntactic dimensions vary in intensity and magnitude across time. Finally, lexical and syntactic development takes place heterogeneously.
