Dynamic Assessment (DA): An Evolution of the Current Trends in Language Testing and Assessment

Traditional static testing, aimed at measuring the achievement of pre-determined criteria, has been widely used by language teachers for many years. Such tests conventionally reflected students’ misunderstanding of instruction more than their abilities to perform a task. Disillusionment with traditional assessment has led to an examination of alternative assessment procedures that are accurate and appropriate in evaluating diverse populations’ learning. Dynamic Assessment (DA) stems from the mutually constitutive relationships between methodology and epistemology. Its root is the concept of development in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The central feature of DA is that it does not separate instruction from assessment, but instead, is in favor of a teacher-student unity that works jointly towards students’ future improvement through their ZPD. The present article is a literature review which aim to look critically at the emergence of DA as an alternative approach to the previous traditional approaches. Also, after taking a look at the theoretical framework as well as different models of DA, the researcher goes on to discuss the merits and demerits as well as the application and implication of DA in the scope of language teaching and language testing.