Dynamic Assessment of the Evolving Cognitive Functions in Children

This chapter presents an application of Vygotsky's idea of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) as a basis for dynamic assessment (DA) of learning in children with typical and atypical development. After a discussion of the idea of ZPD and an overview of dynamic assessment, the chapter describes a specific DA procedure relevant for use with young children with two case studies of the application of this procedure. Dynamic assessment is an approach to understanding individual differences and their implications for instruction that embeds intervention within the assessment procedure. The focus of most dynamic assessment procedures is on the processes rather than the products of learning. The dynamic, compared to static, nature of this approach reflects Vygotsky's observation that “it is only in movement that a body shows what it is” (Gauvain, 2001, p. 35). Moving pictures lead to very different impressions than still photographs. DA was born of widespread dissatisfaction with traditional (product-oriented, static) means of psychological testing, as well as the social need to create psychological instruments that were culturally sensitive and responsive to the factors of socioeconomic and/or educational differences and deprivation as well as new language acquisition (Haywood & Tzuriel, 1992; Lidz, 1987; Lidz & Elliott, 2000). In this way DA has both psychoeducational and sociocultural significance. VYGOTSKY'S CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE ZPD AS A BASIS FOR DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT Parents and teachers have frequently observed that with the appropriate help and in collaboration with a more experienced partner, a child is capable of more advanced performance than when functioning independently.