Dynamic assessment (DA) addresses the limitations of standardised assessments by integrating the understanding and promotion of learners’ emerging abilities during the assessment process for a more comprehensive view of their language performances. However, the conventional interactionist and interventionist DA approaches each have their deficiencies, failing to fulfil both DA practicality and contextualisation in L2 classrooms. Also, there is a scarcity of DA research on exploring learner performances over time. This study aims to address these gaps by putting forward a hybrid computerised dynamic assessment (hybrid C-DA) model implemented as a 7-week pedagogical programme in diagnosing and promoting learners’ L2 inferential reading in the Chinese university EFL classroom. With a quasi-experimental design, two parallel classes of first-year undergraduates participated as the experimental group (n = 34) and the control group (n = 38). Data were collected from participants’ numerical scores in the online pre-test, post-test, intervention tests and transfer tests centring on TOEFL iBT readings. Statistical analysis revealed the effectiveness of hybrid C-DA in promoting learners’ L2 inferential reading abilities as the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group. Within the one-shot hybrid C-DA test, multi-dimensional diagnostic profiles were instantiated through learners’ differentiated responses to mediations and varying mediation levels across question types. Meanwhile, learners’ fluctuated performances across multiple hybrid C-DA tests reflected the non-linear nature of development if viewed dialectically. Overall, we argue that the refined hybrid C-DA model has the capacity to contribute to learners’ L2 development while uncovering fine-grained diagnostic information unobtainable in standardised tests, which significantly informs future L2 instructions.
Read full abstract