جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Zone of proximal development » در نشریات گروه « ادبیات و زبان ها »

Lesson Study (LS), as a professional development approach, motivates teachers to develop skills making them aware of the dynamics of students’ learning during a lesson. This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of the role of (LS) in their professional development. To this end, five Iranian secondary school EFL teachers took part in the study. Four instruments including a semi-structured interview, diary writing, observation field-notes, and Telegram© notes were used to collect the data. The teachers participated in a (LS) program conducted in 12 face-to-face 90-minute sessions. A thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the interview data. The data obtained through diary, observation, and Telegram© platform were subjected to content analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Five major themes were emerged including behavioural and psychological effects, collaborative development, raised awareness about pedagogical practice, concerns about LS, and changes to teaching practice. The analysis indicated that lesson courses developed the teaching performances of the participants. The findings call up Iranian EFL teachers and practitioners to pay due attention to the function of LS in teacher growth and teacher development.

Though dynamic assessment (DA) has gained strong theoretical and empirical support over the last decades, second language (L2) practitioners have blamed it for its applicability in large classes. To ameliorate this limitation, peer-dynamic assessment (peer-DA), rooted in the conceptualization of zone of proximal development (ZPD), can be introduced and practiced as an alternative approach. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of peer-DA on cultivating Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners’ interlanguage pragmatic (ILP) competence. Additionally, it was to disclose how peer-DA leads to improving the learners’ ILP competence. To achieve these aims, a sample of 84 upper-intermediate EFL learners, including females was selected through a convenience sampling method at Iran Language Institute in Borujerd City, Iran. Then, a total of 37 EFL learners whose scores fell around the mean score were selected and randomly assigned to two groups, namely an experimental (n = 19) and a control (n = 18). Then, they went through a pre-test, interventions (lasting 16 one-hour sessions held two times a week), and a post-test. The experimental group’s interactions were meticulously recorded. The collected data were analyzed through two independent samples t-tests, and the microgenetic development approach. Findings documented a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and control group concerning the gains of ILP competence on the post-test. Furthermore, the results of the microgenetic development analysis evidenced how the gradual, contingent prompts could lead to noticeable improvements in the learning of ILP features. These findings may have some pedagogical implications for different stakeholders.

Based on Vygotsky's concept of Zone of Proximal Development, dynamic assessment (DA) has at its core the integration of assessment and instruction through mediation. DA is practiced either individually or collectively. In group-dynamic assessment (G-DA), as Poehner (2009) introduced, learners are simultaneously exposed to mediation.  The problem which has been ignored in G-DA is the homogeneity and heterogeneity of EFL leaners while being mediated. This study tried to investigate the effect of group-dynamic assessment on homogeneous and heterogeneous EFL learners' ability in listening comprehension. It also intended to find out if expert-novice and peer-to-peer mediation types in G-DA differed in their effects on homogeneous and heterogeneous EFL learners' command of listening comprehension. To this end, eighty intermediate EFL learners were chosen to be the participants. According to their language proficiency, they were assigned to two groups of forty homogeneous and forty heterogeneous learners. Then, each group was divided into two experimental groups. The participants in all groups attended three listening sessions. For the mediation, the participants were assisted through novice-expert and peer-to-peer mediation types. To find out the main and interaction effect of group type and mediation type in G-DA, the post-test scores were analysed through running a two-way ANOVA.  The results indicated that both group type and mediation type had significant main and interaction effect on learners' listening comprehension. A post hoc test was also utilized to compare the mean differences between the groups.

Dynamic assessment (DA) has been widely researched in different linguistic areas, but there is paucity of research on its incorporation into English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Accordingly, this study investigates the effectiveness of DA on incidental vocabularies emerging in technical reading textbooks with a focus on electronic engineering students. The research method is a quasi-experimental research design focusing on an intact group of 25 Bachelor of Science students of electronics from the University of Zanjan, Iran. The instruments used are Preliminary English Test (PET), a vocabulary knowledge scale, and a mediation test (a 13-item multiple-choice test). The mediation test was delivered through the researcher-developed website, designed for this purpose. As a triangulation, participants’ evaluation of computerized dynamic assessment (CDA), too, was elicited using a survey adopted from Nirmalakhandan (2007). The results of the qualitative and quantitative phases indicated that Electronic students’ incidental vocabulary learning promoted dramatically using target CDA, employing structured prompts for the mediation process. The results of this study can inform both teachers and learners by providing a step by step procedure for both teaching and assessment of ESP learners' vocabulary.

Although Dynamic Assessment (DA), rooted in Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) notion, has been extensively researched in teaching English as a foreign language, it has remained largely unexplored in teaching Arabic as a foreign language. To bridge this long-lasting gap, this study purports to investigate the effects of DA on improving Iranian Quran learners’ recitation performance. For this purpose, two intact grade 7 classes were selected at a public high school in Borujerd city, Iran, and were assigned randomly as DA group (n=21) and non-DA group (n=23). Later, they went through a pre-test, intervention (offered based on the principles and procedures of DA for the DA group and held in 15 sessions), immediate post-test, and delayed post-test. The collected data were analyzed through a one-way ANCOVA. Findings documented that the DA group outperformed the non-DA group on the immediate post-test. Additionally, the results evidenced that the DA group outweighed the control group on the delayed post-test. The study ends with proposing some implications in consistent with the tenets of Sociocultural theory.

The prevalence of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as a major theory in SLA has spurred a considerable number of studies to investigate the various aspect of L2 acquisition through the lens of this theoretical framework. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Scaffolded Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance in terms of fluency, accuracy, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity. Additionally, the study sought to inquire about the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward Scaffolded WCF through a series of post-interviews and a questionnaire. For this purpose, 25 students who had enrolled in a university-level writing course were conveniently sampled after a homogeneity test for the study. The pedagogical treatment the participants received throughout the study was Scaffolded WCF (i.e. a ZPD-based teacher/peer corrective feedback on their writing performance). The data obtained from the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest were analyzed using a series of ANOVA and Friedman’s tests. The findings indicated that Scaffolded WCF statistically significantly contributed to the participants’ writing performance regarding grammatical complexity, fluency, accuracy, and lexical complexity. The results obtained from the attitude questionnaire and the post-interviews also revealed that the participants held a positive attitude toward the adopted approach. The findings provide promising implications for the adoption of this approach in large classes typical of Iranian university-level writing courses.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) assume different roles amongst which is leadership. To lead effectively, they need to possess some significant awareness of the language in order to adequately respond to learners’ needs. One domain of awareness is the ability to distinguish between structurally similar, yet semantically different structures. This study set out to assess ESL teachers’ level of semantic awareness in view of establishing their readiness to meet learners’ needs within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).  The Follow-up Explanatory Research Design was used.  Data on the cognitions of ESL teachers were elicited from a questionnaire survey while a test was used to quantify ESL teachers’ language awareness levels in the domain of semantics. The quantitative data from the test were analyzed using frequencies and simple percentages while the qualitative data were analyzed using the framework of Content Analyses. The findings reveal that though ESL teachers overestimate the level of their knowledge base in components that have a bearing on semantics awareness, a majority of them do not wield beyond a fundamental level of awareness as concerns applying that knowledge to differentiate the meanings of structurally similar pairs of sentences. It is therefore crucial for English language pre-service and in-service teacher training to seek ways of enhancing the professional knowledge base of ESL teachers especially in domains that are critical to establishing differences between pairs of sentences that tend to be similar.

Computerized Dynamic Assessment (CDA), encouraged by Brown and colleagues’ graduated prompt approach, is grounded in Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) of mind and its concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). It emerged to respond to the challenge of implementing DA in large classes and to meet the psychometric properties of assessment. To this end, the present study attempted to design a unique computerized dynamic assessment tool to diagnose learners’ development of pragmatic competence, specifically their knowledge of the speech acts of apology and request. To conduct the research, a number of 60 BSc students of engineering, aged 18-24, participated in the study. They had different proficiency levels, including pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate levels. In the course of CDA, they were provided with 30 multiple choice discourse completion tests of apology and request and they were required to choose what they would say in that specific situation. The participants received pre-established meditational hints for each of the unacceptable responses, which were arranged from the most implicit to the most explicit. Finally, to diagnose learners’ development, their test performance, including their actual score, mediated score and learning potential score (LPS), was instantly displayed. Paired samples t-test showed development in learners’ mediated score. The results of the univariate analysis of variance showed that there is no interaction between mediation and proficiency level. Teachers can use this supplementary dynamic assessment tool to diagnose learners’ development of pragmatic competence.

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is theoretically derived from Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This study seeks to investigate the effect of Computerized Dynamic Assessment (C-DA) on assisting learners to realize their latent potential in learning reading comprehension. A group of 32 adult EFL students studying English as their BA major in a University in Iran participated in the study. In order to measure the students' potential for learning, Kozulin and Garb's (2002) formula which is called the Learning Potential Score (LPS) was used. The LPSs represented how much mediation was likely required for an individual or a group of individuals to develop or move forward. The results showed that learners with the same pretest scores might turn out to have different or even drastically different DA posttest scores and hence different LPSs. On account of the LPS obtained through the C-DA principles at-risk students are provided with opportunities that might result in overcoming some of the challenges they faced in traditional testing.

The present study was designed to test a group-based format of dynamic assessment (G-DA) in the context of writing over a time span of twelve weeks of instruction. A cohort of 60 students took a homogeneity test and based on the results, 44 students were selected to participate forming the two groups of experimental (N=22) and control (N=22). The study benefitted from a mixed methodology design comprising both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. The experimental group underwent G-DA instruction for a time span of 12 weeks and received prompts, hints and scaffolding during all stages of writing including topic selection, idea generation and revising while the control group was deprived of dialogic negotiation and interaction. The results of quantitative data analysis of pretest and posttest scores using independent and paired samples t-tests revealed the outperformance of the experimental group over the control group. The microgenetic analysis showed that the G-DA instructions could diagnose quite vividly the learner's sources of writing difficulties and help promote the abilities which are in the state of maturation. It was also found that the G-DA interactions could set the ground for creating a state of intersubjectivity and positive interdependence among the more and less proficient learners in the course of which they could trial their legitimate peripheral participation. The G-DA interactions had the function of moving the entire class forward in its ZPD while co-constructing ZPDs with individual learners within the social microcosm of the classroom context. On implication side, it is argued that the G-DA serves as a precise, teacher/learner-friendly and, thus, ethical procedure for the assessment of learner's writing abilities.

While accepting a layman classification of feedback into two main types (explicit vs implicit), researchers with socio-cultural background have emphasized the strategic presentation of corrective feedback. This study provides empirical evidence for the effects of strategic feedbacks inspired by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) on second language learner's listening comprehension during group dynamic assessment (G-DA). A sample of 20 L2 learners at intermediate level ages 20 to 24 volunteered to participate in this study. Following a microgenetic design, the study lasted about two months during which the learners received G-DA feedbacks. Exemplary protocols are provided to showcase the effects of strategic feedbacks offered by the mediator on the diagnosis and development of learner's comprehension abilities. Breaking away from a dichotomous format which is typical of SLA-based feedbacks and inspired by the sociocultural principles of contingency, graduation and dialogic negotiation, the G-DA feedbacks were found to be highly variable ranging from the most implicit to the most explicit in each interactive move. Concurrent and cumulative G-DA feedbacks were observed to be conducive to the expansion of group's Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD and growing intersubjectivity. Moreover, the strategic feedbacks through G-DA-based 'proleptic' instruction which proceeded in a lockstep fashion were found highly efficient in the realization of collective scaffolding, a source of assistance that benefitted a sizable number of secondary interactants. On implication side and in the research on L2 feedbacks, the paper recommends the use of G-DA-based strategic feedbacks as a more valid assessment and instructional tool than the traditional SLA-based feedbacks to diagnose and enhance the learner's listening comprehension abilities in the classroom context.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dynamic assessment (DA) on grammar development of a beginner foreign language learner whose L1 was Persian. For this purpose, two versions of Oxford Placement Test of Grammar were used: One as the pre and posttests and the other for teaching grammar through interactionist DA. At first, the participant was pretested to assess her knowledge of grammar before the treatment. During the study, interactionist DA was used to provide mediation to the learner depending on her needs. A posttest was conducted two days after the last session to observe the immediate effect of DA. Four weeks later the same test was also administered to observe the delayed effect of the treatment. Item-by-item analysis of the questions showed that DA was effective both in terms of its immediate and delayed effect. The microgenetic analysis revealed useful information about the potential of the learner which was not achievable in nondynamic assessment.

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.

The current study was intended to investigate the impact of Dynamic Assessment (DA) on promoting reading comprehension ability of Iranian male and female EFL learners, focusing on Guthke's Lerntest approach. In this study, the researcher used DA which unifies instruction with assessment to provide learners with mediation to promote their hidden potential during assessment. In this action research project, Guthke's Lerntest approach was used to develop the reading comprehension skill classes that integrated mediation with assessment to support 60 Iranian EFL learners' reading skill. The Guthke's lerntest approach and the mediation design are presented in detail in this article. The participants' reading scores are presented to show the effect of Guthke's Lerntest approach on promoting Iranian EFL learners' reading performance. In addition, the participants' pre and post-test scores were compared to determine whether the participants revealed significant progress after receiving Guthke's Lerntest approach in reading comprehension setting. The findings showed that participants of experimental group significantly outperformed the one in the static way. In conclusion, the results of the study revealed that employing the Guthke's Lerntest approach can offer a new condition to enhance the EFL learners' reading comprehension ability and that doing research in this field can be beneficial for EFL learners, English instructors and other researchers in other fields.

The intention of the present paper is to seek whether gender has any impact on the effectiveness of applying Guthke's Lerntest approach in reading comprehension. For this purpose, after selecting 60 intermediate EFL learners, they were arbitrarily categorized to four clusters of males and females, two experimental and two control groups, each consisting of 15 male and 15 female learners. Both control and experimental groups took part in a reading performance class, but just the main groups (experimental) were subjected to interventionist model of dynamic assessment (DA) on their reading tests, and control groups were assessed through static testing method. A pretest and a posttest were given to the intermediate level and, a questionnaire comprising 16 items was given to the experimental groups to elicit their attitudes towards the application of Guthke's Lerntest approach. To examine the hypotheses of the current research, independent t-test and Likert -scale were used. The results of the study revealed that EGM and EGF learners were not very much different with regard to their performances on the reading post-test. In addition, the learners held highly positive attitudes towards DA practices in their EFL setting.

This study employed a mixed method to investigate the effects of dynamic assessment (DA) on listening comprehension of EFL students in a foreign language learning context. The participants of the study (N=57) were randomly divided into one control group, i.e., non-dynamic, and one experimental group, i.e., dynamic. They were asked to listen to some listening comprehension teaching materials and transcribe what they hear. The participants in the control group just listened to the audio files and took the tests while in the experimental group, the participants received mediation. The qualitative analysis of the exchanges between the mediator and the participants in the experimental group indicated that the application of mediational strategies was successful enough to help the participants promote their comprehension of the listening input. In addition, participants‟ listening problems diagnosed in the mediation sessions and the related support helped them overcome their listening comprehension problems. The performances of the participants in the two groups on an achievement test developed based on the instructional materials showed that the dynamic group outperformed the non-dynamic group.

Mastering writing has always proved an almost insurmountable barrier to EFL learners. In an attempt to alleviate problems advanced EFL learners have with writing, this study aimed at investigating the effect of scaffolded instruction through writing frames constructed from extended prefabricated lexical bundles. 40 female advanced English students, selected out of a population of 65, were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The participants of both groups were assigned a writing pre-test prior to any instruction, and a writing post-test following the twenty-session scaffolded instruction in both groups. The results revealed that the participants in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group as a result of the writing frames they were provided with. Overall, it is concluded that scaffolded instruction through writing frames can be a useful means of helping advanced students to improve their writing quality.