Bridging the Gap Between Instruction and Assessment: Examining the Role of Dynamic Assessment in the Oral Proficiency Skills of English-as-an-Additional-Language Learners

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated the role of dynamic assessment (DA) in improving the oral proficiency skills of English-as-an-additional-language learners. It focused specifically on speaking test scores and the use of language learner strategies, with the goal of providing empirical evidence as well as pedagogical recommendations. Seven participants were administered a section of the IELTSTM Speaking test in both dynamic and standardized formats. Each test was followed by a think-aloud protocol in order to ascertain participants’ thoughts and strategic behaviours during the testing process. In terms of test scores, results showed no holistic differences, but did show differences in fluency, grammatical range, and lexical resource scores. Scores for grammatical range and lexical resource were higher in DA, while scores for fluency were higher in standardized assessment. An analysis of the participants’ strategic behaviours also showed a greater use of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in DA. These results point to DA’s potential to facilitate the development of grammatical and lexical abilities as well as to foster the use of language learner strategies within the sample.