Profiling L2 Development Through Dynamic Assessment

This chapter is concerned with the need to systematically document and track learner development through DA. In DA, performance is understood to be a joint activity involving mediators, learners, and tasks. This functional system is highly dynamic, with responsibilities and contributions shifting as learners develop and tasks are intentionally rendered more challenging in order to compel learners to continually stretch their abilities. In order to capture the complexities of development in DA interactions, the model of human action proposed by Vygotsky’s colleague, Gal’perin, is applied. According to Gal’perin, performance is comprised of three stages: orientation, execution, and control. This model offers a means of further contextualizing mediator–learner cooperative dialoguing by referencing the problematic stage(s) of performance. Thus, an account of a DA session can include not only a description of the quality of mediation and reciprocity but also discussion of the specific problem that was the focus of interaction. Examples from L2 DA interactions serve to illustrate each of the stages of the model, as well as the model’s usefulness in understanding problems that occur during DA.