Traditional approaches to language assessment have been criticized for their inadequacy in taking account of language learners' potential for development. To obviate this pitfall in traditional assessment, language teachers and researchers have been paying increasing attention to dynamic assessment (DA), which is rooted in Vygotsky's (1978)…

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a hot topic in the field of applied linguistics, and it is getting more and harder to downplay the significance of the so-called theory in the growth of second-language learners (Deci and Ryan, 1985, 2000, 2002). The current study tried to test the theory in the Iranian EFL setting by throwing light on the…

Though dynamic assessment (DA) has gained strong theoretical and empirical support over the last decades, second language (L2) practitioners have blamed it for its applicability in large classes. To ameliorate this limitation, peer-dynamic assessment (peer-DA), rooted in the conceptualization of zone of proximal development (ZPD), can be…

Mobile phones are turning into a growingly widespread educational tool across various contexts. However, the scope of research on teachers' role in mobile-oriented instruction is limited, much less examining how professional development influences their associated beliefs and practices. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this study aimed to fill…

The introduction of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) into the second language (L2) domain provides a potential site to explore the mechanisms underlying L2 learners' cognitive modification and the transformation of social understanding into the personal one. This study provided a picture of L2 personalization in two groups of advanced and…

Many English as a foreign language (EFL) learners worldwide spend hours playing commercial-off-the-shelf massively multiplayer online games. They engage in a multitude of different interactions with the game environment and possibly with other gamers, using English as the predominant medium of communication. This raises the question of whether…

Second language writing instruction has been reconceptualized in accordance with the recent shift of paradigm in second language acquisition from a cognitive to a social perspective. Remarkably, this paradigm shift is in line with the introduction of computer technology and sociocultural theory to second language teaching. To explore the combined…

In order to gain a deeper insight into second/foreign language (L2) classroom discourse, teacher talk, as one of the most important aspects of this discourse, needs to be studied from different perspectives. So, the purpose of the present study is to address the association between teachers' experience and different types of semantic schemata in…

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is proposed as a workable diagnostic tool in second or foreign language context. Compared to traditional non-dynamic testing, DA presents a more comprehensive account of human beings' abilities through addressing both the fully internalized abilities and the abilities that are in the process of being internalized. However,…

Motivation as one of the most important areas in language learning has been extensively investigated based on various models and theories. Recent motivational theories on L2 learning emphasized the importance of the possible 'selves' in motivating learners. This paper analyzes and compares the two constructs of Ought-to L2 self and Ideal L2 self…

The creativity that teachers and professors as well, exercise in a classroom, is an immeasurable potential for exploiting their student's opportunities and abilities to fully develop their language skills, as well as, their character and personality; it is the kind of driving force that impulse our pupils beyond their current capacities, and…

Although studying teachers' online interactions has gained momentum in recent years, little is known about interactional development in online communities. The present study addressed this gap by exploring discursive change in second language teachers' interactions in an online professional development (PD) course structured around mobile phone…

This study set out to inspect Laufer and Hulstijn's (2001) motivational-cognitive construct of task-induced involvement. Involvement load hypothesis predicts that tasks with the same involvement loads lead to the same amount of learning. To this end, three output task types which induce equal involvement indices of 3 were employed to examine the…

Framed within the perspective of Vygotskyan sociocultural theory and models of third language learning, this study examined the impact of differing linguistic backgrounds and learning experience on the nature of dyadic interaction during task completion in the divide between true L2 and L3 learners. It was conducted in an EFL classroom with eight…

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…