Cultivating Interlanguage Pragmatic Comprehension through Concurrent and Cumulative Group Dynamic Assessment: A Mixed-methods Study

This study explored the effects of concurrent G-DA and cumulative G-DA on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ ILP comprehension. To this end, a total of 97 pre-intermediate learners took the key English test (KET) test and 45 learners whose scores fell between − 1 and + 1 SD were selected and assigned randomly into three groups, namely concurrent G-DA (n = 15), cumulative G-DA (n = 15), and immediate feedback (IF) group (n = 15). Then, they went through pre-test, intervention (lasted one hour for fifteen sessions held three times a week), and post-test procedures, as well as the interactions among the teachers and learners were recorded. The data were analyzed through a one-way ANCOVA and a microgenetic development approach. Results revealed that the experimental groups outperformed the control group concerning the gains of the ILP comprehension. Additionally, the complementary microgenetic findings demonstrated how concurrent G-DA and cumulative G-DA approaches could lead to improving the learners’ ILP comprehension.