Mediating EFL learners’ academic writing skills in online dynamic assessment using Google Docs

Abstract

Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural theory of mind and social constructivism, and adopting a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study explored the impact of online dynamic assessment (DA) on EFL learners’ academic writing skills through one-on-one individual and online synchronous DA sessions over Google Docs. It also investigated the short and long term impact of the DA mediations on writing performance in new and more challenging contexts by conducting near and delayed synchronous transcendence (TR) sessions. Moreover, it explored the learners’ perceptions towards the impact of online synchronous DA on academic writing skills. Three EFL university students, who were preparing themselves for the IELTS examination, were selected as the participants of the study. IELTS academic writing task 1 and task 2, marked by IELTS writing band descriptors, were used to assess the learners’ academic writing skills. Moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess the learners’ perceptions towards the impact of online DA on academic writing skills. Tracking the learners’ microgenetic development through generated mediation and reciprocity typologies, the findings indicated academic writing development in all the four areas of task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexicon, and grammatical range and accuracy in both writing task 1 and task 2. In the TR sessions the learners showed some difficulties in transferring some parts of their developed writing skills to more challenging contexts. Thematic analysis, used to analyse the interview data, highlighted the learners’ positive perceptions towards the impact of online DA on academic writing skills.

Keywords:

• Academic writing skills
• online DA
• TR
• mediation
• EFL learners

Acknowledgements

The researcher/mediator would like to sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers of Computer Assisted Language Learning journal and the journal editor whose insightful comments greatly improved the quality of the present paper. The researcher/mediator would also like to thank the three participants of the study who substantially contributed to the findings of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saman Ebadi

Saman Ebadi is an associate professor in Applied Linguistics at Razi University, Iran. His research focuses on CALL, dynamic assessment, qualitative research, and sociocultural theory. He has published extensively in both international journals (e.g. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Cogent Education, etc.) and local journals. He has also presented in both international conferences (e.g. XVIII International CALL Research Conference, University of California, Berkeley, USA, SouthWest Association for Language Learning and Technology (SWALT) conference, Portland, Oregon, USA and CALICO 2011, University of Victoria Victoria, BC, Canada) and national conferences.

Masoud Rahimi

Masoud Rahimi (the researcher/mediator in the present study) did his PhD in Applied Linguistics/TEFL at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. He did his BA, MA, and PhD in Applied Linguistics/TEFL as the talented student (i.e. the top student) as determined by the standards of the universities. His main research interests include CALL, teaching language skills, higher-order thinking skills, research engagement in ELT, L2 teacher education, and mixed-methods research. He has published extensively in both international journals (e.g. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Thinking Skills and Creativity, Issues in Educational Research, etc.) and local journals. He has also presented in both international conferences (e.g. XVIII International CALL Research Conference, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and Global Conference on Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching, Antalya, Turkey) and national conferences.