Using portfolio as a tool of assessment to improve 10th graders’ reading comprehension at Nong Cong 1 high school 1 PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Assessment plays a crucial part in any[.]
PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Assessment plays a crucial part in any educational processes that have advantageous impact on learning and teaching Along with the recent developments in science, society and educational measurements, instructional and assessment practices become “holistic, student centered, performance based, process oriented, integrated and multidimensional” Gottlieb [4; p.12] This is accounted for by the concerns to the traditional assessments, which typically fail to assess higher order cognitive skills and other skills essential for functioning in school Haney & Madaus [6; p.28] In addition, the traditional methods such as tests are seen as particularly irrelevant to learning process “as dark clouds hanging over learner’s heads, upsetting them with thunderous anxiety” Brown [1; p.373] In the context of teaching and learning English as foreign language in Viet Nam, reading comprehension seems to be o n e o f the most important and useful activities, especially for the students of English at high schools to prepare for the National Entrance Examination Of the four language skills, reading has always received a great deal of attention, which is emphasized by Carrel [2; p.1] that “For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second teaching of foreign language” However, teachers of English in Vietnam have a tremendous obstacle to get students enthusiastic about reading texts Through classroom observations and real teaching context, it reveals that students often feel scared when doing long reading tasks with unfamiliar words They find it difficult to catch the main ideas of the text, to distinguish facts and details, and to retain information longer Therefore, they often fail to catch the author’s thought From this fact, as a teacher of English at a high school, I myself think it is essential to find something new to improve my students’ reading comprehension level so that they can improve their reading comprehension As a result, I decided to carry out the study entitled: “Using portfolio as a tool of assessment to improve 10th graders’ reading comprehension at Nong Cong high school” Purpose of the study and research questions This study is aimed at gaining an insightful look into the uses of portfolio assessment with a view to improving students, reading skill at Nong Cong high school The aims are specified in two research questions: (1) What are students’ perceptions about portfolio assessment? (2) To what extent does portfolio assessment enhance student’s reading comprehension ability? Scope of the study As the title suggests, the study was carried out on a group of forty 10th graders from class called 10C1 at Nong Cong high school to examine the effectiveness of applying portfolio as a tool of assessment in reading comprehension SangKienKinhNghiem.net Methods of the study This study using qualitative and quantitative research method aimed to determine whether portfolio assessment can enhance students’ comprehension skills o r have a positive affect on the ability of students to make sense of what they read The author used data collection instrument to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students when they used graphic organizers throughout the research, and determine the effectiveness of the portfolio using based on the students’ reflection and the pretest, post-test result The pre-tests were necessary to assess the reading comprehension level and skill the students possessed before the intervention of the strategy and used as a baseline score The post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy used by the students during the experiment process by comparing the pre-test scores to the posttest scores taken at the end of the study The students’ reflection was also a reliable data for the teacher to conclude the hypothesis SangKienKinhNghiem.net PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Literature Review 2.1.1 Reading skill Reading is known as an interactive process that connected the reader with the text, making comprehension The text displays letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that express meaning The reader manipulates knowledge, skills, and strategies to decide what that meaning is Up to now reading has been described differently by lots of academics Harmer [7; p.153] shares his ideas “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages” Clearly, ideas of reading have been diverse in exploiting words and expressions but they all focus on two actions: studying with eyes and comprehending with brains of which the latter is more significant The most obvious thing in the latter is that the readers not only look at and understand the meaning of what is written but also read authors’ thinking 2.1.2 Reading comprehension Many studies confirm that the final goal of reading instruction is comprehension and one of the most important goals of skilled reading is decoding and understanding written text However, the decoding and the ability to recognize words in texts are only the beginning stages of reading and reading comprehension Grellet [5; p.3] states that “understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” He also shows the examples in which a good reader will omit unnecessary information and find out what he or she is searching for In another word, reading comprehension can be defined as “a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning Reading becomes meaningless without comprehension since only reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers get the text Therefore, how to aid students in having efficient reading comprehension methods is considered to be the most powerful task in teaching reading 2.1.3 Assessment classification In the words of the worldwide leading methodological researchers there have been two general assessment approaches from which teachers can choose The first type, traditional assessment, refers to assessment that “attempts to measure an individual’s achievement or aptitude through standardized and classroom achievement tests with most closed – ended items such as true/false, multiple choice and fill – in – the blanks” Heaton [8; p.5] advocates his point of view that “language testing is a form of measurement It is so closely related to teaching that we cannot work in testing without being constantly concerned with teaching” Another reason for teachers, schools and assessment organization to utilize multiple - choice tests is that they are fast, easy and economical to score Besides, they are scored objectively, which may give the test appearance of being fairer than subjectively scored tests SangKienKinhNghiem.net On the other hand, alternative assessments value higher - order critical thinking skills because learners have opportunity to demonstrate what they learned Furthermore, this type of assessment tools focuses on the growth and performance of students over the time If a learner fails to perform a given task at a particular time, s/he still has chance to demonstrate his/her ability at a different time and situation In addition, alternative assessments provide learners opportunities to practice authentic activities they might encounter in real life As this type of assessment evaluates the learning process over time and in context, teachers have chance to measure the strengths and weaknesses of students as well as get further insights into students’ knowledge and skills 2.1.4 Definition of portfolio and classification De Fina [3; p.13] states that portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and meaningful collections of students’ working in one or more subject areas Some other definitions share two common points Firstly, portfolio is a collection or selection of samples of student work Secondly, these samples are selected purposely in a way that they can reveal students’ learning progress over a period of time There are different ways to categorize portfolios In the narrow scale of my study, however, only Venn’ view has been mentioned According to Venn [11; p.533] portfolios have been grouped into two types: product portfolio and process portfolio The product portfolio is used to document accomplishment while the process portfolio documents the stages of learning and provides a progressive record of student’s growth In general, teachers prefer to use process portfolios because they are ideal for documenting the stages that students go through as they learn and progress To sum up, different types of portfolio serve different purposes Based on the aim of the instruction, teacher can select a proper type and apply it This study examined the progress students’ reading comprehension ability when using portfolio as an assessment tool; therefore, the kind of portfolio used in this research is process portfolio 2.1.5 Portfolio Assessment It is widely believed that portfolio can help students successfully organize and integrate newly acquired knowledge Many language teaching practitioners have applied portfolios as a tool of assessment in a variety of classroom learning environments due to a need for more equitable and authentic assessment that goes beyond traditional testing English teachers have also used portfolios to evaluate and enhance student’s learning As the use of portfolios may encourage students to take more initiative and control of learning and to reflect on their learning freely and as creatively as they can, portfolio can be a useful tool for fostering learner autonomy Portfolio has thus become a popular trend of assessment in recent years 2.2 Research context 2.2.1 Setting and participants This study was conducted in 12 weeks from October 2017 to December 2017 in class 10C1 at Nong Cong high school in rural area of Thanh Hoa province SangKienKinhNghiem.net Forty tenth graders involved in the study They mainly came from the countryside In general, they had learnt English for over years However, their proficiency is not satisfactory enough, and their learning style is quite passive In addition, they hardly acquired any effective skills in reading, especially with long and complicated texts In their opinion, learning English means getting grammar and structures with common lexical resources As a result, they were almost beginners in reading comprehension as a high school student After one month studying at my school, their language skills regarding listening, speaking, reading and writing had improved a little bit In term of reading skills, the students had been accustomed to basic reading skills like reading for main ideas, reading for specific information, recognizing the reading structure 2.2.2 Textbook and Reading materials The reading materials used in the study consisted of selected texts from new English Textbook 10 (learner-centered and communicative approach with theme-based teaching) published by Education Publishing House and Pearson In the textbook, there are 10 units with diverse topics related to themes: Our lives, Our society, Our environment, Our future sections were included in one unit namely: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project There are some samples based on the new English textbook for grade 10 in which such common organizers are appropriately applied It is hoped that English teachers will have a better insight into using portfolio as an assessment tool and become confident to integrate these effective tools into their reading comprehension practice The study was conducted when the participants were in the first semester when they already had had knowledge about basic structures as well as vocabulary in textbook in lower secondary level Therefore, the author found that it matched with the objectives of the learning program and students’ levels of competence 2.2.3 The reality of teaching and learning reading skill at Nong Cong high school As mentioned above, reading skill in new Tieng Anh 10 is the third of eight lessons that make up of one unit in the textbook Reading lesson admittedly provides language inputs such as vocabulary, structures as well as knowledge background related to the lesson topic The students in our school, however, have been facing numerous challenges in reading lesson because of their poor source of vocabulary, structures Some get bored with long reading tasks, others don’t know how to activate their language capacity to comprehend the reading passage In addition, most of them have difficulty getting general ideas, specific information, paraphrase the meaning of the words in order to successfully explore the reading text to tackle assigned reading tasks The language of reading texts in this semester is not very complicated The comprehension questions after each text not only check students’ understanding of the text but also provide them with background knowledge about the world and complex language structures and vocabulary Of all reading skills targeted in new English 10, skills were sorted out as major skills in this paper They are: SangKienKinhNghiem.net - Finding main ideas - Reading for specific information - Understanding vocabulary from context In my view, the three skills were chosen as main skills in the course for two reasons First, they are among the most common reading skills Second, from the researcher’s experience, these skills, especially understanding vocabulary from context and making inference are perceived as difficult to students 2.3 Stages of the study 2.3.1 Instructional Procedure A t the beginning o f the instruction, I familiarized the students with portfolio how to u s e them to assess their reading process (see steps presented below) The students w er e also instructed to use and present what they did in their portfolio for different types of reading passages 2.3.2 The Pre-test and Post-test Model Post-test is measurement of the outcome in both groups after the experimental groups have received the treatment while pre-tests measure the student performance prior to the experimental intervention A pre test was administered to both experiment and control groups to ascertain the standard of the students in reading comprehension The pre-test scores of both groups were recorded The test material w as designed based on the scope o f the study It was made up of passages, totaling 20 questions which ca n be classified into four types of reading questions (1) Identifying the main idea, (2) finding the supporting details, (3) understanding vocabulary, and (4) making inferences Out of 20 questions, there we r e main idea questions, supporting detail questions, vocabulary questions, and inference questions Each question w as worth mark and the sum total o f the test was 20 calculated over 100 marks Before administering the pre-test, it w as important for the researcher to examine whether the proficiency level of the students in both the experimental a n d controlled groups are the same or different I n the first session of the experiment, a pre-test was given to all the participants in the two groups The result of the pre-test proved that the comprehension skills of both the groups were on the same level 2.3.3 Portfolio assessment procedure Step 1: Planning portfolio assessment This is the initial and crucial step because it affects the success of the portfolio project There were four sub-steps in planning portfolio assessment: setting assessment purpose, specifying the content of the portfolio, establishing criteria for assessment and planning classroom procedures The first sub - step was setting assessment purpose in Table below This project was designed to help students develop five targeted reading skills, which were reading for main ideas, reading for specific information, understanding vocabulary from context and making inferences Besides, the self – assessment skills, self – study and active learning of students were encouraged Through finding materials, the ability of material searching skills was expected to develop as well SangKienKinhNghiem.net The second sub-step was determining the portfolio content (See Table below) In this step, what to put in the portfolio and how to organize the information were decided The portfolio contents included five portfolio entries of targeted reading skills in the second semester Normally, each portfolio entry had to contain (1) one sample of student’s work, (2) two samples of their friends’ work (reading exercises) and (3) two types of assessment: student’s reflection and teacher’s assessment A students’ final feedback indicating their reactions towards the whole portfolio project and advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment was attached with five portfolio entries before being submitted to the teacher DESIGN OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT I Portfolio purposes To equip students with background knowledge on the following reading skills - Reading for main ideas - Reading for specific information - Understanding vocabulary from context - Making inferences To develop those reading skills To develop self-assessment skills To encourage self-study and active learning To encourage material searching skills II Portfolio contents Each portfolio entry should consist of the following items: A reading exercise collected by the portfolio owner Two reading exercises from two friends A reflection per two weeks Teacher’s assessment III Portfolio procedures collect reading materials bring to class for sharing with friends and group discussion write reflection at home discuss with teacher IV Portfolio assessment Self-assessment Teacher’s assessment Table 1: Design of portfolio assessment The next step is establishing criteria for assessment by which students’ portfolios would be assessed In this project, there were two types SangKienKinhNghiem.net QUALITY CONTENT of assessment used to evaluate each portfolio entry: student’s reflection and teacher’s assessment with the help of portfolio rating scale in Table Insufficient (level 1) Portfolio collection includes less than 50% of: - Student’s reading exercises - Peers’ reading exercises - Personal reflections - Teacher assessments - Students can’t peers’ reading exercises - Reflections show little evidence of learning - Reflections not show an awareness of student strengths and weaknesses - Portfolios not show improvement s in targeted reading skills PORTFOLIO RATING SCALE Sufficient Proficient Excellent Your (level 2) (level 3) (level 4) grade Portfolio Portfolio Portfolio collection collection collection includes includes includes more more than more than than 90% of: 70% of: 80% of: - Student’s - Student’s - Student’s reading exercises reading reading - Peers’ exercises exercises reading - Peers’ - Peers’ exercises reading reading - Personal exercises exercise reflections - Personal s - Teacher reflections - Personal assessments - Teacher reflections assessments - Teacher assessments - Students can - Students Students can peers’ can do peers’ reading peers’ reading exercises with reading exercises very some exercises easily difficulty rather well - Reflections - Reflections - Reflections show a lot show some show evidence of evidence of adequate learning learning evidence of - Reflections - Reflections learning show full show some - Reflections awareness of awareness of show an student student awareness of strengths and strengths and student weaknesses weaknesses strengths - Portfolios - Portfolios and show show some weaknesses remarkable improvements - Portfolios improvements in targeted show good in targeted reading improvemen reading skills ts in targeted skills reading skills SangKienKinhNghiem.net FORMAT CONCLUSION - Entries are not arranged in any order - Entries are badly presented - Materials (reading exercises and reflections) are handwritten and not clear to see Portfolios not meet objectives - Entries are arranged in order - Entries are clearly presented - Materials (reading exercises and reflections) are handwritten - Entries are arranged in order with explanation for such organization - Entries are clearly and well presented - Materials (reading exercises and reflections) are typed Portfolios Portfolios need meet improvement objectives - Entries are arranged in order with good explanation for such organization - Entries are clearly and attractively presented - Materials (reading exercises and reflections) are typed Portfolios exceed objectives YOUR FINAL GRADE Table 2: Portfolio rating scale (Adapted from Kemp & Toperoff [9] The last step was planning classroom procedures presented in Table Portfolios were integrated in classroom activities during the semester Each 45 minute reading lesson was divided into two sections The 45-minute reading period in class is to present the targeted skill of each reading lesson from New English 10 textbook In the afternoon, for extra lesson, another 45- minute period was used for portfolios In this lesson, students were required to collect one reading task related to the targeted skill with the same topic of the week After collecting the right type of the reading task, they did it at home Next, they shared their task with two friends and discussed their performances Their discussion in class would serve as input information for their reflections at home The students wrote their reflection freely about their learning experience in the week based on some suggested questions In the following week, there would be a discussion among the students and the teacher about the work they did and then students handed in all the materials on one entry to the teacher for assessment SangKienKinhNghiem.net A WEEK PLAN FOR PORTFOLIO CLASSROOM PROCEDURES WEE K GOAL Introducing portfolio assessment ACTIVITIES TASK TYPES SUGGEST ED SOURCES Discussing with students - study ‘finding - matching a main ideas’ skill heading with a - collect materials paragraph & Finding - skim for main - true, false, not main ideas ideas given - friends’ - multiple choice exercises - group discussion - write reflection at home Teacher – student discussion - study reading for - multiple choice specific - open answer - true, false, not information given - collect materials & Reading for - skim for main - complete specific sentence ideas information - group discussion - complete a - write reflection chart, a table at home Teacher – student discussion - study - matching (new ‘understanding words with meanings) vocabulary in - multiple choice context’ skill - short answer - collect materials & understandin - guess the questions g word in meaning of vital context new words using context clues and word study skill - group discussion - write reflection at home 10 Teacher – student discussion 11 - Review of the whole process - Write final feedback - workbook - articles - journals - short stories - workbook - reports - statistics - travel brochures - travel guide - timetables any 10 SangKienKinhNghiem.net 12 - Portfolio walking gallery and posttest analysis Table 3: Week plan for portfolio assessment classroom procedures (Adapted from Somchoen [10;p.2] Step 2: Introducing portfolio assessment to the students Two weeks before the research, the teacher discussed with the students on the criteria of portfolio assessment, its purposes, its requirements, and it’s procedures Hereby, the teacher delivered some samples and handouts including necessary components in portfolio design A portfolio sample with core items in an entry such as reading tasks, student’s reflection and teacher’s assessment was given to the students To help students in evaluating the collected readings, a material evaluation checklist was also provided To help students in writing reflection, some guided questions were suggested in Table SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS Where is the material from? Why did you choose the material? Did you face any difficulties or conveniences when doing the task? What you think of your performance on the exercises collected by group partners? What were your tips or reading strategies in doing this type of exercise? Do you have any general suggestions or advice for your friends? Table 4: Suggested questions for students’ reflections Step 3: Implementing portfolio assessment After everything had been prepared, the teacher implemented the portfolio project according to the portfolio design The students did the tasks they were assigned and submitted their portfolio entry as planned The teacher and monitored the process of portfolio completion and gave continuous assessment together with students to ascertain that students went in the right direction The teacher assessed the students’ outcomes based on the checklist given to the student beforehand (presented in Table 5) MATERIAL EVALUATION CHECKLIST Does the material you chose… have an interesting topic? have an appropriate length? (approximately 200 - 250 words) have its task type relevant to the targeted reading skill? contain less than 20% new words and structures? have its background knowledge understandable to your readers? have a clear format? Table 5: Material evaluation checklist Step 4: Evaluating the portfolio process 11 SangKienKinhNghiem.net In the final step of the portfolio assessment procedures, the students were asked to exhibit their portfolio with a showcase of their work in the twelfth week of the project It was high time for the teacher to review the whole portfolio process and evaluate its success The reasons for failure and success were analyzed, assessed for the future improvement Picture 1: Group from 10C1 discuss their partners’ outcome 2.4 Data Collection 2.4.1 Instruments The present study attempted to find out the impact of using portfolio as a tool of assessment on students’ reading comprehension to improve their reading comprehension skill In order to obtain the data, students’ reflections, the comparison between pretest and posttest results were the main instruments in this study Students’ Reflections As part of the portfolio procedures, students’ reflections had to be submitted after every two weeks for teacher’s assessment These reflections provided the teacher with valuable source of information to judge students’ progress and brought students chances to self - assess The reflections were written in free style Each reflection should reflect their thought about the following features: the reading skill to be acquired in the week the tasks they have collected their performance on the tasks collected by their friends the reading strategies used to the type of task in the week the challenges they encountered when doing the task 12 SangKienKinhNghiem.net Pretest and Posttest Before and after the experiment, the teacher implemented a test to examine the student’s proficiency in reading to compare with their performance after using portfolio for assessment The two tests with the same level of difficulty were used as instrument to illustrate whether the student would improve or not after using portfolio assessment in reading lessons 13 SangKienKinhNghiem.net PART 3: CONCLUSION 3.1 Discussion of the main findings The study was carried out with a view to explore the effectiveness of using portfolio in assessment of the students’ reading comprehension ability The result was collected from the student’s reflection and the differences of pretest and posttest results 3.1.1 The student’s reflections The student’s reflections in the portfolios provided the teacher a deeper insight view to the portfolio used as an assessment tool Both the negative and positive sides of portfolio assessment were mentioned Except for some critical attitudes, most of the students found their progress in learning of reading skills It was widely believed that their learning became more active and autonomous when they could manage to examine their improvement and be aware of their strengths and weaknesses As stated at the beginning of the portfolio assessment project, the primary purpose of portfolio project was to develop student’s reading skills in order to enhance their reading comprehension ability The students’ reflections quoted below revealed the beneficial impact of portfolio program on enhancing the reading skills In the first two weeks, reading for main ideas was the targeted reading skill Students made some incisive comments on the ways they acquired this skill Picture 2: student’s reflection on reading for main idea skill For the task on reading for specific information, although most students reflected that reading for specific information was easier than finding the main 14 SangKienKinhNghiem.net ideas, some had difficulties doing it One student experienced problem finding the unstated information: “There are still some questions which I cannot find the information until I discussed with my friends They showed me how to find unstated information.” The other disclosed her tip when doing this type of exercise “I realize that I don’t need to read every word and read too carefully Now I know how to find the specific information quickly by reading the heading and sub – headings to locate the needed information” (Adapted from one student’s reflection) For the task regarding understanding vocabulary from context, students reflected different ways used to guess meanings from context A student reported that she paid attention to synonym and contrast clues to guess the meaning of the words while the other “use signals like “for example, for instance, including, such as” and punctuation to guess the meaning of a new words” However, most students admitted that their biggest issue was the lack of vocabulary This made them confused when choosing the wrong answer Therefore, they set the aim to learn more new words and practice this type of exercise more often Picture 3: student’s reflection on understanding vocabulary from context Making inferences is perceived as a difficult reading skill Some problems were posed in the students’ reflections 15 SangKienKinhNghiem.net Picture 4: student’s reflection on making inference skill However, there were some students suggesting their strategies when answering this kind of questions such as omitting the choice with the false or given information and basing on the given information to infer the answer In short, it was evident that all four targeted skills were practiced during the 12 weeks of the semester As a result, the improvement in reading skills, at a certain level, could not be denied Overall, the students’ comments revealed the certain success of the portfolio project Basically, the program achieved its primary purposes, which were developing the five targeted reading skills, encouraging self – assessment skills, enhancing self- study and active learning and encouraging searching material skills Most of the students were happy with this assessment method and would like to continue studying reading under this method in the future 16 SangKienKinhNghiem.net 3.1.2 The Result of Pretest The forty students participating in this study were given a reading pretest in order to gather baseline data scores for the start of the research to quantify their reading comprehension levels The students were all tested on the same day, one day before the interventions began The results of the initial assessment are shown in Table Level (insufficient) No % 26 65 Level (sufficient) No % 15 Level (proficient) No % 10 Level (excellent) No % 7.5 Table 6: Initial Student scores The data showed that most students’ reading comprehension levels were at literal It proved that many of them encountered the problem with decoding the text 3.1.3 The result of post- test After the four practice reading lessons, the students were again given another assessment to determine if there was any growth in their comprehension For the assessment, the students were first tested at their initial level and were moved up or down in level based on their scores of the test given at their prior level Due to the growth in their comprehension skills, all students’ levels had to be adjusted accordingly Their post- test scores and the changes in level for each student are presented in Table Level Level Level Level (insufficient) (sufficient) (proficient) (excellent) No % No % No % No % 12.5 16 40 14 35 12.5 Table 7: Final Student scores It is undoubtedly that the data illustrated above have shown that the examined teaching strategy, graphic organizers, can lead to a growth in comprehension skills of students The data collection instruments used to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students, and assess the students, both prior to the intervention as well as after its conclusion, have been extremely useful in this research It can be said that using graphic organizers is a realistic practice to enhance students reading comprehension Based on the data discussed above, it is a satisfactory conclusion that practice with graphic organizers over the four reading lessons assisted students with increasing their reading comprehension skills The students exposed to the graphic organizers were able to understand the material more and more as time went on By using the graphic organizers, the students were able to map out parts of the text, allowing them to concentrate on a specific part of the text, and apply that comprehension skill This strategy worked very well for the 17 SangKienKinhNghiem.net students that needed to focus on one part of the text at a time to gain full understanding 3.2 Discussion of findings The discussion below was presented in response to the research questions stated earlier in the paper, and the answers to these questions came from the results of the data analysis above 3.2.1 Students’ Perception on Portfolio Assessment The data collected from the students’ portfolios, students’ questionnaire revealed that the majority of 10th graders at Nong Cong high school had positive attitudes to portfolio assessment The findings in the questionnaire and posttest also validated this conclusion The main reasons students gave for these positive perceptions were that portfolio assessment provided them with chances to practice and develop their reading skills, encouraged their self – assessment skills and enhanced self – study and active learning Besides, portfolio assessment was less stressful than tests Overall, the findings of this study demonstrated positive attitudes of students towards the use of portfolio as an assessment method 3.2.2 The impact of Using Portfolio Assessment on Students’ Reading Comprehension The analysis of data from three instruments: students’ portfolio reflection, and pretest, posttest results indicated that using portfolio as an assessment tool has greatly affected the students’ reading comprehension ability Strong gains in students’ reading skills reflected in the portfolios are evident for that conclusion Besides the improvements in students’ targeted reading skills, many participants showed good self- assessment skills on their strengths and weaknesses, which gradually developed their critical thinking skill as targeted by Ministry of Education and Training under the 2020 project They were aware of which types of task they were good at and drawbacks that they should overcome The students also reflected the positive influences of the portfolio project on learner autonomy They were in charge of their own learning through choosing the topic at their level, performing it at home, discussing with their friends, writing reflection and so on Moreover, students agreed that portfolio assessment evaluated their ability properly than traditional assessment This was because their ability was assessed at many points of time through different sources of information while the result in traditional tests presented their ability at only one time In conclusion, as a teacher of English at Nong Cong high school, I made great efforts to inspire my students to come up with numerous new methods to simplify their process of learning English in which using portfolio was one of the most effective ways in improving their reading comprehension Both in class and outside class, the data has showed that the students have become more enthusiastic and focused on their work They put more endeavor into practicing reading comprehension skill which was proved with their improvement in their scores in reading comprehension posttest as well as their positive reflections on portfolio using 18 SangKienKinhNghiem.net 3.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies First of all, the study is conducted in a small - scale, which focuses on only two source of data known as tests and the student’s reflection This might be subjective on the side of the participants, so the conductor cannot guarantee the reliability of the information collected Furthermore, the area of the study is only restricted to classroom in the local context of English teaching and learning within a high school where textbook is published by Vietnamese Education Publishing House, thus any application outside the classroom context requires careful thoughts and consideration Hopefully, the above problems could be solved in other studies after this research in the near future with more data from teacher’s observation, Questionnaires or interview With the scope of the study, the recommendations are made for further research Firstly, the study was conducted in teaching reading comprehension, one of four language skills A similar study on other skills at other high school should be carried out Secondly, the material chosen was adapted from new English 10, Education Publishing House and Pearson with a limit number of reading skill were experimented and applied Therefore, many other reading comprehension skills such as summarizing, examining author’s tone are supposed to be studied to facilitate students, reading comprehension Finally, this study was done with the reading skill Other studies in in other language skills, such as listening, speaking and writing, would bring interesting findings Signature of Principle Thanh Hoa, May 2th, 2018 Hereby, I certify that this study is the result of my own experience and has not been submitted by any others Writer Trần Thị Khánh Toàn 19 SangKienKinhNghiem.net REFERENCES Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by principles - An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy U.S.A: Prentice Hall Inc Carrel.Et.al (1988) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading Cambridge: Cambridge University Press De Fina, A (1992) Portfolio Assessment: Getting Started New York: Scholastic Professional Books Gottlieb, M (1995) Nurturing student learning through portfolios TESOL Journal,5(11), 12-14 Grellet, F (1981).Developing Reading Skills A practical guide to reading comprehension exercises Cambridge: CUP Haney, W., & Madaus, G (1989) Searching for alternatives to standardized tests: Whys, whats, and whithers Phi Delta Kappan, 70(9), 683-687 Harmer, J (1989) The Practical Language Teaching Essex: Longman Group Ltd Heaton, J.A (1998) Building Basic Therapentic Skills: A Practical Guide for Current Mental Health Practice San Francisco: Jossey – Bass Kemp J & Toperoff D (1998) Guidelines for Portfolio Assessmen in Teaching English Retrieved from http://www.anglit.net/main/portfolio/defaut.html 10 Somchoen, H.J (2002) Alternative Assessment Thai TESOL Bulletin 15(1) 11 Venn, J J (2000) Assessing students with special needs (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, New York: Merrill 12 Vietnam MOET (2014) Tiếng Anh 10: Workbook Hanoi: Education Publishing House and Pearson.) 20 SangKienKinhNghiem.net ... teacher’s assessment A students’ final feedback indicating their reactions towards the whole portfolio project and advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment was attached with five portfolio. .. reflection and so on Moreover, students agreed that portfolio assessment evaluated their ability properly than traditional assessment This was because their ability was assessed at many points of time... that portfolio can help students successfully organize and integrate newly acquired knowledge Many language teaching practitioners have applied portfolios as a tool of assessment in a variety of