A quarter of a century has passed since complex dynamic systems theory was proposed as an alternative paradigm to rethink and reexamine some of the main questions and phenomena in applied linguistics and language learning. In this article, we report a scoping review of the heterogenous body of research adopting this framework. We analyzed 158 reports satisfying our inclusion criteria (89 journal articles and 69 dissertations) for methodological characteristics and substantive contributions. We first highlight methodological trends in the report pool using a framework for dynamic method integration at the levels of study aim, unit of analysis, and choice of method. We then survey the main substantive contribution this body of research has made to the field. Finally, examination of study quality in these reports revealed a number of potential areas of improvement. We synthesize these insights in what we call the “nine tenets” of complex dynamic systems theory research, which we hope will help enhance the methodological rigor and the substantive contribution of future research.

自从提出复杂动态系统理论作为重新思考和重新审视应用语言学和语言学习中的一些主要问题和现象的替代范式以来，已经过去了四分之一个世纪。在本文中，我们报告了采用该框架的异质研究主体的范围审查。我们分析了 158 篇满足我们纳入标准的报告（89 篇期刊文章和 69 篇论文）的方法学特征和实质性贡献。我们首先在研究目标、分析单元和方法选择的层面上使用动态方法集成框架来强调报告池中的方法学趋势。然后，我们调查了该研究机构对该领域的主要实质性贡献。最后，对这些报告中研究质量的审查揭示了一些潜在的改进领域。我们将这些见解综合到我们所谓的复杂动力系统理论研究的“九大原则”中，我们希望这将有助于提高方法论的严谨性和对未来研究的实质性贡献。