ABSTRACT
Since its introduction to the L2 field, dynamic assessment (DA) has been received both as an approach to assessment that offers potential to uncover learner abilities that otherwise remain obscured and as a framework for classroom practice that understands assessing and teaching as features of a unified activity in support of learner development. The contexts in which L2 DA has been pursued have influenced the model of language that informs procedures, how mediation has been construed, and sources of information about learner abilities that are obtained. This chapter reviews representative L2 DA studies in three contexts: partnerships with teachers to integrate DA in their existing classroom practices; formal assessment situations concerned with ascertaining learner proficiency or mastery of specified content; and educational programs in which the curriculum and overall pedagogy are informed by Vygotskian principles, as in the case of concept-based instruction and mediated development. Discussion emphasizes how in each context researchers work to maintain a focus on a mediation process that alternately probes current understandings and capabilities and provokes their development. Possibilities for the continued development of DA work in each of these areas are proposed.
