The effect of dynamic assessment on L2 learners’ listening comprehension

Ali Roohani,Bashir Jam,Masoud Rahimi Domakani,Shiva Yeganeh

doi:10.5565/rev/jtl3.751

Abstract

Group dynamic assessment (G-DA), which is grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT), explores the role of social interaction and collaboration in the development of participants’ listening performance. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of G-DA approach on listening comprehension of English as a foreign language(EFL) learners in two time intervals. To this end, twenty learners were selected from among Iranian EFL learners at an English language institute. The quantitative data analysis revealed that mediational strategies which were offered to learners within the group’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) could enhance their listening comprehension. These findings have important implications for all classroom teachers who can benefit from different designs of integrating instruction and assessment through offering mediational strategies to assist L2 learners in the development of their listening skill.

Highlights

Group dynamic assessment (G-DA) in language learning offers a new insight into language teaching and assessment and seeks to identify the skills that learners possess as well as their learning potential
In order to have a deeper understanding of the problems English as a foreign language (EFL) learners faced during G-DA, this study addressed the following research question: Is there any significant difference between listening comprehension of EFL learners in two time intervals?
In order to explore the impact of G-DA on listening comprehension of EFL learners, the quantitative analysis of the data was obtained through the SPSS

Summary

Introduction

Group dynamic assessment (G-DA) in language learning offers a new insight into language teaching and assessment and seeks to identify the skills that learners possess as well as their learning potential. It is based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind which strongly proposes “the relationship between social interaction and cognitive development including language learning” G-DA is an approach whereby a teacher discovers where learners encounter problems and provides support to overcome them. By drawing upon the zone of proximal development (ZPD), the mediator engages with learners in a collaborative talk and offers gradual and step-by-step assistance where problems arise. There is some evidence (see Alavi et al, 2012&Hashemishahraki et al, 2015) that G-DA with emphasis on the process of learning, could have the potential to overcome the problems learners faced during second/foreign language (L2) listening comprehension

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