Researching Complex Dynamic Systems: Retrodictive Qualitative Modelling to Understand Motivation in the Japanese EFL Classroom

Abstract

While the application of concepts from both complexity theory and dynamic system theory to the social sciences is becoming increasingly attractive in principle, attempts to achieve this in practice have mainly reached an impasse. In this vein, the current paper seeks to first justify their application to the social sciences, and in particular the area of language learning motivation. While the paper acknowledges the potential difficulties of such an approach, it proceeds to respond to these by proposing a technique entitled Retrodictive Qualitative System Modelling, providing a detailed outline of the application of the five phases of this technique. The paper concludes with a recognition of the need to validate this technique by applying it to an actual research context.