The Potentials of Dynamic Assessment for the Development of English Speaking Performance:

A majority of speaking tests in the Korean secondary education system tend to ask students to speak from memory, taking solo performance for granted. In this situation, the present study explores the potentials of dynamic assessment (DA), a developmentally-sensitive, collaborative testing procedure inspired by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his colleagues. Using the case study method, the study gives a rich, grounded view of seven DA sessions. Results show that the mediator’s mediational feedback and the learner’s reciprocating moves shifted in tandem, leading to a decrease in the mediator’s explicit feedback and an increase in the learner’s proactive moves. Furthermore, a microgenetic and qualitative analysis reveal a close relationship among the learner’s developing linguistic profiles, dynamic reciprocating moves, and the cognitive and collaborative strategies for meaning making. The study also discusses the implications and practical value of DA in Korea while reporting the opinions of fifteen in-service and pre-service teachers with regard to the feasibility and potentials of the DA procedure under the Free Semester Program proposed by the Ministry of Education.