On the Development of a Software towards Ameliorating Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Proficiency

International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research

مقاله 1، دوره 7، شماره 28، خرداد 2019، صفحه 11-22   

نوع مقاله: Research Papers

نویسندگان

Mehdi Yaghoobi¹؛ Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo^{* 2}

¹Department of Foreign Languages, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qeshm, Iran

²Department of Foreign Languages, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

چکیده

This article presents the outcomes of how Dynamic Assessment (DA) may be organized to function within a class’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The testing field also has recently undergone noticeable changes leading to a shift to use technology that is emerged in our era. The study investigated college students’ barriers and motivations for testing reading comprehension ability using the newly designed software. To this end, 30 participants were interviewed and the related data were analyzed thematically to identify emerging themes relating to the current status of the new testing environment. Four themes emerged relating to potential barriers and motivations and the results showed that working with the software provided positive experiences of working in a supportive environment. The study found that using the newly designed software in the classroom generally enhances learning and other outcomes. This novel software does not only aim to reduce barriers in conventional testing environment but also highlights the positive aspects which enhance motivation.

کلیدواژه‌ها

reading comprehension؛ Software؛ ZPD؛ Dynamic Assessment؛ Technology