The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on Elementary EFL Learners’ Overall Language Attainment

Abstract

Dynamic assessment has opened new horizons for teaching and assessment of language learning. The present study was undertaken to explore the impact of dynamic assessment on improving overall language attainment of elementary Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) students. To make sure about the homogeneity of the participants in both groups the standard Placement Test of Top Notch was administered on 74 male students and 40 students were selected for this research. They were randomly placed in two control and experimental groups each group including 20 participants. Then, the participants in the control group were taught Top NOTCH-FUNDAMENTALS A in the normal class procedure until the post test. But, participants of the experimental group were taught through dynamic assessment technique. After the treatment, to see whether participants' overall language attainment has been improved through dynamic assessment, a post-test was administered to the participants of both groups. The result of post-test showed that there was significant difference between two groups' overall language attainment, that is, group dynamic assessment outperformed control group. The findings can have pedagogical implications for language teachers, testers, teacher educators, and syllabus designers.