Exploring The Process Of Interactionist Dynamic Assessment In Chinese EFL Pupils' Oral Performance

Dynamic assessment(DA)is different from traditional static assessment in that instruction and assessment are unified into a single activity in this assessment.DA is based on Vygotsky's Sociocutual theory(SCT).Specifically,it is grounded in Zone of proximal development(ZPD),which means “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem-solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”(Vygotsky,1978).DA aims to promote the development of one's ripening ability,making it become mature ability by providing adequate forms of mediation which is sensitive to an individual's ZPD.Foreign studies of DA in terms of psychology and general education are quite mature.These years,the application of DA in Second language acquisition(SLA)have also gained positive effects abroad.However,the research of DA applied in SLA domestically has just begun.With abundant foreign DA studies implemented among learners at different proficiency levels,which helped learners gain development in terms of L2 reading,writing and listening,the present study is going to explore the process of DA in L2 speaking targeting at primary school students.To do this,the author decided to adopt a mix-method design and use interactionist DA to explore the process of it.Concerning the duration of the experiment was not too long,micro-genetic analysis was adopted as the methodology.After the pilot study,five pictures based on the present tense are chosen as speaking tasks,which are fit for primary school students' proficiency level.Four pupils at Grade four attended the experiment.The main study included a pre-test,four DA sessions and one post-test which lasted for five weeks altogether.The conversation was recorded during each session.When completing the main study,the author transcribed and coded all the recordings and categorized thirteen types of mediator's mediation strategies and ten kinds of learners' response moves.Based on this,the frequency of mediation strategies and response moves are counted to describe thevariation of intervention and response moves in the process of DA.Meanwhile,the transcripts were carefully checked and a semi-structured interview was conducted to better understand learners' development during DA.Finally,with quantitative and qualitative results,it is found that in the process of DA,the amount of mediation and reciprocity first increases and then decreases.Learners need less explicit mediation and are giving more active responses.Besides,DA can help us deepen the understanding of learners' oral performance by looking over the dialogues between the mediator and learners.Moreover,learners can observe and get obvious benefits of DA and therefore show a great preference for it.