Interventionist Dynamic Assessment’s Effects on Speaking Skills Testing: Case of Elt Teacher Candidates

EFL learners’ oral proficiency plays an important role in the representation of their productive skills. Especially, English language learners’ speaking skills are considered as main reflection of their proficiency in foreign languages. Speaking in L2 is accepted as a vital competence for language teachers as well, who are going to teach the target language in the future. The related literature puts an emphasis on the assessment of speaking skills utilizing various techniques. However, the number of research studies, examining how dynamic assessment (DA), especially the interventionist model of dynamic assessment, can be utilized as a technique in the assessment of L2 speaking performance, is relatively limited. Thus, the main aims of the current research study are both to investigate the efficacy of the interventionist model of DA in the assessment of student teachers’ speaking skills performance and to figure out their attitudes towards dynamic assessment. The participants of the current research were 29 student teachers, enrolled in the English Language Teaching Department of a state university in Turkey. To collect the quantitative data questionnaire survey was adopted and utilized as a checklist due to the number of the participants. On the other hand, to collect the qualitative data, a written structured interview was administered to the participants. The data were analyzed with the SPSS package and through the content analysis method. The findings of the current research revealed that participants were satisfied with the interventionist model and developed positive attitudes towards this assessment type. The participants stated that the interventionist dynamic assessment provided an authentic, creative and relaxing atmosphere, which decreased the level of their speaking anxiety. It can be asserted that DA can be administered to test foreign language speaking performance in language classrooms. Additionally, it was concluded that the interventionist model sustained and boosted the student teachers’ oral skills achievement.

Do Consumer-Directed Tax Credits Effectively Increase Demand? Experimental Evidence of Conditional Success

ABSTRACT We investigate whether consumer-directed tax credits motivate purchasing behavior in the same manner as traditional retail concessions (e.g., price discounts). In our experimental study, consumers choose between relatively expensive incentivized products and less expensive standard products. Consistent with negative views toward taxation (Moon 2009) and the default-interventionist model of dual process theories (Evans and Stanovich 2013a; Evans 2011), when the price difference between incentivized and standard products is small, tax credits are a less effective way to encourage demand than traditional retail concessions. However, when the price difference between incentivized and standard products is large, tax credits become a relatively effective purchase inducement. Our results suggest that public policy can be improved by considering the economic setting of tax-incentivized items. JEL Classifications: H21.

Tillich on Divine Power and Ultimate Meaning in Human History

Paul Tillich’s concept of God opposes the “interventionist” model of traditional Western theism. This paper attempts to determine whether, and in what sense, for Tillich, God may be said to act specifically to influence the course of historical events. It is argued that his concept of “Spiritual power” provides his answer. In clarification the concepts of “spirit,” “power,” “meaning,” “vocation,” “kairos,” and “the renunciation of power” are explored. According to Tillich, the vocations of specific social groups are empowered by divine power, providing both gift and task. For Christians the vocation of Jesus the Christ to proclaim the coming Kingdom of God as the ultimate meaning of history provides the criterion by which concrete vocations may be judged. God acts by providing meaning, which must be chosen and achieved.