Paper on Teaching

                                What Is a Portfolio Assessment

     and in What Ways it Improves Learning a Foreign Language?

                                         Zahra Mojib

                                       Dr.Hassaskhah

                                               2010



Table of Contents


Content                                                                               Page



Chapter 1. Introduction                                                         1  


-Significance of the study                                                        1

-Research question                                                                2

-Statement of the hypothesis                                                  2

-Definition of important terms                                                2


Chapter 2. Review of the elated literature                             4


Chapter 3. Design of the research                                        5

Chapter 4. Findings and discussion                                      6

Chapter 5. Conclusion                                                       13

Chapter 6. Bibliography                                                     14

 
 Chapter 1

Introduction

Significance of the Study
How could my students be more autonomous and responsible in their learning? How could I motivate my students to learn? Is there a better way to evaluate my students’ learning progress other than the traditional pencil-and-paper test? These were questions I posed to myself when I started teaching English. Besides these questions, I also had some basic questions about classroom management, teaching tools, students’ progress. Maybe there is no definite and final answer to these questions but it seems to me that we as teacher should be able to make some simple but affective changes. The point is that usually evaluation is mainly in the traditional approach, which is based on the philosophy that one test will fit all students despite individual differences. Furthermore, teachers faced great pressure to boost the scores of students. So we tend to ignore the very important point of students own evaluation of themselves and their own understanding of their gradual progress in learning a foreign language.
There is a wide body of theoretical research that recommends the use of portfolios in EFL/ESL classrooms. A range of definition of the portfolio has also developed illustrating the growth and diversity of its use. For some teachers a portfolio is an alternative assessment programme and it can either include a record of students’ achievements or simply document their best work. For other teachers it documents the learning process and still others use it as means of promoting students reflection.

Traditional assessment involves the employment of paper-and-pencil, standardized tests to assess students’ performance under time pressure. Portfolio assessment, on the other hand, can evaluate students holistically based on the content of the portfolio on which the teachers and students agree. Moreover, it focuses greatly on individual differences. As language cannot be acquired overnight, the portfolio can give students a chance to build up their experiences in language learning, and this experience can motivate students to be more involved in the classroom because they feel that they have control in their own learning rather than just having the teachers tell them what they have to learn. A portfolio assessment is learner-centered. The portfolio can help students to expand their interest in learning the language as well as reminding them of what they have learned. With portfolio assessment, students can have a sense of accomplishment after they compile their in-class or outside-class work.

According to the discussions mentioned above it is supposed that portfolio assessment is a good alternative for traditional assessment and compensates for its inadequacies. In order to use a portfolio assessment or task in an EFL or ESL classroom, we need to first understand the basic concepts of the use of the portfolio, its contents and procedures, principles in developing it, and the advantages and disadvantages of using this task. These are the aims of this paper to undertake.


Research Question

In order to investigate the significance of the study the following question was proposed:

Is there any better alternative for the traditional pencil and paper assessment,which can replace it and compensate for its inadequacies?

Statement of the Hypothesis

To manage the mentioned research question ,the following hypothesis is proposed:

Portfolio assessment is a good alternative for traditional assessment and resolve its problems to an acceptable degree.

Definition of Important Terms

In order to clarify the points and provide a general ground ,the key terms used in this study are defined briefly a follows:

Portfolio: Artists, photographers and architects often build up portfolios, in which they put together pictures they feel best represents their style and skills .From a pedagogical perspective it’s part of an alternative assessment which can contain either students’ best work or their accomplishments.

EFL Assessment:It refers to the tools ,techniques, and procedures for collecting and interpreting information about what learners can do and cannot do,while learning a foreign language.

Alternative Assessment:A new choice for assessing learners of a foreign language which compensates the inadequacies and defects of the previous assessments.


Chapter 2



Review of the Related Literature

Currently the body of literature related to a portfolio approach to instruction and assessment is growing in different countries. Documented studies include the fields of teacher education, web-based learning, writing, sciences, and English learning.

Nonetheless, relatively little is known about EFL portfolio use. Chen (1999, 2000) asked her EFL university students to compile writing portfolios; significantly, they stated the task made them better learners, readers, and writers, and was conducive to their personal growth and learning reflection.

Hsieh, Lu, and Yeh (2000) implemented portfolio assessment in a sixth grade EFL classroom and found these valid tools for elevating students' learning. Chang and Chang (2003) integrated multiple intelligences with portfolio assessment in a seventh grade English class in comparison with a traditional class and detected significant differences in student achievement test performance, learning motivation, and classroom climate. Only Chen's study described how portfolios are collected, used and evaluated, along with tasks demanded, plus pedagogy and assessment in curriculum.

Research evidence also suggests portfolios as a potent device to gauge students' effort, achievement, improvement, and self-evaluation (e.g. Chen, 1999, 2000; Far & Tone, 1994; Hamp-Lyons & Condon, 2000; Hsieh et al., 2000; Newman & Smolen, 1993; Smolen et al., 1995). Hamp-Lyons (l994) labels portfolio an excellent pedagogical tool interweaving assessment with instruction: it provides chances to integrate more forms of evaluation into teaching, such that evaluation will become "a less threatening and more supportive activity" (p. 54) to learners. Moya and O'Malley (1994) claim portfolios can be used as a systematic assessment tool in instructional planning and student evaluation.


Chapter 3

Design of the Research

In order to cope with the research question and provide a reasonable answer to it ,I tried to have a detailed investigation on what has been done before in the area of the research,specially in eastern countries of the Asia,since the most of my findings were carried out in these countries.

As a result this study is a review on what has been done before about portfolio assessment and instruction and tries to give a clear definition of portfolios ,their purposes, contents and procedures.

In order to do so I went therough studying several articles ,research papers,trying to compare and contrast their findings,discuss and analyzing them in order to reach a sensible and fair conclusion.



Chapter 4

Findings and Discussion

Definition and Purposes of the Portfolio

In defining the word portfolio, people have different points of views. Some teachers consider the use of a portfolio as part of an alternative assessment which can contain either students’ best work or their accomplishments (Nunes, 2004).

According to Yang (2003), the portfolio is a compilation of students’ work, which demonstrates how much effort they have put into their work, their progress and achievement in their learning, and their reflection on the materials chosen for the portfolio. The portfolio is beneficial not only to students but also to teachers.

As Paulson, and Meyer (1991) stated, the portfolio acts as a bridge between “instruction and assessment” (as cited in Yang, p. 294).

A portfolio is a useful bridge because teachers need to do more than just transmit knowledge to students (Yang, 2003). Teachers should show students how to acquire “knowledge, skills, and strategies” so that they can eventually turn into autonomous and responsible learners for their own learning (Yang, p. 293).

Therefore, the purpose of portfolios in an ESL/EFL classroom is to increase the level of students’ motivation and to give them a sense of accomplishment and ownership in their own learning (Crosby, 1997).
Cameron (2001:237) has explained the original use of portfolios by saying:

“Artists, photographers and architects often build up portfolios, in which they put together pictures they feel best represents their style and skills. They then use the portfolios to demonstrate what they have to offer to potential customers and employers.”


Differences with the traditional method of testing



According to Yang (2003), there are seven differences between traditional and portfolio assessment. First, traditional assessment can only assess students in certain skill areas while portfolio assessment assesses students in a broader range of skill areas. Second, traditional assessment is more teacher-centered compared to portfolio assessment. Third, traditional assessment does not take individual differences into consideration like portfolio assessment does. Fourth, the teacher is mostly the only person to do the evaluation in traditional assessment while the portfolio includes students, teachers, and peers in the process of evaluation. Fifth, traditional assessment does not consist of self evaluation while self-evaluation is one of the main learning aims in portfolio assessment. Sixth, traditional assessment focuses on the products alone while portfolio assessment focuses on students’ “improvement, effort, and achievement” (p. 295). The last but not least advantage is that the areas of “learning, assessment, and instruction” are treated separately in traditional assessment while the connection of “learning, assessment, and instruction” in portfolio assessment is significant (p. 295).


Contents and Procedures of the Portfolio


For the contents of the portfolio, there is not necessarily a set of fixed components to be included. The decision on the components of the portfolio can be made by the teachers, the students, or through an agreement between teachers and students.

Many teachers and experts have offered suggestions on portfolio contents based on their experience with using portfolio assessment.
As a general guidelines, Crockett (1998, as cited in Nunes, 2004) suggested five different groups of materials that may be included in the portfolio of students:
a) samples that are considered class assignment requirements

b) processed samples that were previously graded by the teacher;

c) revisions of student work that are graded and then revised, edited, and rewritten; d)reflections that are associated with the “processed samples, and these reflections give students opportunities to identity their own strengths and weaknesses;

e)portfolio projects that include work mainly designed for students to put into their portfolios (p. 1).
Portfolios are often grouped into four types according to Mandell and Michelson (1990 ):

a) Showcase: student only puts best example or best product in for each objective

b)Cumulative: Student place all work relevant to each objective into portfolio

c) Process: Student places pre/post-samples of work for each objective into the portfolio

d)Each type of portfolio should include all of the essential components of a portfolio listed above.


And essential components of a portfolio suggested by Campell, Melenyzer and Nettles et al. (2000) should be:

a)table of contents with page numbers

b)personal introduction describing the students background and capstone experience

c)Program outcomes, with artifacts linked to the outcomes


Moreover,Newman, Smolen,and Lee suggested the following procedures for implementing a portfolio:

Every student should have a working portfolio, and four different kinds of information were included in this working portfolio:

1- teacher collected material

2- student collected material

3-student management tools

4- goal cards

For the teacher collected material folder, formal and informal assessments are included, and they are collected several times by the teacher during the year

The student collected material folder has all the completed work from the students throughout the year.

The student management tools folder has all the management tools to help students organize their work.

The weekly Goal Cards are the last thing students had to put in the working portfolio weekly.

In fact, the portfolios could also include materials that have special meaning for the students in the process of learning, such as newspaper articles, pictures, and articles or pictures from magazines (Nunes).
There is an important point to be remembered and that’s no matter what is in the portfolio, teachers have to communicate the contents of the portfolio clearly to students in the beginning of the course to avoid confusion and frustration. At the same time, teachers have to be sensitive to students’ adjustments to the idea of the portfolio.

Moreover, studies suggested that the first samples collected from the students showed that they did not understand the objectives of doing reflections, and this might be because these students were not “used to thinking about their learning” (Nunes,p. 2). Therefore, teachers need to introduce the use of portfolios and the materials to be put in the portfolio step by step and should expect some confusion from students at the very beginning.



Students’ Comments on Portfolios

Questionnaire results which most of carried out in eastern Asia revealed the following results:

1-Students significantly favored the implemented portfolio system.

2-They perceived self-progress in English learning.

3-Learners examined their learning processes and upgraded their learning methods.

4-Most disagreed that portfolio tasks are meaningless and that compiling portfolios helped them little in English learning.

5-The assigned learning and evaluation tasks were seen as beneficial to relationships with teammates ,boost their English confidence , and make them fond of English learning.

Also there were some hints showing that tests might still be viewed as a dynamic measure gauging English learning achievement; students showed no strong tendency of test phobia. Significantly more students disagreed that they got nervous about taking English tests.

However, studies indicated that varied learning and assessing tasks were more likely to be valued than paper-and-pencil tests.


Teachers’ Comments on Portfolios

English confidence and use increasing

Students were given many opportunities to use the four language skills via peer and group work. In addition to those English tasks.

Learning ownership acquired

The most desired outcome of portfolio construction is to have students assume learning responsibility and develop a desire to do their best work/ revise their works after the class, shared and exhibited storybooks and portfolios.

Other talents developed

In diverse learning and assessing tasks, English was indeed used as a means to develop and demonstrate students' talent - e.g., acting, drawing, arts, organization, music and teamwork. Both teachers were pleasantly amazed at their students' English performances and creativity in various tasks.

Critical thinking promoted

In a portfolio system, students are enmeshed in constant reflection and critical inquiries by self and peer assessments. On the weekly reflection sheet, they were granted channels to examine themselves and peers, and reveal their confusion. During portfolio construction, they went back to review and reflect on what they had done and wrote feedback to themselves and peers. By way of these evaluative tasks, their voice was heard and critical thinking promoted.

Strengths of Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment is the power to adjust the criteria of the assessment based on individual differences.

The emphasis of strengths rather than weaknesses in portfolio assessment,is more dominant.

Portfolio assessment can evaluate students holistically based on the content of the portfolio on which the teachers and students agree.

As language cannot be acquired overnight, the portfolio can give students a chance to build up their experiences in language learning, and this experience can motivate students to be more involved in the classroom because they feel that they have control in their own learning rather than just having the teachers tell them what they have to learn.

With portfolio assessment, students can have a sense of accomplishment after they compile their in-class or outside-class work.

Students benefit from the portfolio system in terms of the development of English use and confidence, learning ownership, versatile talents, and critical thinking.

Portfolio assessment gauges students’ effort, achievement , improvement and self-evaluation.

Weaknesses of Portfolio Assessment

While there are numerous strengths in portfolio assessment, there are weaknesses as well. First of all, assessing writing by using portfolio assessment demands a lot of work and time from instructors. When teachers feel that using the portfolio in their classrooms will add too much to their workload, they will reject the idea of using it, or they will wind up collecting all the work from students without actually using it meaningfully. Because teachers are frustrated with extra responsibilities, this can impact the effectiveness of the portfolio. As a consequence, teachers will

not make any essential changes or put in too much effort to the implementation of the portfolio, and they will not show their students the critical techniques to become autonomous and responsible for their own learning as well (Newman, Smolen, & Lee).

The reliability of the portfolio assessment is also greatly debatable: Without a quantitative measure, it is difficult for teachers to score students’ work consistently.

Electronic-portfolio

More recently, there has been increased attention paid to e-portfolios as a more economical and dynamic alternative to paper portfolios. What is the difference between the traditional and the e-portfolio?

The principle of the e-portfolio is similar to the traditional portfolio. The main difference is the way students’ work is collected and compiled.Sme of its characteristics can be described as:

It is more economical and dynamic alternative to paper portfolios.

In the e-portfolio, students’ work is collected and made accessible on the World Wide Web or simply a CD-ROM

Information in the e-portfolio can be presented in “graphics, videos, sounds, images, text, or any other multimedia format”

E-portfolio consists of “teachers’ comments and feedback”

Peer response forms are more dominant

E-portfolio Weaknesses

Kahtani (1999) also pointed out several drawbacks of e-portfolios:

1-Limitation to students who are illiterate in technology.

2-Students need to have the right equipment and software in order to work on the e-portfolio.

3-Students may spend a lot of time focusing on the design rather than on the content of the portfolio.


Conclusion

Several findings can be summarized from the studies. First, students who participated in this investigation significantly favored a portfolio system. They considered the learning tasks conducive to learning and portfolios to be good tools for examining learning processes and augmenting learning methods. Second, the teachers' observations also confirmed that students benefited from the portfolio system in terms of the development of English use and confidence, learning ownership, versatile talents, and critical thinking. Third, content of student portfolios was mostly chosen and designed in accordance with personal preference, suggesting student ownership and active participation. Fourth, implementation barriers mainly resulted from confrontation with the traditional testing culture, difficulties with heterogeneous classes, heeding students' complains, anxiety over professional deficiencies, and speculation about worksheet overuse.

According to the mentioned discussions it seems the hypothesis is to a considerable degree confirmed.

Portfolios are a dynamic device to facilitate learning and ownership development. Nevertheless, confusion and doubt emerged and lingered during its implementation process, and the development of portfolio pedagogy was constantly inhibited by the prevailing understanding of assessment purpose and procedures.With sustained professional support and collaboration plus continued curriculum modification, the portfolio implementation ends as a success.

Bibliography

Campell, D., Melenyzer, B., Nettles, D. & Wyman, R. (2000). Portfolio and Performance Assessment in Teacher Education, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Crosby, C. (1997, August). Portfolio assessment in the Korean ESL writing classroom. Thai TESOL Bulletin, from http://www.thaitesol.org/bulletin/100

Council of Europe. (2001). European Language Portfolio, Strasbourg: Language Policy Division, Available at http://www.coe.int/portfolio

Crockett, T. (1998). Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language, London: Longman.

Kahtani, S. A. (1999). Electronic portfolios in ESL writing: An alternative approach. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 261-268.

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O’Malley, M & L. Valdez Pierce. (1996). Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, New York:Addison-Wesley.

Newman, C., Smolen, L, & Lee, D. J.(1995). Implementation of portfolios in an ESL classroom.

Master, E. (1998). Use of portfolios in ESL conversation classes.

Nunes, A. (2004, October). Portfolios in the EFL classroom: Disclosing an informed practice. ELT Journal. 327-345.
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Zhang,S.(2009) Has Portfolio Assessment Become Common Practice in EFLClassrooms?Empirical Studies from China. 98-118. From www.ccsenet.org.journal.html