Dynamic Assessment: The Effect of Mediated Learning Experience on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Skills

Abstract

Originated form Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, Dynamic Assessment (DA) has attracted a lot of attention among scholars in EFL contexts within the past few years. This paper presented an effective incorporation of DA as an alternative to static procedures of assessment. It aimed at examining the difference between dynamic and non-dynamic (NDA) types of assessment of EFL writing ability of 60 intermediate English students. To fulfill this end, data were collected through the application of writing tasks in both pre-test and post- test. One group of participants (DA) enjoyed six-week mediation after the pre-test while the other group (NDA) went through the traditional forms of instruction. The results of the students' performance in both tests for both groups were calculated through t-test. The findings indicated that DA group made significant improvements in the post-test which can encourage practitioners to consider DA procedures more seriously in their everyday teaching practice.