Zone of Proximal Development, Dynamic Assessment and Learner Empowerment

Abstract

 The use of medical metaphors of different types of language tests such as diagnostic test, a screening test, a remedial test have misled many language teachers and educators into believing that such tests are panacea for all L2 learning difficulties and ensure successful language learning. They seem to put an overemphasis on learning product rather than learners’ developmental process and on language teachers’ decisions instead of learners’ participation. Also, they tend to be oblivious to individual and contextual differences. The incorporation of dynamic assessment embedded into the zone of proximal development is expected to give the learner ample opportunity to develop through the right format of assessment, which would make testing not only an inseparable part of learning but also an empowering one. As such, the learner will become active agents in the testing processes and progress along their own development path, as well as a product of good collaboration between the process and teaching practices.