The Implementation of Dynamic Assessment in EFL Learners’ Writing

International journal of linguistics & communication, 2015

The present study investigated the effect of using a computerized dynamic test of writing (CDTW) on L2 writing performance of Iranian EFL students. 60 upper-intermediate junior EFL students from three different universities in Iran participated in this experimental study. Using an interventionist approach to DA, the researcher used CDTW as treatment providing students with a set of pre-formulated supportive hints embedded in three steps of pre-writing, writing-drafting, and reformulationduring the testadministration. It was found that through the interactive and strategy-based learning environment, CDTW could be used to assess students' writing development. Also, the performance of the students improved in terms of the development of four major sub-skills of writing.The findings also indicated that low achievers could benefit more than high achievers from the implementation of CDTW. Students' attitude as measured by a questionnaire confirmed the effective role of computerized dynamic assessment procedures in writing development.

2015

The rise of sociocultural theory has pushed up the value of dynamic assessment as one of the alternatives to traditional testing. The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ self-assessment and self-rating of their writing ability and the effect of dynamic-assessment-based course on their accuracy, and (b) the interrelationships among teacher rating, self-assessment, and self-rating in the writing performance of twenty two engineering students taking a writing course as part of a general English course. Conducting descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, and t-tests revealed that the participants overrated their writing ability as measured against teacher rating before their exposure to the dynamic-assessment-based course. While they got close to each other after dynamic assessment and high correlations among all participants’ self-rating, self-assessment, and teacher ratings proved the impact of dynamic assessment. T...

Journal of Writing Research

The present study investigated the effects of applying cumulative group dynamic assessment (G-DA) procedures to support EFL writing development in a university context in Iran. It focused on learner achievement, patterns of occurrence of mediation incidents, and learners' and teachers' perceptions towards G-DA. Quantitative data was collected from learners' performance on writing tests and the frequency of occurrence of mediation incidents involving EFL writing components based on Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormouth, Hartfield, and Hughey's (1981) scale. Findings revealed that G-DA was more effective than conventional explicit intervention for supporting EFL writing development. Also, it worked best for low ability learners as compared to mid and high ability ones. Besides, the number of mediation incidents declined from 27 in session one to 8 in the final session, confirming the efficacy of G-DA in promoting both EFL writing and learner self-regulation. Most teacher mediation involved language use, vocabulary, and organization and fewer incidents involved content and mechanics. Qualitative data analysis indicated that most learners and teachers held positive attitudes towards the efficacy of G-DA for supporting EFL writing development. However, a few participants asserted that the procedures were unsystematic, stressful, time consuming, and inappropriate for large classes.

Iranian Evolutionary Educational Psychology Journal, 2020

Approaches to assessment are distinguished mainly by the fact that whether the provision of feedback and modification of learners performance during assessment procedures is of concern or not. In fact, Dynamic Assessment (DA) attempts to integrate assessment and instruction and uses a range of mediational strategies to gain insight into the learners current abilities and to assist them in reaching their learning potentials. Non-Dynamic Assessment (NDA), on the other hand, aims at obtaining a pure and reliable measurement of the learners abilities.The present study was designed to experimentally investigate and compare the effects of feedback offered within the frameworks of Group Dynamic Assessment (G-DA) and Formative Assessment (FA) on the improvement of 34 intermediate Iranian EFL learners writing performance and their capability in transferring the acquired knowledge and skills to new and more challenging tasks. As for the intended treatments, the G-DA students benefited from a model of classroom-based DA including three stages of orientation, execution and control and the FA students received a careful and systematic sequence of instruction, assessment and feedback. The necessary data were collected from the students in-class written drafts and their performance on four non-dynamic writing tests. Results of the analyses, especially, two-way repeated measures ANOVAs, indicated the inherent superiority of the DA group in improving their writing; however, both groups of learners were equally able to transfer the acquired knowledge and skills to new and more challenging writing tasks, which can be attributed to the satisfactory level of internalization and self-regulation they have possibly achieved as a result of the interventions received. Accordingly, it was concluded that systematic feedback offered within the frameworks of these two approaches to assessment can successfully help the learners improve their writing ability.

The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on EFL Process Writing: Content and Organization , 2013

This research aims at introducing a simple process and framework for teaching English writing to Iranian EFL intermediate learners based on the principle of Dynamic Assessment (DA). Boehner and Lantolf (2005) define dynamic assessment as the interaction between assessor as intervener and learner as active participant with the aim of making cognitive changes in the learner during the process of learning and assessing. DA is rooted in Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD), and it does not separate instruction form assessment. The teacher-student interaction and joint work carry students' future improvement through their ZPD. Reflections and results of this research reiterate that the dialogic way of teaching is of great help in enhancing learners' writing interest and improving their writing competence.

As teachers of English one of the most important parts of our job is how we respond to our students in the classroom. This is especially true when talking about written English and the process of providing feedback to students on their writing usual requires significant amounts of time and effort on the part of academic writing teachers both inside and outside of the classroom. Traditionally teachers in both L1 and L2 classrooms have used rubrics as a tool for helping to make simplify this process. However, recent studies in L1 writing have shown that there are some significant problems with using rubrics as a means of responding to student writing. This area of research has become quite contentious in the field of L1 writing but is only just beginning to have an impact in second language writing research. In order to provide a better understanding on how and why rubrics are used in academic writing classrooms in universities in Japan this paper looks at a proposed study that attempts to construct a clearer picture of the use of rubrics in the L2 classroom. When completed it is hoped that this research will provide some insight into how teachers in Japan are responding to their students’ written work and act as a starting point for further research into the possible positive and negative effects of those methods.

2018

Regarding the importance and complexity of writing among the EFL language learners, this study explored the learners’ attitudes toward teaching and testing writing through Computerized Dynamic Assessment (CDA). The participants of this study were 22 Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners. All the participants were adults and participated in this study voluntarily. To meet the aim of the study, the researchers developed software which contained 11 series of multiplechoice questions tests. Throughout each test, participants received feedback based on their needs and within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). After each session and test, the learners were required to write down their attitudes toward the effectiveness of CDA in teaching and testing writing. The participants wrote their attitudes in a form of diary. At the end, their diaries were analyzed and it was revealed that all the learners had positive attitudes toward the implementation of CDA in teaching writing.

International journal of research in English education, 2019

This study is conducted under the domain of Vygotskian Socio-cultural Theory (SCT) of mind and the notion of dynamic assessment to elevate the linguistic accuracy of EFL learners' writing skill. 40 homogenous intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from four intact classes were divided into two dynamic assessment (DA) and non-dynamic assessment (NDA) groups. As a pre-test, the participants were given writing topics during a course to assess their writing linguistic abilities. After analyzing and scoring the compositions' errors based on four consecutive stages to error analysis and a model of linguistic errors (grammatical, syntactic, substance, and lexical), the type and frequency of errors' subcategories related to each category (n=516) was detected. Afterwards, the DA group went through intervention/mediation (interventionist dynamic assessment) based on their pre-test errors in five sessions, while nondynamic assessment group received no mediation and feedback. The pretest-mediation-post-test design (sandwich model of dynamic assessment) was used in this study. After mediation, as a post-test, both groups entered the second course of language learning and like pre-test their compositions during the course were analyzed and scored to see the effect of dynamic assessment on learners' writing ability. Analysis of data through descriptive statistics and statistical analysis showed that the experimental group who received mediations, unlike control group, solved their writing difficulties extensively and outperformed the control group with a significant difference. In other words, application of DA as an alternative procedure to standard testing has a positive effect on both test performance and writing linguistic accuracy of EFL learners.

Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2018

Group dynamic assessment grounded in Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory is believed to have the potential to provide a context for capturing a group of learners' Zone of Proximal Development (Poehner & Lantolf, 2010). The present study was conducted to compare the effects of interventionist dynamic, cumulative group dynamic, and static assessments on the grammatical accuracy of the EFL learners' narrative writing. The participants of the study were 75 female students studying in the third grade of high school. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, three groups of interventionist dynamic, cumulative group dynamic, and static assessments were formed. The researchers used some wordless picture-sequence prompts for narrative writings in the pre-test, treatment, and post-test sessions. After the pre-test, only the experimental groups received mediational support. All the control and experimental groups were treated the same in the pre-and post-test in a non-dynamic way (static assessment). The data obtained from both pre-and post-test were statistically analyzed by the one-way ANOVA. The results showed that cumulative group dynamic assessment had more effect on developing the EFL learners' accuracy in writing narrative paragraphs. The findings have implications for language teachers and material developers, and syllabus designers. article citation Tabatabee, M., Alidoust, M., & Sarkeshikian, A. (2018). The effect of interventionist and cumulative group dynamic assessments on EFL learners' writing accuracy, Applied Linguisics Research Journal, 2(1), 1-13.

Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2025

Dynamic assessment (DA) is an innovative way of assessing students' knowledge. Given the importance of knowing how to reduce writing apprehension and improve writing self-efficacy in language learning, this study investigated the effects of models of DA including Buddoff's Learning Potential Measurement Approach (LPMA), Carlson and Wiedl's Testing-the-Limits Approach (TLA), and Intensive Mediated Learning Experience (IMLE) on L2 writing apprehension and self-efficacy. The participants were 302 students in four groups. All groups were given the writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy questionnaires as pretests, followed by 20 sessions of treatment. The same questionnaires were given in the last session as posttests. The collected data were analyzed using one-way Analysis of Covariance. The results showed a significant difference among the four groups' writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy mean scores on the posttests. The findings also revealed that the IMLE group outperformed the other two groups. Based on the results, it was concluded that employing DA models can be conducive to reducing writing apprehension and improving writing self-efficacy among EFL learners. The findings of the present study can have useful implications for teachers, students, material designers, and language assessors.