Investigating the Effects of Dynamic Assessment on Chinese Undergraduates’ English Writing Performance in the Blended Learning Context

Abstract

Whereas the effectiveness of dynamic assessment has been investigated in multiple contexts, it has been under-investigated in the context of blended learning mode for writing performance. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the effects of dynamic assessment on Chinese undergraduates’ writing performance as overall writing performance and writing complexity, accuracy and fluency in the blended learning context. To this end, a quasi-experiment was carried out with two intact classes from a Chinese university, one being the control group (n=34) and the other experimental group (n=36). A 12-week intervention was conducted in English writing classes under the blended learning mode, with the experimental group receiving dynamic assessment while the control group having traditional static assessment. At the end of the experiment, six students attended a semi-structured interview. The findings revealed that the experimental group improved significantly in writing performance in terms of overall scores, lexical density, lexical sophistication, and accuracy. However, dynamic assessment had no significant effect on lexical diversity, syntactic complexity and fluency. Besides, the interview findings evidenced that the students held positive attitudes toward the use of dynamic assessment in English writing classes in the blending learning context. Implications for writing instruction and future research are discussed.