Test (biology)

Biology

Language education

Mathematics education

Developmental psychology

Philosophy

Paleontology

Test of English as a Foreign Language

Psychology

Programming language

Reading comprehension

Language proficiency

Computer science

Linguistics

Dynamic assessment

Teaching method

Comprehension

Reading (process)

Computer Assisted Language Learning

This study used computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) as a teaching and assessment method to promote Chinese EFL learners’ reading comprehension, with a quasi-experimental design in which the control and experimental groups were each given three tests but in different formats. Each test consisted of multiple choice questions (MCQs) selected from reading sections of a collection of original forms of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); however, CDA was employed for the experimental group, whereas conventional MCQs were used for the control group. The two groups also differed in their 4-week enrichment programs. The experimental group was taught using CDA, whereas conventional teaching methods were used for the control group. Learners’ performance on the three tests was compared within and between the two groups by using repeated measures mixed factorial analysis of variance, whereby the advantages of CDA over conventional teaching and assessment methods were identified. The results indicated that although reading comprehension performance in the two groups was quite similar at the beginning of the study, the experimental group performed significantly more efficiently than the control group after four weeks of learning. This study’s contributions and implications are discussed.

Promoting L2 English learners’ reading proficiency through computerized dynamic assessment