Effects of Dynamic Assessment on Improvement of Academic Vocabulary Knowledge of Thai EFL Low-Proficiency University Students
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Abstract
Academic vocabulary is necessary for university students. Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) assist students to enhance their vocabulary knowledge and should be examined in accordance with their dynamic nature (Gu, 2020). Dynamic assessment (DA) is considered an alternative assessment that simultaneously and systematically assesses and teaches students to reach their zone of proximal development (ZPD) by utilizing assistance from more capable others (Lantolf & Poehner, 2004). This study combined DA and VLS to enhance academic vocabulary knowledge of Thai low-proficiency university students by employing mixed-method research with an emphasis being placed on qualitative methodology. Intensive tutorials were conducted with five second-year students purposively recruited from their academic and general vocabulary scores. The research instruments included four DA tasks, mediation stages, academic words of four main word classes, recordings of DA sessions, verbal reports, field notes, students’ diaries, a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. The findings from two DA tasks (the part of speech strategy and the use of a new word to form a sentence strategy) revealed that the participants understood word meaning but not grammatical functions. Their use of VLS was fair, and inappropriate strategies were also found. Teaching background of syntax, longer intervention, and adjustment of the task designs were suggested to further assist students in their vocabulary acquisition using DA and VLS.
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