Dynamic Assessment, a Versatile Tool for Teaching and Assessing Critical Reading

Abstract While emphasizing the importance of critical thinking (CT) skills in the ever-changing and dynamic world, this study presents dynamic assessment (DA) procedure as an effective way of integrating assessment and instruction together. To this end, a set of core CT strategies in reading comprehension was selected and then taught and assessed through DA. Ten students from the hometown of the researcher were selected. Data were collected through instruments such as University of Florida Critical Thinking Inventory Manual, Observation logs and transcendent tasks. Question one dealt with disposition of students and for this question two types of data were gathered; quantitative data were gathered via EMI and qualitative data via descriptive records in teaching logs which showed an increase in students disposition to CT. The aim of the second question was to prove that students have acquired these core CT skills and can apply them to analyzing unseen texts. Therefore, two transcendence tasks, similar in length and level of difficulty but different in content, were designed and implemented, one at the beginning of the program and the other one at a fairly long interval after mediation. Results showed that DA had a significant effect on their ability to transfer the core critical thinking skills to unseen situations and critically read a text.