<jats:p>Humanizing complexity research is already strongly advocated by much of the literature on complexity (Kramsch, 2011; Larsen‐Freeman, 2011; Sampson, 2016) and yet there is a recent trend towards a potentially alienating approach, which could confound readers, utilising a dense vocabulary and overly technical methods. We advocate a more practical approach to complexity thinking, which continues on from McKinley’s (2019) paper on the teaching‐research nexus by advocating more practitioner‐based research which can provide emic and contextually situated insights into the language classroom.</jats:p>