Portfolios in the EFL Classroom - Indication of an Informed Practice (original) (raw)

THE EFFECTS OF WRITING PORTFOLIOS ON STUDENTS' LANGUAGE LEARNING AT THE TERTIARY LEVEL 1

Used as an alternative form of assessment, portfolios are a collection of students' work, which demonstrates students' achievement and knowledge. As a result of learner-centered methodologies and benefits associated with portfolios, more and more teachers are using them for learner development and assessment. Due to this interest, the current study investigates opinions of teachers and students towards using writing portfolios in language learning classrooms at a large state university in Turkey. The study focuses on advantages, disadvantages, and effects of writing portfolios on students' learning process. 12 teachers and 100 prep-school students contributed to the study. Survey type research design is used and data were gathered both from teachers and students' via questionnaires. For dual and multiple comparisons Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U Tests were conducted. Both questionnaires were found reliable with .707 (teacher) and .722 (student) alpha values. The results showed that the majority of teachers have positive opinions and perceptions regarding portfolio keeping and its effects on language learning. However, the students were mostly dubious regarding the effects and benefits of portfolios. Although the research indicates a lot of advantages, some drawbacks of keeping portfolios were also identified by teachers' and students'. The findings show that teachers think portfolios are helpful to students' learning while students are uncertain about the effects of portfolios in learning English.

Students’ Perceptions of Portfolio as a Motivating Factor in Learning English as a Foreign Language

Journal of Educational and Social Research

The goal of this study is to find out what students think about using a portfolio as a motivator tool in studying English as a foreign language. As they include both students' and teachers' viewpoints on the learning process, portfolios are viewed as potential assessment tools. This study made use of qualitative methods of research. We have used interviews, which was conducted with 70 students, in four high schools in Durres, Albania. Students' perceptions of utilizing portfolios as an assessment tool revealed that portfolios help students be more autonomous, promote critical thinking, and increase motivation. Portfolio is an effective assessment approach since it encourages students to improve in maturity and independence rather of simply exposing their flaws. Portfolio helps them to be critical thinkers and independent consequently motivating them in learning English as a foreign language. This study will assist teachers in using portfolios as an assessment tool to enc...

Implementation of Portfolios in an ESL Classroom

1995

This research project represents phase 1 of a longitudinal study involving sixth graders in an English-as-a-Second-Language middle school classroom. Research activities focus on the development and implementation of portfolio management strategies for these students. It was believed that developing an efficient system to teach these students how to create and maintain their own portfolios would help improve their English proficiency and develop skills that would help them become more self-directed, motivated, and more successful learners. Subjects were sixth-grade students from 6 different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Each developed a working portfolio with teacher-collected material, student-collected material, student management tools, and goal cards. Once a week students selected materials for their showcase portfolios. Researchers found that the portfolio management system helped these students become actively involved in their own learning. Aspects of the portfolio proc...

Students’ perceptions about writing portfolios: A case of Iranian EFL students

2020

Among alternative assessment options, portfolios have received considerable attention in the field of education, but there has been little research exploring students’ perceptions of the portfolio approach or its impact on the learning of writing (Lam, 2013). Therefore, this study aimed at investigating students’ perceptions about the effect of portfolio assessment as a process-oriented assessment mechanism on Iranian EFL students’ English writing and its sub-skills of focus, elaboration, organization, conventions, and vocabulary. Moreover, the study dealt with students’ perceptions about the use of portfolio assessment in EFL writing. Thirty university students were chosen as the participants. They received the treatment i.e. portfolio assessment in an essay writing course. Students’ views and reflections about portfolio assessment were elicited via “Portfolio contribution questionnaire” and individual semi-structured interviews. The results showed that most of the students perceived improvement in overall writing and the sub-skills of focus, elaboration, and organization. Furthermore, students had a positive attitude to the implementation of portfolios. The results have some implications for teaching and assessment of writing in the EFL context.

Portfolio-Based Assessment in English Language Learning: Highlighting the Students’ Perceptions

J-SHMIC : Journal of English for Academic

Portfolio-based Assessment (hereafter, PBA) plays an indispensable role in language assessment. PBA represents the development of the students’ learning process outcomes, trains autonomous learning, and stimulates metacognitive awareness. Conversely, a few investigative attempts, addressed the students’ perceptions of PBA in the Indonesian EFL Context. Therefore, this study aimed to decipher the perceptions of EFL students in Indonesia on PBA use in the English subject. Empirically speaking, two female students were involved as the participants in this study. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview and analyzed with Thematic Analysis (TA) (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings revealed that students articulated their perceptions in three major themes, namely developing self-monitoring from the students’ learning processes, generating discipline, responsible and autonomous language learning attitudes, and mitigating perceptual mismatches among teachers and students....