Research on group dynamic assessment has predominantly focused on whole-class mediation, with limited attention given to alternative formats such as in smaller groups. Grounded in sociocultural theory, the present study explored how a small-group online dynamic assessment using video conferencing (i.e., Zoom) and Google Docs enhanced the English academic writing abilities of university-level second language (L2) learners. Twelve students in an intermediate academic writing course were divided into four groups, each consisting of three to four students. An adjusted cumulative group dynamic assessment approach was implemented over three week cycles. The analysis examined both quantitative and qualitative changes in teacher mediation and student responsiveness, as observed in relevant episodes both within and across sessions. For the within-session analysis, students’ initial silences in response to teacher prompts gradually decreased, showing a linear progression toward different forms of self-regulation. This trend indicated overall growth in the group’s zone of proximal development. In contrast, the across-session analysis focused on one group member (Ron), who exhibited a less even developmental trajectory. Although the quantity of teacher mediation did not significantly change, the peer comments exchanged (a)synchronously and the qualitative shifts in Sam's responses to teacher mediation pointed to an emerging understanding of L2 writing concepts. Additionally, the online multimodal affordances of Google Docs and video conferencing further reinforced mediating opportunities that supported group collaboration. Overall, the findings underscore the pedagogical potential of a small-group online dynamic assessment for fostering L2 writing development.
AlaviS. M.KaivanpanahS.ShabaniK. (2012). Group dynamic assessment: An inventory of mediational strategies for teaching listening. The Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 3(4), 27–58. https://doi.org/10.22099/JTLS.2011.370
4.
DavinK.J. (2013). Integration of dynamic assessment and instructional conversations to promote development and improve assessment in the language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 17(3), 303–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168813482934
5.
DavinK.J. (2016). Classroom dynamic assessment: A critical examination of constructs and practices. The Modern Language Journal, 100(4), 813–829. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12352
6.
DavinK.J.DonatoR. (2013). Student collaboration and teacher-directed classroom dynamic assessment: A complementary pairing. Foreign Language Annals, 46, 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12012
7.
DavinK.J.Gómez-PereiraD. (2019). Evaluating instruction through classroom Dynamic Assessment: A sandwich approach. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 6(1), 6–31. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.38914
8.
DavinK. J.HerazoJ. D.SagreA. (2017). Learning to mediate: Teacher appropriation of dynamic assessment. Language Teaching Research, 21(5), 632–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168816654309
9.
De GuerreroM.C.MVillamilO.S. (2000). Activating the ZPD: Mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision. The Modern Language Journal, 84(1), 51–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00052.
10.
EbadiS.BashirS. (2021). An exploration into EFL learners’ writing skills via mobile-based dynamic assessment. Education and Information Technologies, 26(2), 1995–2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10348-4
11.
EbadiS.RahimiM. (2019). Mediating EFL learners’ academic writing skills in online dynamic assessment using Google docs. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 32(5–6), 527–555. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1527362
12.
FaryabiF.RahimiM.DavinK.J. (2024). Professional development as Praxis: EFL teachers’ challenges in learning to implement dynamic assessment of writing. TESOL Journal, 15(1), e734. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.734
13.
GaoS.PanM. (2024). Implementing dynamic assessment in writing in Chinese as a second language: Towards an adjusted cumulative group dynamic assessment. System, 123, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2024.103327
14.
KaoY.-T. (2022). Effects of group dynamic assessment on L2 Chinese learners’ literacy development: Learners’ responsiveness to interactive mediation. Applied Linguistics Review, 13(5), 843–871. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2019-0077
15.
KushkiA.NassajiH.RahimiM. (2022). Interventionist and interactionist dynamic assessment of argumentative writing in an EFL program. System, 107, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102800
16.
LantolfJ.P. (2012). Sociocultural theory: A dialectical approach to L2 research. In GassS.M.MackeyA. (Eds.), The routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 57–72). Routledge.
17.
LantolfJ.P.KurtzL.KisselevO. (2017). Understanding the revolutionary character of L2 development in the ZPD: Why levels of mediation matter. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 3(2), 153–171. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v3i2.32867
18.
LantolfJ.P.PoehnerM.E. (2004). Dynamic assessment of L2 development: Bringing the past into the future. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 49–72. https://doi.org/10.1558/jal.v1i1.49
19.
LantolfJ.P.PoehnerM.E. (2010). Dynamic assessment in the classroom: Vygotskian praxis for second language development. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 11–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383328
20.
LantolfJ.P.ThorneS.L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second Language development. Oxford University Press.
21.
LeontjevD.deBoerM. (2022). Teacher as creator: Orchestrating the learning environment to promote learner development. Language Teaching Research29(6), 2371–2392. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221117654
22.
LeontjevD.PollariP. (2023). Guiding and assessing development of L2 writing process: The role of peer collaboration. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 17(2), 440–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2022.2058514
23.
LiangY.LiY.SangZ. (2023). A study on peer mediation in dynamic assessment of translation revision competence. Language Assessment Quarterly, 20(1), 108–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2022.2153050
24.
LidzC.S. (1991). Practitioner’s guide to dynamic assessment. Guilford.
25.
MazzottaM.BelcherD. (2018). Social-emotional outcomes of corrective feed-back as mediation on second language Japanese writing. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 17(1), 47–69. https://doi.org/10.1891/1945-8959.17.1.47
26.
MiriM.AlibakhshiG.KushkiA.BavarsadP.S. (2017). Going beyond one-to-one mediation in zone of proximal development (ZPD): Concurrent and cumulative group dynamic assessment. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.461025
27.
NassajiH.KushkiA.RahimiM. (2020). The differential diagnostic affordances of interventionist and interactionist dynamic assessment for L2 argumentative writing. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 7(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.37685
28.
NassajiH.SwainM. (2011). A Vygotskian perspective on corrective feedback in L2: The effect of random versus negotiated help on the learning of English articles. Language Awareness, 9(1), 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410008667135
29.
PoehnerM.E. (2008). Both sides of the conversation: The interplay between mediation and learner reciprocity in dynamic assessment. In LantolfJ.P.PoehnerM.E. (Eds.), Sociocultural theory and the teaching of second languages (pp. 33–56). Equinox.
PoehnerM.E. (2014). Dynamic assessment in the classroom. In KunnanA.J. (Ed.), The companion to language assessment (pp. 1–16). Wiley Blackwell.
32.
PoehnerM.E. (2018). Probing and provoking L2 development: The object of mediation in dynamic assessment and mediated development. In LantolfJ.P.PoehnerM.E.SwainM. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sociocultural theory and second language development (pp. 249–265). Routledge.
33.
PoehnerM.E.Inbar-LourieO. (2020). Toward a reconceptualization of second language classroom assessment: Praxis and researcher-teacher partnership. Springer International Publishing.
34.
PoehnerM.E.InfanteP.TakamiyaY. (2018). Mediational processes in support of learner L2 writing development: Individual, peer, and group contexts. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 17(1), 112–132. https://doi.org/10.1891/1945-8959.17.1.112
35.
PoehnerM.E.LantolfJ.P. (2024). Sociocultural theory and second language developmental education. Cambridge University Press.
36.
PoehnerM.E.LeontjevD. (2023). Peer interaction, mediation, and a view of teachers as creators of learner L2 development. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12444
37.
PoehnerM.E.YuL. (2021). Dynamic assessment of L2 writing: Exploring the potential of rubrics as mediation in diagnosing learner emerging abilities. TESOL Quarterly, 56(4), 1191–1217. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3098
38.
QinL.NianY. (2024). Unpacking Chinese lower-proficiency EFL learners’ conceptual development of English subjunctives with group dynamic assessment: Efficacy, sustainability and reciprocity. System, 121, 103248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2024.103248
39.
RahimiM.KushkiA.NassajiH. (2015). Diagnostic and developmental potentials of dynamic assessment for L2 writing. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 2(2), 185–208. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v2i2.25956
40.
RassaeiE. (2023). Implementing mobile-mediated dynamic assessment for teaching request forms to EFL learners. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 36(3), 257–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1912105
41.
RezaiA.NaserpourA.RahimiS. (2024). Online peer-dynamic assessment: an approach to boosting Iranian high school students’ writing skills: A mixed-methods study. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(1), 306–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2086575
42.
SohrabiS.SafaA. M. (2020). Group dynamic assessment and EFL learners’ oral production, motivation, and classroom anxiety. English Teaching & Learning, 44(4), 353–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-020-00054-2
43.
VygotskyL.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
YuL.PoehnerM.E. (2023). Developing L2 writing abilities through an instructional enrichment program informed by dynamic assessment. Journal of Second Language Writing, 60, 101013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2023.101013
46.
ZadkhastM.RezvaniE.LotfiA.R. (2023). Effects of concurrent and cumulative group dynamic assessments on EFL learners’ development of reading comprehension micro-skills. Language Testing in Asia, 13(1), 29–20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-023-00240-6
