جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه "dynamic assessment" در نشریات گروه "ادبیات و زبان ها"

Dissatisfaction with product-oriented and static forms of assessment led to the emergence of process-oriented testing or dynamic assessment. Learners’ involvement in the assessment process can enhance their learning autonomy and help them process linguistic features more deeply. Accordingly, using a quantitative quasi-experimental research design, the researchers sought to explore whether utilizing DA principles would have any differential impact, believed to be statistically significant, on the Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners’ learning and retention of English grammar. To this end, 30 EFL learners from two intact classes who were taking a general English course at Shayestegan English Language Institute, in Rasht, Iran were selected as a homoscedastic group of participants based on the scores they obtained on a sample copy of Oxford Solutions Placement Test (OSPT). The intact classes, each comprising 15 students, were then assigned to one experimental and one control group who then received treatment on their L2 grammar under different conditions: The experimental group received instruction on English grammar as per the principles of dynamic assessment in an eight-session intervention program. The control group likewise received treatment on L2 grammar over the course of the study, but they were trained using teacher-fronted instruction. Finally, the groups sat for an immediate and a delayed posttest of grammar to demonstrate their degree of learning and amount of retention of English grammar. Capitalizing on a 2 by 2 factorial design, which allowed for examination of both main and interaction effects of instructional modality and participants’ gender, the researchers employed a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine the participants’ performance scores. The results revealed that, regardless of participants’ gender, instruction as delivered through dynamic assessment privileged the participants in the experimental group much better than that of the conventional method in terms of their learning and retention of English grammar. A further finding was that gender did not interact with instruction modality in such a way as to produce a differential effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ learning and retention of English language grammar. The study carries both micro implications in the form of in-class teaching and macro implications in the form of curriculum planning and development, instructional design, and policymaking for different groups of stakeholders.

This paper attempted to explore the impact of dynamic assessment (DA) in improving EFL students’ writing ability. To this end, 60 homogenous pre-intermediate EFL learners from a private high school participated in this study and after administering QPT, the forty students were randomly divided into two equal groups; 20 learners in an experimental group and 20 learners in a control group with the same age and the same English knowledge and background. In the first session of instruction, the pre-test was administered in order to evaluate the learners’ writing ability. Then the control group received the traditional approach and the experimental group was exposed to dynamic assessment instruction to learn how to write with more efficiency. The treatment endured 12 sessions. The results of data analysis showed that the experimental group improved significantly. It is indicated that the dynamic assessment procedure is more efficient in teaching writing than the traditional methods. Furthermore, dynamic assessment enhances L2 writing and can play a crucial role in language learning.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of online group dynamic assessment (GDA) on the reflective and impulsive writing accuracy of ESP students, and their attitudes towards online GDA. The researcher selected 60 ESP students and they were divided into two groups, the experimental group (n=30) and the control group (n=30) with both reflective and impulsive students.  In the experimental group, the teacher explained how the online GDA sessions were conducted.  Each session, one descriptive writing topic was given to participants of this group and they had to write. Then, they received dialogic feedback in the context of Skype. After that the teacher gave graded oral and written feedback. Whenever each student failed to correct the error, the teacher provided more explicit feedback and asked another student to correct the error. This chain of tailored feedback continued and more students were asked to contribute until all grammatical errors were corrected. Participants in the control group continued in the conventional way. The results showed that online GDA had significantly positive effect on the writing accuracy of ESP students and that there was no significant difference between the writing accuracy of reflective and impulsive ESP students. In addition, the participants had positive attitudes towards using online GDA and considered it an effective method for improving writing. Pedagogical implications are recommended for ESP teachers, ESP students and syllabus designers.

Teachers play a pivotal role in the instruction-assessment process. Knowing EFL teachers’ conceptualizations of the role of assessment as well as their own role in the implementation of assessment is very critical. Accordingly, the current study aimed to compare Iranian EFL public high school teachers’ literacy and perceptions of dynamic assessment with those of English language institute teachers. In so doing, 45 (23 high school, 22 institute) English teachers, teaching in Lahijan, Iran were selected according to convenience sampling method. The teachers were invited to cooperate and participate in the study and fill out the questionnaire sent via social network like WhatsApp and Telegram. In addition, nine teachers (five high school, four institute teachers) were selected through purposive sampling to participate in a semi-structured interview with five questions posed through the above-mentioned social networks. A researcher-adapted questionnaire with 23 items in a Likert-type scale was utilized to collect data. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were achieved through experts’ opinion and Cronbach Alpha, respectively. Having collected the data, descriptive and inferential statistics of the findings showed that although both groups of teachers had a realistic view about the application of dynamic assessment due to its practicality and social acceptance, the teachers in two different contexts of teaching had different rates of literacy and perceptions of dynamic assessment. Furthermore, the difference in the two groups of teachers’ perceptions of dynamic assessment practicality was significantly different. The institute teachers enjoyed a higher average of both literacy and perceptions of dynamic assessment practicality in their classrooms. This study echoes the teachers’ voices, and as in the wake of new forms of curricular policy in many parts of the world, teachers are increasingly required to be agents of change that would hopefully encourage change at the discipline and in the institutional level.

The present investigation aimed to examine the impact of dynamic assessment on the acquisition of passive voice in a speaking context among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, forty intermediate-level learners from a Language Institute in Lahijan were randomly chosen to participate in the study through the administration of an OPT. The study employed a pre/post-test design with two participant groups: experimental and control. Speaking proficiency was assessed using four instruments: EIT, TGJT, UGJT, and a focused communication task, all administered orally. The experimental group engaged in task-based interactions with their interlocutors while receiving dynamic assessment interventions. Conversely, the control group completed the same tasks, but their instruction focused on explicit form correction. After the intervention phase, participants in both groups were administered a post-test of speaking proficiency. This post-test utilized the identical four measures employed in the pre-test. A battery of statistical analyses, encompassing t-tests and ANOVA with Pearson correlation coefficients, was conducted to assess group differences. The results yielded statistically significant differences in mean scores between the groups. These findings suggest that Dynamic Assessment (DA) may be a more effective intervention strategy than the Focus on Form approach. The study concludes by exploring the broader implications of these results for language learning pedagogy.

Dynamic assessment offers a holistic approach to evaluation by embedding assessment within instruction. Despite evidence suggesting the effectiveness of DA in language classrooms, there remains a reluctance among teachers to adopt DA practices. This reluctance stems from a lack of understanding of how DA models impact specific learning outcomes, particularly in speaking skills. One main contributing factor is the dominance of quantitative DA studies, which do not contextualize the differences between DA models. With an inductive thematic analysis design, this study explored the perceived effects of interactionist and interventionist DA models on speaking accuracy, fluency, and complexity among Iranian EFL students. Thirty undergraduate intermediate EFL learners from Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, were recruited through purposive sampling. Each participant had received one hundred hours of speaking lessons with one of the DA models embedded before participating in a semi-structured interview. The analysis of participants' perceptions and reflections revealed that both DA models were well-received for improving speaking skills but had different effects on subskills. Learners perceived the interactionist model as an effective teaching method that improved their speaking accuracy and complexity but reduced fluency, while the interventionist model favored fluency at the expense of grammatical accuracy and complexity.

This study aimed to explore the combined impacts of critical thinking and dynamic Assessment on enhancing the writing performance of Iranian EFL learners, specifically focusing on teaching writing strategies. We selected 80 intermediate-level participants from a pool of approximately 200 language learners at an accredited institute (Gooyesh). These participants were divided equally into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group (EG) received writing strategies through the application of critical thinking principles and dynamic assessment. The control group (CG) received writing strategies through traditional methods without receiving critical thinking or dynamic assessment principles. The two groups underwent a writing pre-test to assess their initial writing skills, and after the treatment, to measure their writing improvement, they took a post-test using the same evaluation criteria as those of the pre-test. Then, appropriate statistical tools were employed to gauge the participants' writing progress as a result of the instructional methods. The results indicated that integrating dynamic assessment and critical thinking strategies significantly improved participants' written communication skills. These findings hold promise for EFL instructors, curriculum designers, and material developers.

There have been different approaches to assess students’ learning in language teaching classes. Traditional standardized testing and dynamic assessment have been used in language classes. While traditional testing is considered a product-oriented approach, dynamic assessment is believed to focus on the process of learning and assist it. Existing literature is replete with different definitions of dynamic assessment. However, different attempts in defining dynamic assessment mainly contrast it with traditional testing. This has resulted in the conception that these two approaches are contradictory and their complementary relationship is not well acknowledged. This article, taking a postmodernist perspective, in general, chaotic/complexity view point in particular, and advocating a relativistic perspective, is an attempt to highlight the complementary relationship between these two approaches i.e., traditional testing and dynamic assessment. In so doing, it deals with defining and comparing these two approaches and considers two views on their relationship including their contradictory and complementary relationships.

The term dynamic assessment (DA) refers to an assessment, by an active teaching process, of a child's perception, learning, thinking, and problem solving. Dynamic assessment (DA) is a kind of interactive assessment used in education. Dynamic assessment is a product of the research conducted by developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The term dynamic assessment refers to an assessment, by an active teaching process, of a child's perception, learning, thinking, and problem solving. The process is aimed at modifying an individual's cognitive functioning and observing subsequent changes in learning and problem-solving patterns within the testing situation. The goals of the DA are to: (a) assess the capacity of the child to grasp the principle underlying an initial problem and to solve it, (b) assess the nature and amount of investment (teaching) that is required to teach a child a given rule or principle, and (c) identify the specific deficient cognitive functions and non-intellective factors that are responsible for failure in performance and how modifiable they are as a result of teaching. DA is usually administered to children who demonstrate some learning disability, low scores on standardized tests, or some emotional or personality disturbance. The study was conducted based on three stages, inspired by the evident role of Dynamic Evaluation in changing traditional assessment in favor of students. Its goal was to investigate the impact of dynamic assessment on the IELTS writing performance of applicants. To that end, 28 IELTS candidates were selected to undergo the procedure of three Mediated Learning Experience components namely: Intentionality, Reciprocity, and Transcendence. T-test results showed that IELTS candidates who took part in dynamic assessments improved more than those who took part in nondynamic assessments. The Intelligent Essay Assessor TM (IEA) online scoring method was used in the second half of the study. Students were given 40 minutes to complete a writing assignment that appeared in their IEA electronic portfolios. Online feedback can help improve IELTS writing scores by identifying and correcting grammatical faults, but it has little effect on the length or organization of a piece of writing. A structured interview was used to elicit participants' thoughts and feelings about DA and online evaluation as part of the study's third component. Students' attitudes toward DA were very positive, with nearly unanimous agreement that online assessment was superior to the previous method and that it was more time efficient.

In this study, attempts were made to explore the impact of peer-assisted mediation and teacher intervention on the attitudes of Iranian intermediate English learners towards reading comprehension, within an intrusive dynamic assessment approach. For this purpose, 60 male language learners were selected and homogenized by applying the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) as the main participants of the study. They were randomly divided into three groups: Experimental group (GA), Peer mediation, Experimental group (GB), and Instructor intervention group (GC)—control group. An attitude questionnaire was administered to the participants in all three groups to collect the necessary data. Then the treatment started and lasted 12 sessions. Each group of participants received a specific treatment. The post-test was administered at the end of the treatment. Analysis of the results showed that peer-assisted mediation and teacher intervention in intrusive dynamic assessment had significant impacts on the reading comprehension attitudes of Iranian intermediate English learners. The findings of the study offered some pedagogical implications for language teachers and textbook developers.

Teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) is currently an engrossing area worldwide. Nevertheless, despite the growing range of literature concentrating on certain aspects of CPD, there is a paucity of literature addressing a measurement scale to know where teachers are standing and act as a motivating role. The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a new scale for measuring EFL Teachers' CPD. This scale is considered pristine because of the added characteristics of Dynamic Assessment (DA) as another aspect of improving teachers' CPD. The present study further sought to establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, as well as add more value and precision to the pre-existing inventories available. Moreover, in this study, the developed scale was validated through piloting the items, and the factor analysis confirmed the five-factor questionnaire. With reference to the final results, the questionnaire was found to be reliable, having internal consistency by performing Cronbach's Alpha analysis. Cronbach's alpha of .91 indicated a high internal consistency. The CPD questionnaire was validated via exploratory factor analysis to establish a new validated scale to evaluate teachers' current level of CPD. The results are discussed in the context of language teaching, and based on that, authorities and administrators should be attentive to the results. Future studies can use a mixed-method approach to evaluate teachers’ CPD by employing a questionnaire and interviews.

The main focus of this article is on the controversial issue of integrating English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) into English Language Teaching (ELT). Particularly, the plurilithic nature of English as an international language in the age of Globalization challenges the long sedimented native-speakerism in the English classroom. Nevertheless, in spite of the extensive academic literature in the area of ELF research, it seems that a balanced pedagogical approach has not yet been developed by applied ELF scholars. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to show how Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) and Gal’perin’s Systemic Theoretical Instruction (STI) (which informed the L2 teaching approach called Concept-based Language Instruction, C-BLI) may provide the appropriate scientific framework to bridge the gap between the mainstream English as a Foreign Language (EFL) syllabus, that is based on the native-speaker Standard English model, and the emergent use of non-native-speaker ELF, which results from the contact of learners’ L1 and English. In conclusion, this research intends to propose an integrated approach to teaching English that combines ELF, SCT, and C-BLI. This is expected to give language teachers a conceptual framework and theoretical orientation to carry out the paradigm shift in ELT that most ELF scholars advocate.