Planning Future Instructional Programs through Computerized L2 Dynamic Assessment (original) (raw)
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Dynamic Assessment (DA) is theoretically framed within Vygotsky " s Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) and relies on reunification of assessment and instruction. This process-oriented study of reading comprehension aims at investigating the impacts of applying computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) which is an ongoing strand of DA on promoting at-risk advanced Iranian EFL students " reading skills. The sample of this study comprised of 32 advanced BA students selected based on convenience sampling from Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) undergraduates from a university in Iran. In this study, the DIALANG software and the Computerized Dynamic Reading Test (CDRT) were utilized to identify the individuals " proficiency level and to examine the effectiveness of the enrichment program (EP) in DA respectively. Upon completion of the CDRT, the learners were presented with two mediated and unmediated scores. The formula called Learning Potential Score (LPS) was also utilized in order to measure the students " potential for learning. Analysis of the results showed that a pretest (unmediated) score was a sufficient indication neither for measuring individuals " ability nor for preparing an effective lesson plan for them. The findings of this investigation may prove to be significantly useful for those who are concerned about individuals requiring a lot of attention, that is, at-risk or retarded learners within the realm of DA.
Dynamic assessment which is originated in sociocultural theory of Vygotsky (1934) suggests the integration of assessment and instruction. Vygotsky proposed that cognitive ability can better develop in social and cultural context. This study aimed at investigating the effect of dynamic assessment on the reading comprehension and strategy awareness in EFL Iranian learners. Fifty intermediate female students from three English language institutes in Tehran were selected randomly, and divided into two groups: control and experimental. The design of study is experimental: pretest, treatment and posttest. At first, both groups were given a sample of TOEFL reading test and Survey of Reading Strategies Questionnaire (Mokhtari and Sheorey, 2002), and experimental group went on eighteen sessions of DA treatment in which students had one sample of reading test and interaction approaches were employed helping them to conduct the test, and then both groups were given posttests: reading comprehension and SORS questionnaire. The scores from tests calculated and compared, then t-test and paired t-test were run which showed that DA has significant effect on both reading comprehension and reading strategy awareness. INTRODUCTION Language teaching was always under influences of two schools of thought, namely linguistics and psychology. As new schools of thought emerged, the teaching methods and approaches to language changed. The era of language teaching and learning experienced these changes from behaviorist to socioculturalistic view, therefore the role of learners changed from passive to active one and also language achievements were interpreted in different terms from the product to process oriented. As a result, nowadays language achievement is not concerned with production rather process. One of the approaches that emerged from sociocltural view is Vygotsky's theory of mind named dynamic assessment which concerns with process. The purpose of DA is not mere assessment, but its purpose is helping the learners to reach to the higher level of development thus, it also has instructional and learning purpose. Hence teaching and testing which traditionally considered separated from each other; they are now viewed integrated in dynamic assessment. As Lidz (cited in Ajideh and Nourdad, 2012) noted, " DA offers a monistic view of assessment and instruction that focuses on developing abilities through the interactions ". So, DA has a significant implication: test to teach, contrary to the static assessment which is concerned with teach to test. DA can be better defined in contrast with traditionally non-dynamic assessment or static measurement. NON-DA assesses what has already learned and it is product oriented rather DA assesses the learners' potential ability; what he or she can learn with help of a mediator who intervenes in the process of learning; therefore, DA is formative and its purpose is learning. In fact, it integrates teaching and testing; however, NON-DA is summative and its purpose is measurement of what has been learned at end of program or learning process. DA is employed in classroom for giving feedback in order to assist the students' development and instructional process and raises students' awareness of instructional and learning objectives, " It has the potential to show important information about individual current strategies and process of learning " (Ajideh and Nourdad, 2012). On the other hand, reading has gained a more
The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2014
Dynamic Assessment (DA), is grounded in Vygotsky's idea on Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of mind, his concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and its related metaphor; scaffolding. This study examined the effects of dynamic assessment on improving reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate students who were learning English as a foreign language. The participants, a group of Iranian male intermediate EFL learners ranging in age from 17 to 20, were randomly assigned to two groups of 14. In this study, the experimental and control groups' performances on pretests and post-tests were compared through paired-samples and independent-samples t-tests. The treatment period lasted for 2 months (16 sessions). The results showed that the experimental group, which was instructed through DA, outperformed the control group which was instructed in a non-dynamic way.
The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on EFL Reading Comprehension in Different Proficiency Levels
Language Testing in Asia, 2012
The present study aimed at investigating the effect of dynamic assessment on EFL learners' reading comprehension in different proficiency levels. 197 Iranian university students participated in six groups of this study. The design of the research was quasi-experimental. The results of MANOVA test revealed that while dynamic assessment had improving immediate and delayed effect on reading comprehension of learners in all proficiency levels the proficiency groups did not differ significantly in their taking advantage of this kind of assessment.
International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research
The current study investigated the impact of an interventionist model of dynamic assessment, using a repetitive process of pretest-teach-posttest design, on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension and classroom engagement. To this end, 40 intermediate participants were selected through convenient sampling from among the English majors of a university in Kerman, Iran, and assigned to two control and experimental groups, each including 20 students. Then, during 4-month period, the experimental group was exposed to reading comprehension class, using an interventionist model of DA, while the control group did not receive ant dynamic assessment program. At the end of the treatment, the participants' scores on the pretest and posttest were statistically compared. The obtained results revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the scales of reading comprehension skill. A change was also observed in the classroom engagement of the experimental group, but not for the control group. Indeed, the results showed that dynamic assessment can boost participants' performance in a practical and effective way, not only in terms of reading performance but also in terms of motivating more classroom engagement among EFL learners. This finding has implications for teachers to design more efficient courses which are the ultimate goal of education.
2015
The present study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of dynamic assessment on EFL students’ reading comprehension. The subjects included 60 female and male students of two different classes that were passing general English course at Alaodole Semnani Institute of higher education as control and experimental groups. In the experimental group, the intervention took place during four sessions. Some mediation like strategies were taught each session while going through a teacher made reading text. Meanwhile, the students’ development of reading comprehension was dynamically assessed. In the control group a traditional type of assessment was utilized; in other words, only a summative test was given to the participants. At the end of the experiment, the posttest was administrated to the both groups and then the result of the tests were compared and analyzed. The analyzed data showed that dynamic assessment had significant on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners.
The effect of dynamic assessment on Iranian EFL students’ critical reading performance
2016
The main purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of Dynamic Assessment-based instruction on the development of critical reading through an interventionist approach and based on quasi-experimental research design. For selection purposes, PET (Primarily English Test) was used and 61 male students were chosen out of 80 male students. 30 students were included in the experimental (DA) group and 30 students were chosen for the control (Non-DA) group. All assessment sessions and the enrichment program (EP) sessions took place within a thirteen- week period, excluding a week of break. The mediation procedures were based on the Graduated Prompt Method. Before the EP sessions, the critical reading and vocabulary sections of the new SAT were administered statically to students in both groups as a pre-test. The reading passages were selected from sample tests of SAT and also were ranked using Flesh Reading Scores based on their degree of difficulty. After having 10 EP sessions, ...
Dynamic Assessment and the Impact on English Language Learners' Reading Comprehension Performance
Language Testing in Asia, 2012
This paper reports the results of a research project aimed at studying improvements in English Language Training (ELT) university students' reading comprehension performance by applying the mediations of a dynamic assessment approach to instruction and assessment. In contrast to static assessments, in which correct responses are indicative only of the learners' current ability at a specific moment in time, dynamic assessment concentrates on the learner's errors which are studied in terms of the individual's ongoing development and learning using mediations to promote growth. Lev Vygotsky (1978) is considered the originator of the theoretical framework upon which dynamic assessment is based; it emphasizes the interdependence of learning that leads development and thus the interlocking of instruction and development. In this mixed methods study, dynamic assessment procedures were conducted with 10 ELT university students. Participants took part in a pretest-mediationposttest design study. The devised pre and posttests had high reliability estimates. The mediation phase included three intervention sessions, each focused on a particular reading comprehension sub skill. The descriptive and analytic analyses of the results reveal dramatic, Language Testing in Asia Volume two, Issue two May 2012 23 | P a g e measurable progress in participants' reading comprehension performance.
The Effects of Dynamic Assessment on Reading Skill Performance: A Study of Indonesian EFL Learners
Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching
This research article aimed to analyze the effects of Dynamic Assessment (DA) on EFL learners' reading comprehension. The participants in this case study were five Indonesian tertiary-level EFL learners. It investigated whether mediation in DA improve the learners reading comprehension performances and analyzed the extent to which mediation in DA benefit learning. The research methods used were pre-test, mediation, and post-test. The findings revealed two main points. First, the result of the post-test showed an overall improvement for all five students. As indicated by the effect size (0.96) and the result of paired samples t-test (p-value = 0.0028), it can be concluded that the effect of DA on the participants’ reading skill performance was highly significant. Second, mediation in DA appeared to benefit learning with different characteristics in each student. The implications of this study were to provide practical insight to EFL teachers into how mediation can be developed to...
2014
This study extends traditional or static assessment of reading comprehension in foreign language contexts and applies dynamic assessment (DA) to the development of learners’ reading ability. To homogenize the research population (N= 250), an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered. On the basis of the test results, the population was sorted into three groups of reading-low, reading-mid, and reading-high students. The participants of this study were a sample of 30 participants with the lowest level of reading comprehension proficiency randomly assigned into two groups of control and experimental. This study was conducted in the Nosrat Institute, located in Kermanshah Province in 2012. In order to determine their current zone or level of reading proficiency, a TOEFL reading comprehension pre-test was administered to both groups. Afterwards, DA training was applied to the EG in 9 successive 80-minute sessions on reading comprehension, Unlike EG, static assessment was applied to th...