The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on the EFL Learners' Writing Proficiency (A Study of Verb Tenses)

Writing is a language ability which has been deemphasized in EFL context due to many reasons such as its time-consuming nature. With the emergence of sociocultural theory in EFL context, the idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) has recently captured EFL teachers and researchers' attention. ZPD, as Vygotsky (1978) stated is "a distance between what a child can do with enough support and assistance of an adult and what he can do individually". According to this theory, different methods of teaching have been introduced. One method come from this theory is Dynamic Assessment (DA). There are many DA-based teaching methods that claim that they are representatives of ZPD, but none of them are really what they claim. DA must be based on some attributes so called Mediated Learning Experiences (MLE). According to the aforementioned issues, the aim of the present article is to investigate whether MLE can increase the intermediate EFL learners' use of verbs. The study has used a quantitative method of data collection, a quasi-experimental research methodology, pretest/posttest format. 30 pre-intermediate students were regarded as the participants of the study. The subjects have been selected through an English writing proficiency test through which the learners were homogenized. Fifteen learners were assigned to the experimental group and the remaining fifteen were assigned to the control group. The learners in the experimental group were taught verbs through MLE while the learners in the control group were instructed through the use of a traditional method of teaching. The learners participated in 6 two-hour sessions of English writing class. Then, right after the course, the teachers took the writing test once more at the end of the course to see the students' development. Finally, analyzing the quantitative data gathered, the researcher compared and contrasted the changes in the groups through the use of paired sample t-test. The result showed a significant difference between the two groups of learners. In fact, with the help of MLE, the learners could use verbs more correctly while they were writing while there was no evidence of such a development in the control group. In conclusion, MLE can effectively increase the learners' writing ability and EFL instructors and researchers must pay attention to this innovative and influential method of learning. Furthermore, other language skills can be put under investigation in a context where MLE is used

کلیدواژه ها:

Mediated Learning Experiences ، Dynamic Assessment ، writing abilities ، ZPD ، verb tenses