Reconceptualizing Classroom Dynamic Assessment: Lessons from Teacher Practice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on three Colombian high school teachers’ appropriation of second language (L2) classroom dynamic assessment (DA) to analyze the bidirectional relationship between theory and practice. Situated within Vygotskian sociocultural theory, DA integrates instruction and assessment into unified activity in that teachers assess learners’ language ability through a process that involves tailored teaching, or mediation, according to difficulties that learners experience (Lantolf and Poehner, J Appl Linguist 1(1):49–72, 2004). While L2 DA research has documented changes to teacher practice through the implementation of DA, far less work has taken account of insights into DA that may be obtained from teachers and learners. Such a reciprocal relation between conceptual work and practice is a key feature of praxis. In this chapter, we report findings from interviews conducted with three English-as-foreign-language (EFL) teachers who participated in a professional development series on DA (Davin et al., Lang Teach Res 21(5):632–651, 2017). In Phase One of this research, these teachers worked closely with us as they studied and implemented DA procedures in their classrooms. To capture enduring change and offer insight into the further development of DA principles and frameworks, we interviewed each teacher 2 years later. Our findings revealed that teachers recontextualized the concept of DA into a theory of their own practice. Findings suggest implications for DA implementation, but also for the role of situated practice in shaping teachers’ appropriation of concepts such as DA.