About this post: This is a post advertising a workshop that took place in 2015. The information is no longer current, but I am keeping it here for archival reasons. You can read more about the Manchester Roundtable by visiting our website. You may also want to read about the TESOL Journal article that came out of the workshop (unfortunately, the article itself is behind a paywall).
I often circulate conference announcements in this space, but today I am very excited to announce a seminar that I am co-organising, which will focus on Complex Systems Theory and English Language Teaching. This will take place in Manchester just after IATEFL, so if you happen to be around, do join us!
We’ve put together a website for the event, and we’ll be populating it with more information in the coming weeks. In the meantime, any feedback or comments is very welcome. You can download our flier here (in .pdf form). If you could circulate this to anyone who might find it interesting, we’d be most grateful!
And finally, here’s the call for participation:
Manchester Roundtable
on Complexity Theory and ELT
Wednesday 15 April 2015
9:00am – 3:00pm
The University of Manchester
Complexity Theory is becoming an established perspective in the field of ELT. To date, Complexity Theory has informed understandings of ELT, and has also served as a framework for empirical studies (most prominently studies of language learning and use in ELT situations). However, Complexity Theory has not yet been used to directly inform actual ELT practice. Also, it will remain of limited value to ELT practitioners unless it can generate practical insights deemed as useful by practitioners.
Through a combination of invited presentations and participant discussion, the Roundtable aims to identify how Complexity Theory may enhance ELT practice. Tentatively, this may include discussion of how Complexity Theory may inform language classroom teaching, teacher development, innovation in curriculum, syllabus and materials design, and the inclusion of learners as fuller participants in language education. There will be opportunities for Roundtable participants to add to this tentative agenda.
There will be presentations offering starting points for discussion by:
- Lynne Cameron (Professor Emerita, Open University)
- Susan Dawson (University of Manchester and INTO Manchester)
- Achilleas Kostoulas (University of Manchester)
- Sarah Mercer (University of Graz, Austria)
- Juup Stelma (University of Manchester)
The one-day Roundtable will take place immediately following the annual conference of the International Association for Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), also in Manchester. If you are an ELT practitioner and/or researcher and have an interest in Complexity Theory (broadly construed), we warmly invite you to this Roundtable and we would welcome your input. This is a free event.
How to participate
If you wish to participate in the Roundtable, please register before April 8th on Eventbrite (link no longer active). Please note that we need to limit the number of participants. Once the maximum number of participants has been reached, we will no longer be taking any further registrations.
The Roundtable is sponsored by:
Institute for Development, Policy & Management
School of Environment, Education & Development
The University of Manchester
About me
Achilleas Kostoulas is an applied linguist and language teacher educator at the Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece. He holds a PhD and an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Manchester, UK and a BA in English Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
His research explores a wide range of issues connected with language (teacher) education, including language contact and plurilingualism, linguistic identities and ideologies, language policy and didactics, often using a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory to tease out connections between them. Some of his work in the field includes the research monograph The Intentional Dynamics of TESOL (2021, De Gruyter; with Juup Stelma) and the edited volume Doctoral Study and Getting Published (2025, Emerald; with Richard Fay), as well as numerous other publications.
Achilleas currently contributes to several projects that bring together his long-standing interests in language education, teacher development, and the social dimensions of language learning. As the coordinator of the expert team of AI Lang (Artificial Intelligence in Language Education), an initiative of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, he works on developing principles and resources to help educators make informed, pedagogically grounded use of AI in their teaching. He also leads the University of Thessaly team of ReaLiTea (Research Literacy of Teachers), a project that supports language teachers in developing the capacity to engage with, and contribute to, educational research. Alongside these, he contributes to LocalLing, a Horizon-funded initiative to preserve and strengthen heritage and minority languages globally.
In addition to the above, Achilleas is the (co)editor-in-chief of the newly established European Journal of Education and Language Review, and welcomes contributions that explore the dynamic intersections between language, education, and society.
About this post
This blog is a space for slow, reflective thinking about applied linguistics language education, professional development, and the role of technology in language teaching and learning. Transparency about process, tools, and authorship is part of that commitment.
I wrote this post on 9th February 2015, as part of the preparations for the Manchester Roundtable on Complexity Theory and ELT that I was organising with Juup Stelma. An aesthetic and functional update took place on 11th January 2026.
The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of my employers (the University of Thessaly) or The University of Manchester.
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