Group Dynamic Assessment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production, Motivation, and Classroom Anxiety

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of group dynamic assessment (G-DA) on English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral production, motivation, and classroom anxiety. For this purpose, Student Motivational State Questionnaire Guilloteaux and Dornyei, TESOL Quarterly 42, 55–77, (2008) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Horwitz et al., The Modern Language Journal 70, 125–132(1986) were employed. In addition, IELTS Speaking Sample Tests were used to assess participants’ oral proficiency levels before and after the treatment. At first, 100 EFL learners at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels of English proficiency were selected through convenience sampling procedure from some language institutes. Next, a sample TOEFL Junior Standard Test was administered to the participants and based on test rubrics, 77 A2 and B1 level EFL learners were identified and randomly assigned to experimental G-DA groups A and B, and non-dynamic assessment (NDA) control groups C and D. All study groups participated in 14 sessions of speaking practice in which G-DA-based mediations were employed for groups A and B following Poehner’s (2005) mediation typology, while groups C and D were subjected to NDA forms of practice. The results underscored the relative positive impact of G-DA on EFL learners’ oral proficiency development and classroom anxiety reduction. However, compared to NDA, G-DA did not have any positive effect on the participants’ motivation level. The findings seem to imply that a socially constructive environment which is more likely created in EFL classes as a result of the application of group-based dynamic assessment of the EFL learners’ language problems leads to more efficient identification of the group’s zone of proximal development (GZPD). Furthermore, G-DA seems to be an efficient procedure for lowering the anxiety level of foreign language learners in classroom context.