exploring dynamic assessment and transcendence in efl learners` speaking accuracy

Dynamic assessment (da), originated from vygotsky`s sociocultural theory of mind, provides learners with dialogic assistance when they confront difficulties during their performance. a key concept to da is “transcendence”, which deals with transferring the improved ability beyond the given task and to more challenging situations. this study applies da to the speaking domain to assess efl learners` development of speaking accuracy and maintenance of this enhanced ability in performing more difficult tasks. to this end, a mixed methods approach, with quantitative → qualitative design, was employed to conduct the study. in the quantitative phase, a quasi-experimental method was adopted, which included the following stages: pretest, enrichment program, posttest, and transfer assessments. in the qualitative phase, a semi-structured interview was conducted to understand the learners` perception of the effectiveness of the program. the participants of this study were 6 female efl learners whose ages ranged from 18 to 25. they were at the intermediate and advanced levels of english proficiency, and were divided into three intermediate-advanced dyadic groups. during the enrichment program, the advanced learners assisted the intermediate learners to help them correct their errors. the findings suggested da as an effective approach for promoting learners` speaking performance and enabling them to do more challenging speaking tasks. da helped the learners to move from their actual level toward their potential level in performing speaking tasks. this study has fruitful pedagogical implications for efl teachers, in that, they can implement small group in their class and take advantage of peer feedback to promote their students` speaking skills, empower them to cope with more difficult speaking situations, and push them beyond their current level.