Contradictions in Teachers’ Classroom Dynamic Assessment Implementation: An Activity System Analysis

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is a procedure that requires teachers to attend to learners’ language use, detect inaccuracies, and provide graduated prompting in the moment to support learners in repairing errors (Poehner, 2009). For most teachers, this series of steps represents a significant and complex departure from their typical practice of responding to students’ erroneous utterances with recasts (Davin, Herazo, & Sagre, 2016). The present study used an activity system analysis, emerging from Cultural Historical Activity Theory, to examine the contradictions that arose in the practice of three L2 teachers during and following their participation in a professional development series focused on classroom DA. Interviews, stimulated recall, and teachers’ reflections were analyzed to explain the contradictions and their resolution. Findings revealed that whereas the three teachers assumed the role of providers of prompts, only one teacher adopted the role of both provider of prompts and assessor, reconceptualizing the object of activity to include assessment.