Iranian TOEFL iBT and the IELTS Teachers’ Views on the Structure of the TOEFL iBT and IELTS Receptive and Productive Sections in terms of Dynamic and Static Assessment

This mixed-methods design study investigated Iranian TOEFL iBT and IELTS teachers’ views on the structure of the TOEFL iBT and IELTS receptive and productive sections from the yardsticks of dynamic and static assessment. It also examined the conformity level of the receptive and productive sections of TOEFL iBT and IELTS to dynamic assessment and static assessment standards. To achieve the objectives of the study, 100 information-rich TOEFL iBT and IELTS teachers selected based on purposive and snowball sampling completed two 8-item researcher-made questionnaires on the underlying features of these exams. To cross-validate the quantitative results, we performed semi-structured interviews with 10 informed teachers selected through purposive sampling from among the questionnaire respondents. The semi-structured data were content analyzed using a researcher-made framework categorizing the distinctive dynamic assessment and static assessment features. The results of the qualitative phase corroborated those of the quantitative part revealing that these exams mainly conform to static assessment tenets and that they enjoy only a few dynamic assessment features. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also explicated