Search

Lexical inferencing has not led to substantial vocabulary gains. In previous studies, the learners were not obliged by design to notice the unfamiliar words and static approaches to assessment were adopted. In this quasi-experimental study, we adopted dynamic assessment (DA) approach and took measures to ensure noticing of the new words. Through purposive sampling, 80 intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students were selected as participants. They were randomly assigned to computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) and static assessment (SA) groups. Participants read five texts, one per week, and inferred the meaning of highlighted unfamiliar words. In CDA group, through a software program, struggling learners received graduated mediational hints for each target word which helped them to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. No mediational assistance was provided to the participants of SA group. Acquisition and retention post-tests were administered to both groups one day and four weeks after reading each text, respectively. Results showed that vocabulary gains in CDA group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The findings suggest that the noticing of unfamiliar words and the adoption of DA approach could enhance vocabulary gains from lexical inferencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lexical inferencing has not led to substantial vocabulary gains. In previous studies, the learners were not obliged by design to notice the unfamiliar words and static approaches to assessment were adopted. In this quasi-experimental study, we adopted dynamic assessment (DA) approach and took measures to ensure noticing of the new words. Through purposive sampling, 80 intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students were selected as participants. They were randomly assigned to computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) and static assessment (SA) groups. Participants read five texts, one per week, and inferred the meaning of highlighted unfamiliar words. In CDA group, through a software program, struggling learners received graduated mediational hints for each target word which helped them to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. No mediational assistance was provided to the participants of SA group. Acquisition and retention post-tests were administered to both groups one day and four weeks after reading each text, respectively. Results showed that vocabulary gains in CDA group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The findings suggest that the noticing of unfamiliar words and the adoption of DA approach could enhance vocabulary gains from lexical inferencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the application of Group Dynamic Assessment (GDA) to writing accuracy of EFL learners and explore whether secondary interactants could benefit from interactions between mediator and primary interactants. The idea of implementing DA (Dynamic Assessment) in dyads seems unworkable since teachers are required to teach the whole class (Guk & Kellog, 2007). Moreover, Lantolf and Poehner (2004) suggest a new approach to DA that is GDA, which involves applying DA with a large number of learners rather than individuals. Following a multiple case study design and interactionist DA, the development of ten students in a class of twenty five was tracked during the eight sessions of DA program. Data were collected though written artifacts, video-recording of interactions, interview, and observation. The results indicated that GDA was an effective way of helping learners overcome their linguistic problems and there were signs of microgenetic as well as macrogenetic development within the same DA session and across sessions. The present findings provide further insight into understanding how secondary interactants benefit from the interactions between mediator and primary interactants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated EFL learners' perspectives about their vocabulary learning experiences via a smartphone application. An online demographic questionnaire was used for recruiting 50 EFL learners from a language teaching channel in Telegram messenger required to use a smartphone application called Vocabulary Flashcards 2016 for a month. After finishing the sampling procedure, the participants were asked to take part in Dialang online diagnostic test to specify their vocabulary level proficiency based on CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference). The quantitative and qualitative data were collected utilizing evaluation questionnaires and semi-structured interviews respectively. The evaluation questionnaire adapted from Chapelle's (2001) evaluation criterion was used to evaluate the application from the users' perspectives. This study investigated the effects of learners' proficiency level and gender differences on using the application, and their perspectives on the negative and positive aspects of the application were also uncovered. The findings showed that the users held positive attitudes towards the application because it influenced their learning positively and provided them with both form and meaning-focused instruction, but they were dissatisfied with the app's levels and authenticity. Results of independent t-test and ANOVA respectively showed that gender and vocabulary proficiency level did not make significant difference on participants' app usage patterns. The findings of this study highlighted the users' localized needs which could be used as guidelines for customized vocabulary apps' development purposes. The study's implications for learners, teachers, and app developers are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This case study highlights the applicability of Dynamic Assessment (DA) in exploring the cognitive development and intellectual functioning of a schizophrenic foreign language learner. Methods: The general analytical framework of study to unmask the changes in the learner's competence is Microgenesis. Results: Analysis of the findings not only supports the Vygotskian view regarding the significance of meditational tools in uncovering the masked intelligence and cognitive ability but also provides implications for assessing and teaching of schizophrenic students. Discussion: This case study demonstrated how DA by meditational moves including the presence of mediator, mnemonics, thought-provoking questions, and translation can overcome cognitive and behavioral impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is a postmodern notion in testing which sees instruction and assessment as inextricably mingled contending that learners will progress if provided with dynamic interactions. The main purpose of the study is to see if the scores generated by the computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) which is grounded in Vygotsky's theoretical framework in congruence with the concept of DA can lead to designing a syllabus which results in the participants' reading comprehension development. In the present study, a total of 32 Iranian EFL undergraduates from a university in Iran were selected on the availability basis. The study made use of the interventionist approach (the same mediation for all individual learners) to DA due to a two-fold aim: being more economically-supported and owing to its feasibility in focusing on larger cohorts of individuals. Investigating the learners' generated scoring profiles through CDA revealed that not only did the learners have varying problem areas but also they needed different amount of mediation for identical test items. These profiles reiterated the fact that learners with different zones of proximal development (ZPDs) require customized instructional programs to reflect their individualized needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic assessment (DA) as an alternative to psychometric-based testing focuses on the collaborative dialogue between the learners and the mediator to move the learners from their current capabilities. This study represents a web-based qualitative inquiry in online DA which aims at addressing the inadequacy of the diagnostic feedback of the web-based DIALANG test in reflecting learners' potentials for future development. Applying microgenetic analysis as the general framework for data analysis, this study intended to uncover two university students' zone of proximal development (ZPD) of English grammar structures through mediation in a synchronous computer mediated communication (SCMC) context. The findings of this study revealed the shortcomings of DIALANG test results and diagnostic feedback, which are not attuned to the learners' ZPD, and the effectiveness of online DA mediation, which can highlight the learners' microgenetic developmental trajectory to obtain a richer and more accurate understanding of the learners' potential level of future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study, following Vygotskyan Sociocultural theory in education, and inspired by Rogoff's conceptualization (1995, 2003) of development, aimed at conceptual development of in-service EFL teachers. To this end, two Iranian EFL teachers with pseudonyms (Tara and Sara) were selected as participants of the study. The participating teachers were first taught the sociocultural concepts related to language, teaching, and learning taken from Johnson (2009) and Rogoff's (2003) mediatory model of development in six workshops through dialogic mediation. The data for the study comprised two semi-structured interviews, and three video-recording of critical reflection of each teacher on their video-taped classroom behavior. The recordings and transcripts were analyzed using Hatch's (2002) procedure for interpretive analysis. The results of the study showed that participating teachers, over a process of struggle with their past experiences, gradually replaced their old everyday concepts such as grammatical accuracy, correct samples, and teacher interruption with new scientific concepts such as grammatical apprenticeship, guided grammatical participation, and grammatical appropriation through assisted participation. The results of present study can be illuminating for teacher educators and teacher education programs which have aimed at changing the classroom practice of inservice teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]