The Application Of Dynamic Assessment To English Writing Teaching In Senior High School

Over the years,summative tests prevail in English writing teaching of senior high school in China.This test,focusing too much on the learning outcomes and ignoring the learning process,has single assessment content.It is not good for the improvement of students' writing competence.However,Dynamic Assessment stresses the combination of teaching and assessment in which learners' learning potential is explored and stimulated in the form of mediation between teacher and learners.Dynamic Assessment mainly includes two models: Interactionist Dynamic Assessment and Interventionist Dynamic Assessment(Lantolf & Poehner,2004).And both models are used in this thesis to carry on this experiment.This thesis takes Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Mind and Feuerstein's Structure Cognitive Modifiability Theory as theoretical foundations to research the application of Dynamic Assessment in English writing teaching of senior high school by referring to the latest achievements of Dynamic Assessment both abroad and at home.Pretest-mediation-postest,the DA-based classroom writing model from scholars at home,is used to carry on this research and explore the following questions.Firstly,can DA-based English writing teaching promote students' writing achievement effectively in experimental class?Secondly,does the implementation of DA-based English writing teaching have any significant effect on students' attitude in English writing?Ninety grade one senior students who came from Qinan NO.5 in Gansu are selected as participants in this research.Tests,cases,questionnaires,interview,and SPSS software are used to finish this research.According to the analysis of data,several findings can be concluded: firstly,experimental data show that compared with traditional assessment,DA-based writing teaching can improve students' achievement of English writing effectively;secondly,the results of questionnaires and interview prove that the majority of students have a positive attitude towards Dynamic Assessment and English writing.Based on the experimental process and research results,this study provides some implications for the current writing teaching and assessment.Firstly,the interaction between teacher and learners should go through the whole process of writing teaching.Secondly,it's necessary for teachers to apply Dynamic Assessment to current English writing teaching and make appropriate adjustment according to the real situation of students' learning and writing teaching.Thirdly,teachers should be tolerant of students' errors in writing and give them appropriate feedback and assessment with encouragement.