Contradictions in Teachers’ Classroom Dynamic Assessment Implementation: An Activity System Analysis

Abstract

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is a procedure that requires teachers to attend to learners’ language use, detect inaccuracies, and provide graduated prompting in the moment to support learners in repairing errors (Poehner, 2009). For most teachers, this series of steps represents a significant and complex departure from their typical practice of responding to students’ erroneous utterances with recasts (Davin, Herazo, & Sagre, 2016). The present study used an activity system analysis, emerging from Cultural Historical Activity Theory, to examine the contradictions that arose in the practice of three L2 teachers during and following their participation in a professional development series focused on classroom DA. Interviews, stimulated recall, and teachers’ reflections were analyzed to explain the contradictions and their resolution. Findings revealed that whereas the three teachers assumed the role of providers of prompts, only one teacher adopted the role of both provider of prompts and assessor, reconceptualizing the object of activity to include assessment.

Professional development as Praxis: EFL teachers' challenges in learning to implement dynamic assessment of writing

“…The teachers in the present study also struggled to diagnose, identify, and work within students' ZPDs, similar to participants in Davin et al (2017) and Sagre et al (2021). As in Sagre et al (2021), each teacher set out to implement interventionist DA, but their actual implementation did not match what they had planned. They struggled to graduate their prompts from implicit to explicit.…”

“…Awareness of these beliefs and their origins may be a necessary first step to promote teacher development (Sagre et al, 2021;Donato & Davin, 2018). To be sure, professional development oriented toward praxis must consider teachers' ZPDs, paying attention to the tensions that surround conceptual development in local contexts (Herazo et al, 2019;Sagre et al, 2021). Formative intervention methodologies provide one potential avenue for future professional development designed to promote teacher development (see Engeström & Sannino, 2010).…”

“…The researchers concluded that some of the teachers needed additional mediation themselves to be able to implement DA (Davin et al, 2017). Using the same data set, Sagre et al (2021) used an activity theory perspective to understand the contradictions that three of the teachers from Davin et al (2017) experienced as they attempted to implement DA. The researchers found that the teachers experienced three types of contradictions, namely using graduated prompting instead of recasts, mediating individual students in large classes, and simultaneously playing the role of mediator and assessor.…”

“…Factors such as teacher background and the culture of the classroom may conflict with teachers' appropriation of DA (Sagre et al, 2021). To be sure, as compared to non-dynamic testing, DA is more time-consuming and requires extensive training and experience (Karpov & Tzuriel, 2009).…”

“…Providing mediation that is graduated and contingent upon a learner's individual needs is challenging (Davin, 2013; Davin et al, 2017; Sagre et al, 2021; Shrestha, 2020). Despite training, teachers may struggle to carry out DA and may face contradictions and challenges in implementation (see Sagre et al, 2021).…”