Timeline analysis of complex language learning trajectories: Data visualisation as conceptual tool and method

This paper discusses and demonstrates the use of visualisation and visual methods in the description and analysis of the learning trajectories of long-term learners and users of an additional language (in this case, Mandarin Chinese). It draws on a longitudinal case study that investigated how the dynamic complexity and variety of long-term trajectories of learning an additional language can be described, represented and interpreted. The specific focus of this article is the visual timeline analysis method used in the study. The timeline method offers an innovative way of representing and comparing individual language learning chronologies in visual format. By progressively layering, along a time axis, visualisations of longitudinal data relating to a number of different aspects of the learning context, the method allows a simultaneous overview of multiple aspects of development over time. These information-rich representations can reveal insights into patterns of choices and development over time which are not easily perceived in text-based accounts.