The use of dynamic assessment (DA), grounded in Vygotskian Sociocultural theory, in classrooms is believed to have the potential to provide a situation for creating a group of learners' Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Poehener, 2009). The present study explored the implementation of DA in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms on groups of learners at different proficiency levels in the context of listening comprehension. 146 Iranian EFL learners at three proficiency levels were selected for this study (experimental groups=71 and control groups=75). A multi-assessment procedure in the format of dynamic and non-dynamic pretest-enrichment phase-dynamic and non-dynamic posttest was conducted.During the nine-week group dynamic assessment procedures, mediational strategies were only given to the experimental groups. The quantitative data analysis revealed that through mediated interactions within the group's ZPD, group dynamic assessment is able to determine the learners' developed abilities in listening comprehension while at the same time support the development of individual learners in this skill. Moreover, it was found that the level of proficiency of the learners did not have a significant effect on learners' gains from group dynamic assessment procedures. These findings can have implications for all classroom teachers that the use of DA in classroom setting cannot only be beneficial to them but also be considered as a strategic learning and assessment method that can meet both the learners' and teacher's needs.

No abstract

Slang usage in modern age Iran is a popular phenomenon among most male and female teenagers. How pervasive this variation of language use is among various age and sex groups in Iran has been a question of debate given the significance of religion in a theological system of social structure. The work presented in this study aims to investigate the effect of age and sex on variability of slang usage. Sixty Iranian participants were selected, and then were divided into three age groups (i.e. primary school, high school, and senior university students) each group consisting of ten males and ten females. A self-made questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Test (DCT) describing nine situations of friendly conversations was given to the participants. They were asked to make their choice on the responses, which ranged from formal to very informal style (common teenage slang expressions), or to write down what they wish to say under each circumstance. The results of the chi–square tests indicated that slang usage among high school students is more frequent as compared with other age groups. Unlike the popular belief suggesting that slang is used by boys rather than girls, the findings suggested that young Iranians both male and female use slang as a badge of identity showing their attachment to the social group they wish to be identified with.

Abstract-This study gives an overview of the nine twentieth-century approaches to language teaching and demonstrates how vocabulary teaching was regarded and what techniques were used to teach vocabulary in each of the approaches. The reasons of the emergence of a new approach to language teaching are pointed out for each approach as well. Finally, the current status of vocabulary teaching and the causes of debates among vocabulary researchers are discussed. It can be concluded that although a systematic and principled approach to teaching vocabulary has not yet been found, teaching vocabulary learning strategies explicitly has attracted the attention of many researchers around the world.

While the teachability of second language (L2) pragmatics has been the subject of considerable recent research interest (e.g. Bardovi-Harlig, 2011;Murray, 2011), testing the ability to infer implicatures in L2 has received limited attention (Roever, 2006). This study, therefore, tested the applicability of Group dynamic assessment (G-DA), rooted in Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT), in assessing intermediate learners' pragmatic knowledge of conversational implicatures in the context of listening while simultaneously identifying the mediational strategies that can nurture the development of this knowledge. To this end, 50 English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners of two intermediate intact classes at a language institute in Iran were selected to participate in this study (experimental group=24 and control group=26). Both groups went through a multi-assessment procedure in the format of dynamic and non-dynamic pretest -enrichment phase-dynamic and non-dynamic posttest. Only the experimental group received mediational support during the ten-week G-DA procedure. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative data analyses. The qualitative analysis of G-DA interactions led to the detection of nine mediational strategies ranging in their degree of explicitness. Moreover, both qualitative and quantitative data analyses revealed that the mediational support offered resulted in significant changes in the listening ability of the learners improving their pragmatic understanding of conversational implicatures. The findings may be revealing in that they support G-DA and its applicability to Second Language (L2) listening comprehension and pragmatics instruction.