戴安·拉森-弗里曼是密歇根大学安娜堡分校教育学和语言学荣休教授，主要研究第二语言习得、非母语英语教学、语言教学方法、教师教育和英语语法，尤以复杂动态系统理论研究第二语言发展而闻名。本书精心收录了作者半个世纪以来的研究成果，展示了其在教育学和语言学领域潜心研究、不断进取的学术历程，体现了她对应用语言学领域做出的开拓性的贡献。

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 An Explanation for the Morpheme Acquisition Order of Second Language Learners
Chapter 3 The “What” of Second Language Acquisition
Chapter 4 The Importance of Input in Second Language Acquisition
Chapter 5 Second Language Acquisition Research： Staking out the Territory
Chapter 6 On the Teaching and Learning of Grammar： Challenging the Myths
Chapter 7 Chaos/Complexity Science and Second Language Acquisition
Chapter 8 Language Acquisition and Language Use from a Chaos/Complexity Theory Perspective
Chapter 9 Language Emergence： Implications for Applied Linguistics
Chapter 10 The Emergence of Complexity， Fluency， and Accuracy in the Oral and Written Production of Five Chinese Learners of English
Chapter 11 Preview of Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics
Chapter 12 Ref lecting on the Cognitive-social Debate in Second Language Acquisition
Chapter 13 On the Need for a New Understanding of Language and Its Development
Chapter 14 Complex， Dynamic Systems： A New Transdisciplinary Theme for Applied Linguistics?
Chapter 15 Transfer of Learning Transformed
Chapter 16 Another Step to Be Taken-Rethinking the End Point of the Interlanguage Continuum
Chapter 17 Saying What We Mean： Making a Case for “Language Acquisition” to Become “Language Development”
Chapter 18 Complexity Theory： The Lessons Continue
Chapter 19 Conclusion