Dynamic Assessment and EFL Learners' Writing Journey: Focus on DA Modalities and Writing Revision Types

In comparison with the four main language skills, the writing skill has revealed that students are struggling with writing problems mainly due to ineffective feedback. Under the insights of Vygotsky's Socio-cultural Theory (SCT), DA intended to combine instruction and assessment and warrant both instruction and feedback quality. The present quasi-experimental study tried to investigate the effectiveness of the interventionist DA modalities (i.e., authoritative and facilitative) in developing the writing revision types of a sample of ۱۲۰ advanced Iranian EFL learners in the form of two experimental and one control group. They produced sample essays for both diagnostic and achievement purposes; but in the interim, each experimental group was exposed to specific DA-oriented interventions while the control group received its conventional non-dynamic mainstream of teaching writing revision types. Parametric statistical analyses (MANOVA and one-way ANOVA) run forurposes revealed interesting findings: ۱) significant differences among the three groups in favor of DA-interventions; ۲) significant difference of facilitative-DA modality over authoritative-DA modality; ۳) significant differences with regard to Addition Deletion, and Substitution, ۴) but no differences between the control group and the experimental groups in ‘Permutation’ were detected.

Keywords:

Dynamic assessment , Authoritative/Facilitative Interventions , Revision Types , Writing Skills