Abstract-The concept of the zone of the proximal development can contribute not only to the assessment, but also to the teaching within the second language learning environment. However, the unifying philosophy within sociocultural theory (SCT) in relation to language and thought has also merged the assessment and teaching procedures into the concept of Dynamic Assessment (DA). The process of DA lets the teacher/mediator permeate into both the actual and potential zones of the development. It teaches and assesses at the same time. This contributive and critical article focuses on the peculiarities of DA. It introduces two new approaches within DA: Dynamic Assessment and Teaching (DAT), and Dynamic Teaching and Assessment (DTA). Moreover, it will discuss where DA stands within applied linguistics, the idea of transcendence both as the device of development and assessment, and the doubts applied linguists might have regarding the promising outcome of metacognitive awareness as a key point in the process of development in DA. After evaluating the problem of validity and reliability of DA, the article will critically analyze the two realizations of DA: interactionist and interventionist. Finally, the mere process of development within SCT in general, and DA in particular will be discussed.Index Terms-sociocultural theory, dynamic assessment, dynamic assessment and teaching, dynamic teaching and assessment
In early written corrective feedback studies, there were a lot of attempts to test if the feedback types are effective. This study was based on the assumption prevailing in the new era of studies of written corrective feedback, that feedback is effective. Firstly, it aims to compare the think-aloud protocols of the preferred and unpreferred feedback types which were chosen by 20 English learners (10 in preferred, and 10 in unpreferred feedback). To this aim, learners were asked to write diaries for six weeks. In each session, concurrent think-aloud protocols were employed and learners' verbal reports were extracted, and their mental processes were coded through developing a table of mental operations. In the second part of the study, the relative effectiveness of the preferred and unpreferred feedback was measured. Using the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test, the findings of the first part showed a significant difference between the mental operations for each feedback type. The results for the second part suggested that there is a significant difference between the effectiveness of the preferred and unpreferred feedback types. This latter finding indicates that the preferred feedback can facilitate the development of the accuracy in L2 learners' writing more than the unpreferred feedback.
One of the influential concepts of sociocultural theory in language acquisition research is the zone of proximal development, which is an opportunity for language learners to develop their capacities. It is believed that the learner's language development happens through scaffolding in language learning (Bruner, 1983). This study relies on the scaffolding technique to investigate the effect of three forms of scaffolding process, namely teacher, class, and peer scaffolding, on the writing development of EFL learners. To do this, an intact group sample of 30 participants was selected. The participants were doing their essay writing course in which 19 of them were in one class, assumed as the experimental group in the study, and 11 were in another, assumed as the control group. To maintain possible homogeneity of the participants, an Oxford Placement Test was administered to both groups. The experimental group practiced the techniques of teacher, class, and peer scaffolding in three consecutive sessions respectively, while the control group practiced three individual techniques. After analyzing the mean of the total scores in addition to interrater reliability, the multivariate tests, on the quantitative analysis, showed that the control group outperformed the experimental group. For further understanding of the reasons, on the qualitative analysis, the talks in the experimental group were analyzed. Finally, the findings of both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis are discussed.
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