Development of a Computerized Dynamic Assessment Program for Second Language Grammar Instruction and Assessment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.21006Keywords:
computerized dynamic assessment, interactionist mediation, micro and macrogenetic development, learning potential score, Spanish as a foreign language, English as a second languageAbstract
A computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) program was created to help instructors develop student understanding of second language grammatical features and as a diagnostic and assessment tool. The program (called CDAG) approximates an interactionist approach to dynamic assessment, utilizing hints/prompts calibrated to the student’s answer choice. CDAG allows the instructor to customize language, question type, linguistic features to be assessed, answer choices (including distractors), and mediational prompts: it can thus assess a variety of grammatical structures. To evaluate the effectiveness of CDAG vis-à-vis static assessment, control and CDA groups were compared in terms of mediated and unmediated individual and group scores. The use of CDAG aided in the micro and macrogenetic development of Spanish as a foreign language students’ ability to conjugate Spanish verbs in the future tense. The information CDAG provides about the specific root causes for students’ incorrect answers makes it useful as a diagnostic and assessment tool.
References
Ai, H. (2017). Providing graduated corrective feedback in an intelligent computer-assisted language learning environment. ReCALL 29(3): 313–334. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095834401700012X
Aljaafreh, A. and Lantolf, J. P. (1994). Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language Journal 78(4): 465–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02064.x
Amaral, L. A. and Meurers, D. (2011). On using intelligent computer-assisted language learning in real-life foreign language teaching and learning. ReCALL 23(1): 4–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344010000261
Antón, M. (2003). Dynamic assessment of advanced foreign language learners. Paper presented at the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C., March, 2003.
Antón, M. (2009). Dynamic assessment of advanced second language learners. Foreign Language Annals 42(3): 576–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2009.01030.x
Bakhoda, I. and Shabani, K. (2019). Bringing L2 learners’ learning preferences in the mediating process through computerized dynamic assessment. Computer Assisted Language Learning 32(3): 210–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1483950
Ebadi, S., Vakilifard, A. and Bahramlou, K. (2018). Learning Persian vocabulary through reading: The effects of noticing and computerized dynamic assessment. Cogent Education 5(1): 150–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1507176
Kozulin, A. and Garb, E. (2002). Dynamic assessment of EFL text comprehension of at-risk students. School Psychology International 23: 112–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034302023001733
Lantolf, J. P. and Poehner, M. E. (2005). Dynamic assessment in the language classroom. Language Teaching Research 9(3): 233–265. https://doi.org/10.1191/1362168805lr166oa
Lantolf, J. P. and Poehner, M. E. (2014). Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative in L2 Education: Vygotskian Praxis and the Research/Practice Divide. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203813850
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural Theory and Genesis of Second Language Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leontjev, D. (2016). Dynamic assessment of word derivational knowledge. Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat 12: 141–160. https://doi.org/10.5128/ERYa12.09
Luria, A. R. (1961). Study of the abnormal child. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 31: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.1961.tb02104.x
Mehri Kamrood, A., Davoudi, M., Ghaniabadi, S. and Amirian, S. M. R. (2019). Diagnosing L2 learners’ development through online computerized dynamic assessment. Computer Assisted Language Learning 34(7): 868–897. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1645181
Nassaji, H. and Swain, M. (2000). A Vygotskian perspective on corrective feedback in L2: The effect of random versus negotiated help on the learning of English articles. Language Awareness 9(1): 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410008667135
Pishghadam, R. and Barabadi, E. (2012). Constructing and validating computerized dynamic assessment of L2 reading comprehension. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 15(1): 73–95.
Pishghadam, R., Barabadi, E. and Kamrood, A. M. (2011). The differing effect of computerized dynamic assessment of L2 reading comprehension on high and low achievers. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 2(6): 1353–1358. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.6.1353-1358
Poehner, M. E. (2005). Dynamic Assessment of Oral Proficiency Among Advanced L2 Learners of French (unpublished doctoral dissertation). University Park: The Pennsylvania State University.
Poehner, M. E. and Infante, P. (2015). Mediated development: Inter-psychological activity for L2 education. Language and Sociocultural Theory 2(2): 161–183. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v2i2.26982
Poehner, M. E. and Lantolf, J. P. (2013). Bringing the ZPD into the equation: Capturing L2 development during Computerized Dynamic Assessment (C-DA). Language Teaching Research 17(3): 323–342. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168813482935
Poehner, M. E., Zhang, J. and Lu, X. (2015). Computerized Dynamic Assessment (C-DA): Diagnosing L2 development according to learner responsiveness to mediation. Language Testing 32(3): 337–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532214560390
Qin, T. and van Compernolle, R. A. (2021). Computerized Dynamic Assessment of implicature comprehension in L2 Chinese. Language Learning & Technology 25(2): 55–74.
Randall, T. and Urbanski, K. (In preparation). Analysis of microgenetic development in CDA of SFL grammar.
Shabani, K. (2012). Dynamic assessment of L2 learners’ reading comprehension processes: A Vygotskian perspective. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 32: 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.047
Shrestha, P. N. (2020). Dynamic Assessment of Students’ Academic Writing. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55845-1
Sternberg, R. J. and Grigorenko, E. L. (2002). Dynamic Testing: The Nature and Measurement of Learning Potential. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Teo, A. (2012). Promoting EFL students’ inferential reading skills through computerized dynamic assessment. Language Learning and Technology 16(3): 10–20.
Urbanski, K. and Randall, T. (In preparation, a). Analysis of macrogenetic development in CDA of SFL grammar.
Urbanski, K. and Randall, T. (In preparation, b). CDA as a diagnostic, teaching, and assessment tool in SFL grammar instruction.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky: Volume 4, The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions. New York: Plenum. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5939-9
Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky: Volume 5, Child Psychology. New York: Plenum. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5401-1
Vygotsky, L. S. (2012). Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.1037/11193-000
Wells, C. G. (1999). Dialogic Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605895
Yang, Y. and Qian, D. D. (2017). Assessing English reading comprehension by Chinese EFL learners in computerized dynamic assessment. Language Testing in Asia 7(11): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-017-0042-3
Zhang, H. and van Compernolle, R. A. (2016). Learning potential and the dynamic assessment of L2 Chinese grammar through elicited imitation. Language and Sociocultural Theory 53(1): 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v3i1.27549
Zhang, J. and Lu, X. (2019). Measuring and supporting second language development using computerized dynamic assessment. Language and Sociocultural Theory 6: 92–115. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.31710
