Transformation of English language instructors in dynamic assessment: An oral skill teaching experience in university preparatory program

This dissertation describes and analyses the transformative learning experiences of two instructors who engaged in the participatory action research study to critically reflect on their already held beliefs of assessment and instruction and learn about Dynamic Assessment (DA) to be implemented in their classrooms. The central aim of the study is to investigate the process of perceptual change that the instructors experience regarding the discrete relationship between assessment and instruction as they engaged in learning about DA which has an alternative view to that relationship. Based on participatory action research design with a participatory paradigm, this study is significant in terms of empowering the participants through a professional learning discourse in which participants criticise the contextual and individual factors that shape and limit their practices in speaking courses. Drawing on the Transformative Learning Theory and using evidence from verbal data from group discussion sessions, classroom observations, classroom artefacts, and interviews, this study analyses how these two English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors experienced individual transformative learning experiences and DA conceptualisation in a social and reflective discourse provided with the design of the study. Furthermore, the changes in the instructors' practices of classroom assessment and instruction were followed after the completion of group discussion sessions as the instructors acted on their experiences. The students' views were also gathered about the effectiveness of speaking instruction, in-class speaking assessment and changing practices of the instructors. The findings indicate that engagement in a participatory action research study contributed to the instructors' awareness of the contextual and individual constraints on their actions in speaking courses. Although participatory action research provided awareness to the instructors regarding these constraints, the verbal data from the discussion sessions and follow-up classroom actions of the instructors illustrated that they could change their perspectives and actions to the extent that they were able to bring critical self-reflection on their currently held beliefs. The students' views on the changing practices of instructors were limited but mostly positive in terms of their development, which might indicate the impact of the instructors' awareness and perceptual change on students' perceived development. The whole process of this participatory action research implied that professional development needs to engage teacher views and their critical reflection on their already set beliefs in order for the integration of research-based alternative pedagogies into teacher repertoires.