Dynamic Assessment: Integrating Assessment and Teaching to Understand and Promote Development in a Second Language 

Matthew E. Poehner (mep158@psu.edu)Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) The Pennsylvania State University

Interaction and L2 Development: Teaching or Assessment?• Example -> Taken from Dynamic Assessment in

the Foreign Language Classroom: A Teachers Guide (2006), J. P. Lantolf & M. E. Poehner▫ CALPER Project on Dynamic Assessment

• Background Advanced Learners of L2 French , Composing Oral Narratives (based on video clips, literary excerpts)▫ Important feature of performance is ability to control

verbal tense (past) and aspect (perfective and imperfective)

L2 Interaction Example: SaraS: enceinte! Enceinté, uh Samuel Rebecca a dit qu’elle ne

comprend pas pourquoi il était enceinte mais lapregnant! Pregnant, uh Samuel Rebecca said that she doesn’t understand why he was pregnant but the

M: Rebecca a dit? Sorry

S: Rebecca a dit que elle ne sss (...) sa, elle ne sait pas she did not know elle ne sait pas pourquoi Rebecca said that she doesn’t know she did not know she does not know why

M: Well actually elle ne sait pas is present tense

S: it’s present tense which is wrong

M: because you said she did not know so that would be past tense

L2 Interaction Example: Sara (cont)

S: the past tense elle ne su pas* that’s wrong (...)

M: were you looking for imparfait or passé composé?

S: (...) it’s imparfait

M: okay so you would use the form of savoir—

S: elle ne savait passhe didn’t know

M: voilà

S: I forgot it’s savoir, elle ne savait pas pourquoi il il était dans sa situation aussi mais elle était…

she didn’t know why he he was in his situation also but she was…

Teaching or Assessment?

• In Dynamic Assessment, assessment and teaching are integrated as a single activity that seeks to simultaneously understand and promote learners’ abilities through mediated interaction in the Zone of Proximal Development

Assessment-Teaching

L. S. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Mind

S R

X

• Higher forms of consciousness – social and cultural mediation

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Mind (cont.)• Uniquely human higher forms of

consciousness (awareness of and control over cognitive functions)

• Incorrect solution to the problem of the environment▫Environment is not a backdrop for

development but a source of development (Vygotsky 1998)

• Tools – physical, symbolic, and psychological (Kozulin 1998)

Interaction is indispensable for understanding mental abilities• Independent problem solving reveals an individual’s

actual developmental level

• What she cannot do independently but can do through interaction with others (external mediation) reveals functions that are in the process of maturing – the zone of her proximal development

• Move from reliance on external mediation to internal mediation: “What a child can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow” (Vygotsky 1978: 87)

• Potential development varies independently of actual development – the latter cannot be used to predict former

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)Imagine that we have examined two children and have

determined that the mental age of both is seven years. This means that both children solve tasks accessible to seven-years-old. However, when we attempt to push these children further in carrying out the tests, there turns out to be an essential difference between them.

With the help of leading questions, examples, and demonstrations, one of them easily solves test items taken from two years above the child’s level of [actual] development. The other solves test items that are only a half-year above, his or her level of [actual] development.

(Vygotsky 1956: 446-447, cited in Wertsch 1985: 68)

ZPD (cont.)From the point of view of their independent activity they

are equivalent, but from the point of view of their immediate potential development they are sharply different. That which the child turns out to be able to do with the help of an adult points us toward the zone of the child’s proximal development.

This means that with the help of this method, we can take stock not only of today’s completed process of development, not only the cycles that are already concluded and done, not only the processes of maturation that are completed; we can also take stock of processes that are now in the state of coming into being, that are only ripening, or only developing

(Vygotsky 1956: 447-448; cited in Wertsch 1985: 68)

Importance of the ZPD

•“determining the actual level of development not only does not cover the whole picture of development, but very frequently encompasses only an insignificant [italics added] part of it”.

• Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). The Problem of Age. In The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 5. Child Psychology. R. W. Rieber (Ed.). New York: Plenum.

Teaching and Assessment: Two sides of the same coin• ZPD situates tasks beyond what learners can do

independently in order to guide development; goal of educational activity in the ZPD is not the product but the process (not about completing a task or ‘getting through’ a test)

• Assessment/Teaching that targets maturing abilities allows for cognitive functions to be observed while they are still forming and offers the possibility for intervening to promote the development

• We must not ignore the “possibility that the predicted destiny may not materialize if powerful intervention takes place” (Feuerstein et al., 1988: 83).

Defining Dynamic Assessment (DA)

• an “approach to understanding individual differences and their implications for instruction…[that] embeds intervention within the assessment procedure” (Lidz & Gindis 2003: 99)

• focuses “on modifiability and on producing suggestions for interventions that appear successful in facilitating improved learner performance” (Lidz 1991: 6).

Defining Dynamic Assessment (cont.)

• DA differs from other assessments -> basic premise that fully understanding abilities requires active intervention in development ▫Shifting procedure’s focus from product of

prior learning to processes through which abilities are formed

• At level of practice -> familiar assessment model in which teachers observe student performance is replaced; teachers and students jointly carry out activities, with teachers intervening as necessary to help learners stretch beyond current capabilities

Co-constructing ZPD During DA• Through its history in education, intelligence/abilities

testing, and special education, different approaches to providing mediation have been devised:▫ in form of hints, prompts, leading questions

scripted beforehand & arranged from most implicit to most explicit (Campione, Brown & colleagues’ Graduated Prompt Approach; Guthke’s Lerntest)

▫open-ended, negotiated dialogically, continually attuned to learner needs (Reuven Feuerstein’s Mediated Learning Experience)

• L2 DA work (to date) emphasized dialogic approach (Lantolf & Poehner 2004; Poehner 2007, 2008; Ableeva 2008; Summers 2008)

Contribution of DA to L2 Classroom

1. Integration of teaching with assessment

2. Focusing Teaching on emerging rather than fully formed

abilities (maximize impact on learner development)

3. Theoretically-driven, systematic approach to diagnosing learner

abilities

• Rea-Dickins & Gardner (2000): Informal and unsystematic

nature of classroom assessments lead to ▫ overestimates of ability, underestimates of progress• Possible implication: individual students or group of students

lose out on the appropriate kind or level of instruction• Decisions based on formative assessments are high-stakes

▫ A traditional difference between classroom-based assessment and formal assessments (i.e., tests) may not be as clear-cut as assumed

Challenge of Feasibility of DA in L2 Classrooms

• Dyadic, expert-novice, mediator-learner model

• Teacher expertise needed for DA principles to be followed in particular classroom context with particular learners

• DA is NOT a technique or method but a framework for approaching educational activity that foregrounds learner development

Classroom-based Dynamic Assessment • Teacher (Tracy) had studied Teachers Guide

to DA; collaboratively designed approach to implement DA in her classroom context

• Class of primary school (4th Grade) learners of L2 Spanish in US; focus of lesson is vocabulary for indigenous Peruvian animals (unit on Peru) & substantive-modifier concord

• Tracy engages learners in game: individuals take turns (one student at a time) rolling cube w/ pictures of animals to randomly select animal to describe using appropriate vocabulary & marking agreement

Inventory of Mediating Prompts1. Pause2. Repeat the whole phrase questioningly3. Repeat just the part of the sentence with the

error4. Teacher asks, “What is wrong with that

sentence?”5. Teacher points out the incorrect word6. Teacher asks either/or question (negros o

negras?)7. Teacher identifies the correct answer8. Teacher explains why

Sample Cumulative G-DA Mediation Chart

Interactants in Classroom-based DA• Primary Interactants: teacher & learner

whose difficulty is focus of mediation at given moment

• Secondary Interactants: other learners present during exchange & who together constitute social space of classroom

- Secondary interactants may also benefit from exchanges between primary interactants; vicarious responses as in Ohta (2001); (also Lantolf & Yanez-Prieto 2003)

Classroom DA Example 1: VicenteT: ¿Tiene dos orejas * café? it has two *brown ears?V: (looks at the cube again and points at it twice with his finger)

sí dos orejas (pause) *café yes two *brown earsT: ¿*Café? *brown?V: ¿Amarillo? yellow? T: ‘Café’ es correcto pero ¿dos orejas café? ‘brown’ is correct but two brown ears?V: (no response, turns his body to face the class, looks at cube

then out at class and back to cube) 

 

Example 1: Vicente (cont.)T: ¿Cuántas orejas? how many ears?V: tiene dos orejas it has two ears(long pause, points at the image on the cube, then looks at

teacher) *café

*brown(looks out to the class, then back to the teacher) *café *brown(then looks back at the cube) 

Example 1: Vicente (cont.)

(murmuring from another student of camera) T: shhh (directed to the student)T: Hay un problema (pause) con la palabra ‘café’ there is a problem (pause) with the word ‘brown’ (no response from Vicente but a girl in the class says “oh” and

raises her hand) T: (looks to the girl and then back to Vicente) ¿Es *café o cafés ? Is it *brown or brown?V: Cafés BrownT: Sí muy bien tiene dos orejas cafés muy bien excelente Vicente Yes very good it has two brown ears very good excellent

Vicente

 

Classroom DA Example 2: GabrielaT: okay ¿cuál animal es? what animal is this?G: uh I don’t get this oneT: clase ¿quién puede ayudarle? ¿ cuál animal es? class who can help her what animal is this?(several students raise hands to volunteer)T: uhhhh ¿Josué?J: la lechuza an owlT: la lechuza an owl

 

 

Example 2: Gabriela (cont.)

G: uh la lechuza tiene (inaudible) or…? the owl has (inaudible) or…? T: síG: uh (pause) ¿*dos ala gris? (looks to teacher) wai-wai-wait ¿*dos

alas gris? *two gray wing? *two gray wings?

T: gooood ¿*alas gris? *gray wings?G: ¿grises? gray?T: excelente muy bien Gabriela excellent very good Gabriela

 

 

Classroom DA Example 3: AmoraT: (looking out to the class) por favor un voluntario más

one more volunteer please (several students raising hands) Amora gracias Amora thank you (Amora comes to the front of the room, takes the cube and tosses

it) T: ¿ Cuál animal es? What animal is it? A: La alpaca The alpaca T: okay A: um la alpaca tiene dos ojos (pause) uh negros? the alpaca has two black eyes? T: perfecto dos ojos negros perfect two black eyes

 

 

Classroom DA Example 4: Vicente Follow-Up• Three days after the preceding examples, Tracy

engaged her class in a similar but slightly more challenging activity: in pairs one student had a picture of an animal, the other student had to ask questions to elicit descriptive details about the animal from his/her partner; goal was to correctly guess animal on card

• Vicente is holding a card with a picture of a chinchilla; Tracy joins the pair and begins to prompt Vicente to describe the animal 

Classroom DA Example 4: Vicente Follow-UpV: Tengo …. (looks at photo he is holding) dos… orejas… cafés I have two brown earsT: Dos orejas cafés ¿y? two brown ears and? (Vicente looks at the teacher) ¿Qué más? What else? (Vicente looks at the photo)V: Orejas earsT: Sí, dos orejas cafés. Sí. ¿qué más? Y …. ¿De qué color es la boca?

¿o los ojos? Or [sic] las piernas Yes, two brown ears. Yes. What else? And…What color is the

mouth? Or the eyes? Or the legs? 

Example 4: Vicente Follow-Up (cont.)V: Ojos eyes T: Y ? y dos ojos and? and two eyesV: Y dos ojos and two eyesT: Dos ojos ¿de qué color? Two eyes, What color?(Vicente looks at the teacher, who points to the picture) ¿De qué color son los ojos? dos ojos…? What color are the eyes? Two eyes…?V: Ah, negros Ah, blackT: Negros. Perfecto…  

Discussion• Tracy’s approach to bringing DA into her

classroom depended upon expert knowledge of the local context as well as knowledge of DA and ZPD (integration of practice with theory)

• Result -> highly systematic approach to interacting with learners; track individuals & class over time according to independent assignments but also record of interactions in class (problems, mediation)

• Impact on development of1.Process (struggle) rather than immediate

correction2.Observation by secondary interactants of

primary interactants’ negotiations

Ongoing Project: Computer-Administered DA (C-DA)

• Funded through US DoE Grant Award 421-47 (508P)• Development of computerized language proficiency exams

in Chinese, French, & Russian▫ Standardized, multiple-choice format (similar to TOEFL)▫ Includes both reading and listening comprehension

• Administration of exams accompanied by menu of mediating prompts and hints▫ Graded from most implicit to most explicit▫ Mediation provided as learner struggles with exam items

• Computer-generated profile of performance including▫ Level of mediation needed for individual items, for exam

sections▫ Recommendations for future study based on performance on

exam sections