Dynamic assessment in English classrooms: Fostering learners’ reading comprehension and motivation

• Main Authors: Akram Kazemi, Mohammad Sadegh Bagheri, Ehsan Rassaei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-12-01
• Series: Cogent Psychology
• Subjects: dynamic assessment; reading comprehension; reading motivation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2020.1788912

An important goal of educational research is to find out which teaching practices are effective in promoting students’ learning. Given the importance of reading comprehension in English language teaching (ELT), the current quantitative classroom-based study investigated whether the implementation of an interventionist model of dynamic assessment, using a repetitive process of pretest-teach-retest, could contribute to improving the reading comprehension, and have a positive impact on learners’ reading motivation in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context of Iran. To address the mentioned issue, two intact classes were assigned to the control and experimental group, each containing thirty-five students. This quasi-experimental study was implemented on the pre-test post- test equivalent-group design. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the collected data, over four months, revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the scales of reading comprehension skill which reflects that the use of DA appears to provide scaffolding support for the students to understand the reading texts. A change was also observed in the reading motivation level of the experimental group. On the whole, DA creates an enjoyable learning environment and confers instructional and psychological benefits to the learners. More broadly, findings pave the way for practitioners to better understand and develop DA in the classroom successfully to foster both learning and motivation.