Teacher-driven and AI-generated Dynamic Assessment and EFL Learners’ Speaking Fluency: Exploring Perceptions via an Ecological Systems Theory (EST)

This mixed-methods study, drawing on Ecological Systems Theory (EST), compared the contributions of two Dynamic Assessment (DA) modalities to speaking fluency among Iranian EFL learners. Participants included ۶۰ B۲-level male and female learners randomly assigned to a teacher-initiated DA group (n=۳۰) and an AI-generated DA group (n=۳۰). The former received teacher-driven DA based on Aljaafreh and Lantolf’s graduated mediation, while the latter received feedback via the ChatGPT interface using the same protocol. Before and after the treatment, both groups took pre- and post-test IELTS speaking tests. One-way ANCOVA results showed that the teacher-driven DA group outperformed the AI-generated DA group. The paired-samples t-test results showed improvements in speaking fluency for both groups. The thematic analysis of transcribed data from semi-structured interviews, framed by EST, revealed learners’ positive perceptions of teacher mediation; more specifically, learners perceived teacher mediation as offering attuned microsystemic mediation, institutional mesosystemic alignment, integrative exosystemic processes, and a culturally resonant macrosystem. In contrast, learners in the AI-generated DA perceived DA treatment as decontextualized; they found it mesosystemically disconnected and exosystemically fragmented. Learners also viewed AI-generated DA as culturally dissonant. These ecological contrasts explain why human mediation was superior, showing that despite the multiple benefits of AI tools, such as scalability, they fail to provide the multidimensional, context-sensitive scaffolding needed to embed learning within learners’ authentic ecologies.

کلیدواژه ها:

Scaffolding Strategies ، Formative Evaluation ، Second Language Development ، mixed-methods research