Dynamic Assessment of English Learners in the Content Areas: A Study From the Science Classroom

• In Event: Countering Deficit Ideologies Surrounding English Language Learners in K–12 Settings

Abstract

Dynamic assessment (DA) seeks to understand learners’ developing abilities by embedding mediation (i.e., contingent forms of assistance) into the assessment process. To date, DA studies have been carried out primarily in contexts focused on language learning (e.g., foreign language and ESL classrooms). However, in content classrooms, English learners (ELs) are developing content and language proficiency simultaneously and may therefore be able to demonstrate their learning more fully with mediation than in independent performance alone. This study applied DA to a novel context—the science classroom—and investigated whether embedding mediation (in the form of contingent questions/probes) into science assessment tasks yields more complete and accurate information about what all students, and ELs in particular, know and can do.

Authors

• Scott Grapin, University of Miami

• Lorena Llosa, New York University