Degree Discipline

Language

Dynamic Assessment as an Approach to French Pronunciation Instruction (open access)

Dynamic Assessment as an Approach to French Pronunciation Instruction

This thesis is focused on dynamic assessment (DA), an instructional approach based on Vygotskian sociocultural theory, applied to French pronunciation instruction, which can be neglected or inconsistent in the foreign language curriculum. DA aims to combine instruction and assessment into a cooperative, mediated approach in which the mediator works with the learner to identify and develop emergent abilities. These emergent abilities can appear in what is often referred to as the zone of proximal development (ZPD), or the difference between what a learner can do independently and what he/she can do with mediation, which in the present study was the difference between what the participant could pronounce correctly with or without mediation. In carrying out an individual DA session with a learner, the author aimed to find suggestions of potential benefits by applying DA to French pronunciation instruction and gain a more detailed understanding of the learner's performance than is generally possible from a traditional assessment, which is totally devoid of mediation for the sake of validity and reliability. The study includes a discussion of some potential benefits and limitations related to the use of DA for teaching French pronunciation to intermediate L2 learners based on what was observed in …
Date: May 2021
Creator: Center, Sarah M
System: The UNT Digital Library