Group dynamic assessment (G-DA) grounded in Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory (SCT) is believed to have the potential to provide a context for capturing a group of learners’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Poehner & Lantolf, 2010; Shabani, 2010). The present study aims at testing the applicability of G-DA in identifying the mediational strategies offered by a mediator during his G-DA interac...

Quantitative experimental evidence is presented for the progress zone theory of limb development. The theory, here formulated mathematically, states that the parts of the limb are specified in proximo-distal succession by an autonomous timing mechanism operating in a 'progress zone' of undifferentiated growing mesenchyme under the influence of the apical ectodermal ridge. By the exchange of dis...

This paper addresses the question of how teachers learn from experience during their pre-service course and early years of teaching. It outlines a theoretical framework that may help us better understand how teachers’ professional identities emerge in practice. The framework adapts Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, and Valsiner’s Zone of Free Movement and Zone of Promoted Action, to the ...

The intention of the present paper is to seek whether gender has any impact on the effectiveness of applying Guthke's Lerntest approach in reading comprehension. For this purpose, after selecting 60 intermediate EFL learners, they were arbitrarily categorized to four clusters of males and females, two experimental and two control groups, each consisting of 15 male and 15 female learners. Both c...

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is theoretically framed within Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) and relies on reunification of assessment and instruction. This process-oriented study of reading comprehension aims at investigating the impacts of applying computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) which is an ongoing strand of DA on promoting at-risk advanced Iranian EFL students’ reading skills. The s...