Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract
Recent educational developments and issues about the necessity to test the skills the
student will need in real-life tasks have brought on a radical change in traditional
approaches of instruction and assessment. For this reason, alternative assessment
approaches are needed in assessing both learning process and learning product.
Nowadays, one of the alternative assessment techniques used in various disciplines such
as mathematics, science and social sciences, and so forth is portfolio. The purpose of this
study is to introduce portfolio assessment method which is used commonly in
educational contexts recently. To achieve this aim, some information of portfolio such as
its definition, its model and implementation, its advantages and disadvantages were
presented. Finally, to exploit portfolio assessment method effectively some
recommendations were made.
Keywords: Real-life tasks, learning process, learning product, alternative assessment,
portfolio assessment method
1. Introduction
Today there is much talk about the necessity to evaluate student achievement and current
knowledge during or after teaching and learning process as it plays a very important role
in education. Specifically, Huang (2012) argues that evaluating is indispensable from
language learning and teaching. Principally, through evaluation, both teachers and
learners can get positive and negative output in teaching. In addition, by evaluating
student performance, teachers can evaluate the weak or strong points of the method or
materials that they use in the learning-teaching process, reconsider their way of teaching,
and make necessary adjustments. Supporting this view, Zimmaro (2004) asserts that
evaluation is done based on assessments, the process of gathering, describing, or
quantifying information about performance.
Nowadays, teaching strategies in language classrooms are shifting from the traditional
way of enlightening unacquainted learners solely by transmitting knowledge to what
students will need to succeed in the real world (Caner, 2010). Todays teachers are
demanded to focus on current language teaching strategies that include thinking critically,
learning to solve problems, and working and communicating with others. However,
assessing these skills through traditional assessment devices is rather difficult. Therefore,
they are faced with a fact that they need to develop new forms of student assessment.
1
Caner (2010) also states that new forms of student assessment are developed in order to
demonstrate what students are learning and what they can do with their knowledge. These
new forms of assessment, known variously as alternative or authentic measures, require
students to perform in some ways such as writing, demonstrating, explaining, or
constructing a project or experiment.
One of the alternative assessment procedures that has gained much interest in the field of
language teaching is portfolio assessment, which is regarded as an ongoing assessment
procedure. Gosselin (cited in Caner 2010) defines ongoing assessment as examining and
documenting learner progress at certain intervals in the learning process. In addition, a
portfolio has a wide range of meanings from a drawer into which documents and other
materials such as students worksheets are placed, to a highly structured framework for
holistic assessment of an individual (Davis, 2005). To sum up, basically portfolio is
defined as a purposeful collection of any aspect of the students work which is kept in a
file folder, box, or any durable and expandable container that tells the student's
improvement, progress, and achievement (Javanmard & Farahani, 2012).
Despite its popularity, it is a great misfortune that this innovative form of assessment has
had very limited application in EFL teaching (as observed in my workplace). In the
context of my workplace, where English is taught as a foreign language, I notice that
traditional assessment techniques continue to occupy an important place in the student as-
sessment due to lack of professional development as well as conservative attitude of some
teachers. In order not to be pessimistic though, the opportunity to apply this form of
assessment into EFL teaching and learning is, of course, always open.
By carefully reviewing, analysing, and evaluating current literature and research on the
use of portfolio in enhancing the EFL teaching and learning, I would advance my
argument in this essay under four sections. The first part describes the theoretical
framework of defining portfolio assessment in education, particularly in EFL teaching
and learning. This is followed by an illustration of how portfolio assessment is
beneficially implemented in EFL teaching-learning, especially by teachers or educators.
Then, the next part discusses the advantages of the use of portfolio assessment. Problems
and challenges of using portfolio assessment strategy are addressed in the section that
follows. Finally, in the conclusion, I propose some solutions for to the problems
presented, and justify my position toward the use of portfolio assessment to support the
EFL teaching and learning.
2
2. Portfolio Assessment in EFL Teaching and Learning
Neiman (cited in Serhani 2007) defines portfolio assessment as a selected collection of
work that shows not only the best work, but also the development of the individual's work
over a period of time. The students are expected to be independent thinkers or produce
individual solutions to problems they face. Ramazan (2012) asserts that a portfolio, in
aducation, stands for a kind of student-centered assessment. Unlike the traditional
assessment processes, portfolio assessments enable learners to participate in the
evaluation of their own works because students can decide the content of the portfolio
through the given directions of the instructor.
As portfolios can provide a rich view of learning process, a portfolio is often seen as a
highly valid instrument for assessment. However, the data in a portfolio, being often
descriptive, context-bound and personal, ask for much interpretation before they can be
scored (Moss, cited in Schaaf 2005). This view is supported by Wolf and Dietz (cited in
Schaaf 2005) who conclude that portfolios normally contain selected evidence of
performance and products in various contexts accompanied by a teachers comments and
reflections.
Generally speaking, for some a portfolio is a folder containing all the student work;
others see it as a collection of the student best work. The literature reviewed on portfolios
reveals that there are many types of portfolios in use. According to Columba & Dolgos
(cited in Ramazan 2012), there are basically three types of portfolios to consider for
classroom use.
2.1. Showcase
This type of portfolio focuses on the students best and most representative work.
This type of portfolio is similar to an artists portfolio where a variety of work is
selected to reflect breadth of talent. Therefore, in this portfolio the student selects
what he or she thinks is representative work. This folder is most often seen at open
houses and parent visitations.
3
2.2. Teacher-Student Portfolio
This type of portfolio is often called the working portfolio or a working folder.
This is an interactive teacher-student portfolio that aids in communication between
teacher and student. The teacher and student conference to add or delete within the
content of the show-case portfolio.
The following discusses some models of portfolio assessment and how they are
implemented in EFL classrooms.
Gomez (cited in Serhani 2007) proposes a portfolio assessment model for EFL learners
which includes eleven interrelated levels of assessment activities:
Decide about goals and content
Design the portfolio assessment program
Develop scoring criteria and standards of performance
Align tasks to standards and curriculum
Implement at pilot sites, provide staff development, and analyze results
Implement at all sites
Train teachers to score
Establish guidelines for administration
Score the portfolios
Report the results
Evaluate the program
4
The student collects evidence of achievement of the learning outcomes during their
day-to-day learning activities. The evidence in portfolios is limited only by the
degree of the designers creativity. This material will be submitted by the student for
marking and feedback during the portfolio-building process.
3.2. Reflection on learning
Reflection is revisiting an experience after the event, in order to extract the principles
and effectively bank these for future use. The reflective process should be directed
to promote learning, personal and professional development, and improvement of
practice. In the context of portfolio assessment, reflection must answer four
questions relating to a learning experience: What did I learn? What do I still need to
learn? What resources did I use for further learning? What further learning was
achieved?
5
Lyons & Condon (cited in Serhani 2007) claim that there are three basic principles,
namely collection, selection, and reflection, that serve as the requirements of the success
of the portfolio assessment implementation. In the light of this statement, it can be argued
that a portfolio must include samples of a student's work rather than all the work done.
Furthermore, what is to be included in the portfolio must be individually selected by
students, as what is stated in A Resource for Integrating Collaborative Language
Portfolio published by Manitoba Labour and Immigration (2004) that The items added
to a portfolio need to be selective. It (2004) also describes a portfolio as a selection
language tasks that does not include everything a learner has done throughout the course.
It contains a sampling of the language tasks and exercises completed by the learner and
are selected because they show what the learner has become able to do.
Finally, a very crucial part of portfolio assessment is reflection. Coombe & Barlow (cited
in Serhani 2007) explain that having reflection as part of the portfolio process requires
students to think about their needs, goals, weaknesses, and strengths in language learning.
They are also asked to select their best work and to explain why that work was beneficial
to them. Neiman (cited in Serhani 2007) reports that a collection can be made into a
meaningful learning experience if reflection is involved. This view is supported by Santos
(cited in Serhani 2007) who says the portfolio would remain a meaningless folder of
sheets of paper if the students dont actively make any progress in the reflection phase.
This is in line with Pierce & Malley (1992) who assert that student reflection and self-
monitoring are the key elements of the success of the portfolio assessment
implementation.
6
check on their progress, conduct self-assessment and peer-assessment by consulting the
given criteria with the teachers guidance (Huang, 2012). In addition, Baume (2000)
claims that portfolios are a very effective method for stimulating, supporting, integrating
and assessing student work.
Finally, the portfolio assessment strategy would provide teachers with a tool not only for
assessing students' performance but also for thinking about teaching and learning
processes (Wagner & Lilly, cited in Serhani 2007). Portfolios allow teachers to provide
students valuable comments as feedback that reflects improvement in their future work.
This is possible as teachers obtain clear insights into their teaching. Subsequently,
teaching plans and strategies can be modified to improve the instructional process in the
classrooms.
7
5. Problems and Challenges of Using the Portfolio Assessment Strategy.
Portfolio assessment is an innovative, alternative assessment strategy that is rich in both
strengths and weaknesses that should be fully considered for successful implementation.
One major concern as a drawback for portfolio assessment strategy is time (Davis, 2005;
Pierce & O'Malley, 1992). Portfolio assessment can be very time-consuming for teachers
especially if portfolios are done in addition to traditional grading. Gmez (1999) says that
finding the time to score the portfolios can be particularly burdensome for teachers if the
school uses assessment portfolios in addition to traditional testing. The strategy puts more
pressure on teachers and makes some feel anxious especially those using it for the first
time. Teachers need knowledge to manage portfolios easily and successfully as portfolio
assessment can be something new and unfamiliar which demands study.
Teachers need to spend much energy for portfolios management. They need to get
involved in developing strategies and materials, conferencing with individual students or
small groups, reviewing portfolios contents, commenting on students' work, and provide
feedback. During the process of developing portfolios, students must receive feedback
from the teacher. In addition, most students must be guided through the process of
developing portfolios as portfolios may be a new experience for them. Briefly, all these
activities require the teachers to devote their energy more than they do in the traditional
assessment.
There is also concern about using portfolios that deals with decisions that have to be
made constantly about what to include and how to evaluate and interpret the contents of
the portfolio. In practice, another problem of portfolio assessment strategy is exposed
when developing reliable, valid, and effective scoring guides, rubrics, and criteria for
assessment of portfolios and its contents. Schaaf (2005:) explains that assessing portfolios
involves complex interactions between teachers competences, the portfolio, the
standards used, raters characteristics, and raters interpretations. Therefore, scoring
students' portfolios which include a variety of work of different purposes done over time
is more time-consuming than scoring a traditional test.
8
the curriculum learning outcomes. With the amount of assistance and guidance provided
by teachers during the process of developing portfolios, there is an important issue that
needs to be considered which is whether portfolios are an actually representative of
students' performance.
Finally, one of the main challenges regarding using the portfolio assessment strategy is
related to reliability. Schaaf (2005) defines reliability as stability over time and
consistency between assessments. Problems in scoring emerge as portfolio contains a
variety of work samples of different purposes which are collected over time. The
challenge is that portfolio assessment may produce unacceptably low inter-rater
reliability, especially if the assessment rubrics are not properly prepared or are used by
untrained assessors (Davis, 2005). Gmez (1999) defines inter-rater reliability as
consistency of scoring among raters (those assessing and scoring students work). This
problem can be coped with when raters are on acceptable rating rubrics and are
sufficiently practiced in portfolio grading. This is in line with Schaaf (2005) who claims
that the development and use of a scoring model must be supported and clearly
understood by the raters.
To sum up, the portfolio assessment strategy is found not to alter the traditional forms of
assessment. Portfolio assessment and standardized testing can intertwine and complement
each other.
Looking at the significance, I see the possibilities of its use in enhancing the foreign
language teaching and learning (in this case English). Indeed, this paper is not intended to
9
provide very deliberate references of how the portfolio assessment should be used by
teachers or students. Yet, it is a reminder that every piece of educational innovation might
actually enhance teaching and learning process when used wisely and appropriately.
Accordingly, after reviewing, analysing, and evaluating current literatures and research
studies which are relevant to the issue, I come to an agreement that the portfolio
assessment strategy can serve as a good alternative assessment in English language
teaching and learning.
However, I realise that despite the advantages it offers, the use of the portfolio assessment
in EFL teaching and learning is not free from problems or drawbacks. As it has both
advantages and disadvantages, it will most probably be unreasonable and ineffective to
use it as the only way of assessment. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to put
forward some recommendations. First, since it is still quite unfamiliar in terms of
managing the implementation , the use of the portfolio assessment necessitate more
projects and training to promote its real benefits toward EFL learning.
10
References
Baume, D. (2000). Portfolios for learning and assessment. The Open University: Centre for
Higher Education Practice.
Caner, M. (2010). Students views on using portfolio assessment in EFL writing courses.
Anadolu University Journal of Social Sciences, 10.
Ghoorchaei, B., Tavakoli, M., & Ansari, D. N. (2010). The impact of portfolio assessment
on Iranian EFL students essay writing: A process-oriented approach. GEMA
Online Journal of Language Studies, 10 (3).
Gmez (1999). Portfolio assessment portfolios and English language learners: Frequently
asked questions and a case study of the Brooklyn International High School.
Brown University, LAB.
Javanmard, Y. & Farahani, H. (2012). Investigating using portfolio assessment and learning
English language in Qom Secondary Schools. Global Journal of Human Social
Science, 12.
Pierce, L. V. & OMalley, J. M. (1992). Performance and portfolio assessment for language
minority students. NCBE Program Information Guide Series.
11