Enhancing L2 learners’ ZPD modification through computerized-group dynamic assessment of reading comprehension

Following a suggestion by Poehner [2008. Dynamic Assessment: A Vygotskian Approach to Understanding and Promoting Second Language Development. Berlin: Springer] about the possible merger between group dynamic assessment (GDA) rooted in Vygotskian sociocultural theory (SCT) and computer testing, this study has decided to test the feasibility of computerized-group dynamic assessment (C-GDA) by means of a tailor-made computer software in the context of L2 reading comprehension. The software was programmed to present five reading comprehension texts alongside a range of prefabricated, implicit to explicit, mediations to measure and expand a group of students’ zone of proximal development (ZPD). After presenting the text on the board, the mediator (teacher) began a series of interactions with the group to find out their ZPD level. When the students failed to reach the correct answer in each text, the computer offered a range of textual and visual mediations to assist him/her as the primary interactant and, then, the group as the secondary interactants. The results indicated the feasibility and applicability of employing C-GDA to the benefit of a group of students in the classroom context