Despite their importance, dynamic and diagnostic assessments (DigAs) have received little attention in phycological aspects of foreign language teaching and learning settings; therefore, this study compared the effects of dynamic and diagnostic assessment (DigA) on Afghan EFL learners’ speaking fluency and accuracy (SFA), learning anxiety (LA), and cognitive load (CL). To do so, 90 Afghan EFL learners were recruited and assigned to two experimental groups (EGs), namely a dynamic assessment group (DAG), a DigAG, and a control group (CG). After that, the three groups were pretested on SFA, LA, and CL. Then, one EG was trained based on the DA, and the other EG was taught based on the DigA, while the CG received common speaking instruction. After finishing the instruction, all groups were given the posttests of SFA, LA, and CL to evaluate the impacts of the treatment on their performances. The findings of the one-way ANOVA test divulged that both EGs outflanked the CG on their posttests. In fact, using dynamic and DigA developed EFL learners’ SFA and CL and reduced their LA. Though both EGs outflanked the CG, the DAG had better improvement than the DigAG on their posttests. At the end of the research, some implications were provided, and some suggestions were recommended for the next studies.

Listening and reading skills, which are two of the essential skills in the world of language learning, have established themselves in various academic fields. Many researchers have looked at teaching and developing these two receptive abilities, but less focus has been paid to assessing and testing them. Traditional evaluation has been used to examine learners for a long time, but new teaching methods should introduce new ways to test and assess students. This study attempted to investigate the impact of dynamic assessment (DA) vs. nondynamic assessment (NDA) on Ethiopian intermediate EFL learners receptive abilities, which was conceptually grounded by Vygotskys (1978) socio-cultural theory (SCT). To this end, 96 intermediate students from a high school participated in this study. Then, they were divided into three equal groups: two experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) and one control group (CG). After administering a pretest, the EG1 and EG2 were taught listening and reading skills through group dynamic assessment, and the control group received traditional instruction. After the treatment, a posttest was administered. The results of one-way ANCOVA revealed that dynamic assessment had significant effects on receptive skills. This study has implications for instructors, students, and material designers in light of the findings. Teachers are encouraged to use DA in their language instruction to help students improve their English language abilities.

Increased attention has been directed toward utilizing visual modes because linguistic modes cannot accurately depict L2 learners’ metaphorical conceptions of their language-acquisition experiences. The goal of this study was to investigate the mental images that Saudi EFL students may have in mind while learning a foreign language. To this end, both verbal and nonverbal metaphorical conceptions were investigated. An experimental group of 12 students was randomly selected. Both the learners’ written responses and drawn descriptions were evaluated to tap into the learners’ mental representations of foreign language learning. The multimodality-based analysis of the upper-intermediate learners’ metaphors demonstrated that the EFL learners’ metaphorical verbal and non-verbal representations had the same perspectives on learning a foreign language. The learners’ positive attitudes were also revealed by the extracted metaphorical concepts. Most of the metaphorical representations showed language learning as an exciting and uniquely personal experience. Few metaphorical representations showed that learning English was an awful experience.

Based on a sociocultural theory and a plethora of experiential studies on the efficacy of scaffolding on foreign language learning, the goal of this research article is to examine the effectiveness of diverse types of scaffolding on university students’ lexical digesting and reading perception from a sociocultural standpoint. Using the Harvard Placement Test, 40 EFL students from a total of 70 were selected and divided into two experimental groups and a single control group. The first group (G1 Exp.) was given teaching with instructor scaffolding, the second group (G2 Exp.) received instruction with peer scaffolding, and the control group (G3 Cont.) received conventional instruction without any external enhancement. Pretests for lexical digesting and reading perception were administered to the three groups. Following the treatment, post-tests for lexical digesting and reading perception were administered. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to examine the collected data. The results showed a significant difference between instructor and peer scaffolding, with the peer scaffolding group outperforming the instructor scaffolding group. Both experimental groups outperformed the control group in lexical digesting and reading perception. Regarding various kinds of scaffolding, this study provided some advice for psycholinguists, curriculum designers, and language instructors.

Gallery Run (GR) is a classroom-based dynamic learning technique that promotes higher-order thinking and co-operative learning. This research study examined the influence of GR strategy on Saudi upper-intermediate English as a foreign language(EFL) learners’ oral skills. First off, 62 upper-intermediate EFL learners from a language school in Riyadh were opted and randomly sectioned into an experimental group and a control group. Then, the participants in the two groups were given a speaking pretest. The experiment group applied the GR technique in their classroom, whereas the control group received no treatment and continued with an ordinary classroom program. After two-month classes, a speaking posttest was given to the two groups. To analyze the data collected, Independent and Paired Samples T-tests were conducted. The results showed that the experimental group excelled and outperformed the control group. The results also showed that 25.8% and 48.3% of the participants agreed and strongly agreed respectively that the GR technique enhanced their self-dependence. Furthermore, 45% of the participants reported that the ambiance was delightful, which conduced to the amelioration of their speaking competence. Another significant result was that 61.2% and 19.3% of the learners strongly agreed and agreed respectively that GR reduced the levels of loneliness and social anxiety. Furthermore, 58.1% strongly agreed that the GR technique did not put them under any kind of stress, nor did it encourage social loafing. A final finding reported by the 48.4 % of the learners was that GR reduced their alexithymia, social anxiety, and self-monitoring.