Nghiên cứu thử nghiệm về việc sử dụng hồ sơ bài tập để nâng cao kĩ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 10 - Trường THPT Diễn Châu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG USING PORTFOLIOS TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

USING PORTFOLIOS TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADERS’ WRITING SKILLS AT DIEN CHAU 4 HIGH SCHOOL:

A QUASI – EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

(Nghiên cứu thử nghiệm về việc sử dụng hồ sơ bài tập để nâng cao kĩ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 10 – Trường THPT Diễn Châu 4)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi, September, 2010

CONTENTS PAGES

Declaration

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

List of tables

List of abbreviations

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales for choosing the topic

2 Objectives of the study

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the study

5 Methods of the study

6 Significance of the study

7 Design of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Teaching writing

1.2.1 What is writing?

1.2.2 The Importance of writing

1.2.3 Approaches to teaching writing

1.2.3.1 The Product Approach

1.2.3.2 The Process Approach

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1.2.3.3 Product approach or Process approach?

1.3 Portfolios in Writing

1.3.1 Definition of portfolios:

1.3.2 Types and Contents of portfolios

1.3.3 Portfolio assessment

1.3.4 Why do we use portfolio assessment?

1.3.5 Stages of portfolio Implementation

1.3.6 The Benefits of Using Portfolios

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Background to the study

2.2.1 An overlook on the teaching writing at Dien Chau 4 high school

2.2.2 Teaching writing to the 10th graders

2.2.3 Students

2.3 The quasi-experimental research

2.3.1 Research questions

2.3.2 Hypothesis

2.3.3 Partcipants

2.3.4 Experimental Treatment

2.3.5 Procedures for carrying out the research

2.3.6 Instruments for Data Collection

2.3.6.1 Pre – test and Post – test

2.3.6.2 Students‟ portfolios

2.3.6.3 Students‟ reflective writing

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2.3.7 Data analysis

CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 General Introduction

3.2 Findings

3.2.1 Results from pre-test and post-test

3.2.2 Results from the students‟ reflection

3.2.2.1 The improvement in writing skills

3.2.2.2 Changes in emotional states

3.2.2.3 The fostering of cooperative learning

3.3 Discussion of findings

3.4 Recommendations

3.4.1 The teacher

3.4.1.1 Giving clear instructions of portfolios

3.4.1.2 Using a variety of assessment tools

3.4.1.3 Creating a friendly learning environment

3.4.1.4 Finding out each individual student‟s differences and needs

3.4.2 The Students

3.4.2.1 Being active in learning activities

3.4.2.2 Being cooperative in peer work

PART C: CONCLUSION

1 Introduction

2 Summary of the study

3 Conclusions

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4 Limitations of the study

5 Suggestions for further studies

References

Appendix 1: The Pre-test and Post-test

Appendix 2: Students’ Pre-test and Post-test Scores

Appendix 3: Map of 8 Units in Semester Two of English 10

Appendix 4: Handout for the Correction Symbols

Appendix 5: Students’ Portfolio Scores

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LIST OF TABLES

NAMES OF TABLES

Table 1: Paired Samples Statistics

Table 2: Paired Differences Statistics

Table 3: T – test Result

LIST OF ABBREVIATION (in alphabetical order)

Df: Degree of Freedom

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

N: Number

P – value: Probability value

Std Deviation: Standard Deviation

Std Error Mean : Standard Error of the Mean

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales for choosing the topic

Language is important in communication, because it is a means of transferring ideas in communication activities English as an international language also has that function It is not only considered as the first foreign language but it is taught as a compulsory subject from elementary school up to high school Although English has been taught for a long time, the results of teaching English are considered unsatisfactory (Ramelan, 1992: 3)

Since the new textbooks for seven-year educational system were applied in educational curriculum, English is divided into four separate skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing Of which, writing is considered one of the most difficult skills for students to perceive because of some basic reasons as follows

Firstly, students‟ background knowledge about the writing topics is limited although they have got the information relating to the topics in the previous lessons as reading, speaking or listening

Secondly, the students usually lack vocabulary to express their thinking This is a common imperfection of many students in high schools as well as in colleges

Thirdly, due to the limited class time, the students may find it difficult to learn and

to master because they have little time to practice and do not receive peer correction and the teacher‟s feedback Thus, they can not realize their mistakes and correct them

Another reason may lie in the way of assessing students‟ attainment In fact, the only way to assess the students‟ writings is a mini-test in the middle and a 45-minute test near the end of the term

Therefore, the students‟ underdeveloped writing skills have been of major concern

to educators Teachers are becoming more creative in the classroom in finding ways to encourage students to want to write and to do their best when they write An innovative and effective method for restructuring traditional composition courses is using portfolios as

a method of learning and assessing students‟ writing skills

Since many previous researches on writing portfolios indicate that they enhance students‟ motivation and consequently learning, we used them in our teaching context though with some adaptations to suit our specific needs We assumed that if our students found these activities helpful and enjoyable, they would be more motivated to learn and become better writers

For the above reasons, the following experimental study was conducted in response

to such problems: “Using portfolios to improve the tenth graders’ writing skills at Dien

Chau 4 high school: A quasi – experimental research”, which can be translated into

Vietnamese as stated in the thesis title

2 Objectives of the study

This quasi – experimental research was conducted with an intention of evaluating the effectiveness of adopting portfolios in teaching writing to improve the tenth graders‟ writing skills Especially, this study aims at examining the level of impact that portfolio has on students‟ writing performance and investigating the writing progress perceived by the students themselves after the experiment

3 Research questions

This study aims at answering the following questions:

- Does the writing performance included in the portfolio of this study indicate a

significant growth in English writing ability?

- What is the progress, if any, as perceived by the students in developing their

writing skills?

4 Scope of the study

As its title suggests, the focus of this study was to investigate the effects of using portfolios in teaching writing to the tenth graders at Dien Chau 4 high school Particularly, the subjects were 35 students from class 10C5

5 Methods of the study

This study was realized with regard to both quantitative and qualitative analysis

On the one hand, quantitative analysis is involved through the process of data collection and analysis, which are carried out at class 10C5 – Dien Chau 4 high school The students‟ scores gained from pre-test and post-test will be quantitatively compared

On the other hand, qualitative analysis is also applied in achieving the second purpose of the study, that is to investigate students‟ learning progress as perceived by themselves With this objective, the researcher would study carefully students‟ report from their reflections

6 Significance of the study

This study may be significant in some ways:

First, it introduces some necessary theoretical knowledge about portfolios, their definition, advantages, some ways to prepare them that may help teachers prepare their own portfolios, or at least get acquainted with them

Second, this study may be useful in introducing some emphasis on the fact that writing consists of many components that should receive enough attention in order to develop portfolios and how to score them So that the teacher can make a final judgment about his / her student‟s over all performances considering the fact that any pieces of writing should represent students‟ knowledge in grammar, vocabulary, skills of organizing and outlining and their ability to write independently

Third, the outcome of this study shows the effectiveness of portfolios on students‟ writing performances so that teacher could make decisions whether portfolios should be used in the future or not and how to use them most effectively

7 Design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts, which are presented as follows

Part A is the Introduction, which states the rationales, the objectives, the scope, research questions, the methodology applied in the realization of the research as well as its significance

Part B, the Development, consists of three chapters

Chapter I is the literature review which is relevant to teaching writing, portfolios and portfolio assessment Specifically, it deals with a definition of writing, the importance

of writing, approaches to teaching writing This chapter ends with a theoretical background

on portfolio including definition of portfolio, the contents of portfolio, principles in using portfolio, portfolio assessment, stages in implementing portfolio and its effects on students writing performance

Chapter II is the study This chapter describes some background to the study and procedures for carrying out the quasi – experimental research including the data collection method, the context, participants, sampling, instruments, procedures of data collection and data analysis

Chapter III discusses the major findings and discussions of findings, recommendations to teaching writing to the tenth graders at Dien Chau 4 high school

Part C, the last part of the study, is the conclusion where all the main contents of the study are summarized and limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are presented

Besides, there are also 5 appendixes where supplemental materials and the list of references are provided

1.2 Teaching writing

1.2.1 What is writing?

There are various definitions of writing in the literature of research into writing Each definition is a reflection of the underlying theories or perspective that the authors assume Byrne (1979, p.1) defined writing in a board sense Accordingly, writing was

considered as “act of forming graphic symbols” or simply “making marks on the flat

surface of some kinds”

Another researcher, Lannon (1989), looked at writing in a more complicated

process relating to research It is “a process of transforming the material discovered by

research inspiration, accidents, trial and error, or whatever a message with a definite meaning…writing is a process of deliberate decision” (p.9)

In language teaching, writing is defined as a productive and taught language skill

Oshima & Hogue (1991, p.3) wrote “it takes study and practice to develop this

skill…writing is a process, not a product” Tribble (1996, p.3) considered writing as “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” He added that “writing normally requires some form of instructions It is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (p.11)

In short, the word “writing” itself may imply an act, a process or a skill, which needs practice and study to develop It requires both physical and mental powers from the writers

1.2.2 The importance of writing

Ur (1996) categorized writing purposes into three sub-categories Firstly, writing is

used as “a convenient means for engaging with aspects of language other than the writing

itself” (p.162) Through writing activities, students attend to and practice a “particular language point” Secondly, writing is considered “as an end” Accordingly, various

writing activities, including „micro‟ and „macro‟ activities, invite students to develop their

writing skills The third kind of writing combines “as both means and end” (p162) It is a mixture of “purposeful and original writing and learning or practice of some other skills

or content” (p162)

Doff (1988, p.148) provided a detailed comment on the importance of writing at

lower levels of learning English as a foreign language “students’ need for writing is most

likely to be for study purposes and also as an examination skill The main importance of writing at this level is that it helps students to learn”

Tribble (1996, p.7) made a list of reasons why school students have to involve writing in their study He stated that writing has the positive effects on their creativeness and first language acquisition Accordingly, writing gives school students opportunities for language practice (by reviewing grammar and vocabulary) and creative language use Because of a general educational value, writing in foreign languages can help students become better writers in their first language

In summary, for school students who study a second or foreign language, writing has current immediate values, including language practice and EFL examination Also it embeds future values such as professional benefits, development of creative language and educational values

1.2.3 Approaches to teaching writing

There have been various ways towards teaching writing but the two most common

at the moment are product approach and process approach

1.2.3.1 The Product Approach

Product approach is a largely “prescriptive and product-centered” way of teaching

writing (Applebee, 1986) Product approach pays much attention to the final outcome of a

writing process and supposes that students need to produce only one version of the task Generally, product approach focuses on the result of the final writing paper of learners With this approach, the favourite class activities are engaged in imitating, copying, and transforming models of correct language

To assist teachers to analyze classroom behaviors of the product approach, Steele (2006) provided a model for it:

Stage 1: Analyzing the features of the model written text For example, if studying a

formal letter, students‟ attention may be drawn to the importance of paragraphing and the language used to make formal requests

Stage 2: Controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually in isolation So if students

are studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practice the language used to make formal requests, practicing the “I would be grateful if you would ‟ structure

Stage 3: Organizing ideas This stage is very important Those who favor this approach

believe that the organization of ideas is more important than the ideas and as important as the control of language

Stage 4: Choosing a writing task and producing the product, using skills, structures,

vocabulary they have been taught

1.2.3.2 The Process Approach

The process approach to writing has been seen as an improvement over the traditional methods of writing instruction in recent years and has been widely implemented

in teaching writing in the first language and the second language as well Many educators are positive towards the process approach and think that the students will benefit greatly from this approach (Raimes 1983, Stewart and Cheung 1989, White and Arndt 1991)

A process approach to writing and the teaching of writing means devoting increased attention to writers and the activities in which writers engage when they create and produce a text It differs much from the product approach which gives primary focus

on the texts Clark (2003, p.7) described the process approach:

“Reacting against pedagogy oriented towards error correcting and formulaic patterns of organization, the process approach as it evolved during the 1960s and 1970s,

was concerned with discovering how writers produce the texts, developing a model of the writing process that would enable them to write more effectively and continue to improve

as writers”

Leki (1991) states that the process approach is an approach to teaching writing that places more emphasis on the stages of writing process rather than on the final product

Stone (1995, p.232) notes that “process writing is learning how to write by

writing” This current emphasis in writing focuses on the process of creating writing rather

than the end product (Tompkins, 1990)

It is noticeable that process writing is “interpretational, learner-centered and not

specifically related to examinations” (Pennington 1995, p.707)

Reid (1993) provided a different view in dividing writing stages into basic stages such as planning, drafting, revising and editing, and four other stages externally imposed

by teachers, namely pre-writing, responding, evaluating and post-writing This distinction

is helpful for teachers to apply the most productive intervention in the students writing process in the classroom context

Tsui (1996) shares the same idea by stating that process writing involves 4 stages; namely, generating ideas, drafting, revising and editing, and it also emphasizes more on content than form

Steele (2006) also confirms that process approaches to writing tend to focus more

on the varied classroom activities which promote the development of language use; brainstorming, group discussion, re-writing

Despite the variety of writing stages, researchers have come up with a consensus in

that these stages do not follow a linear pattern They are “recursive” (Raimes, 1985:229)

By “recursive”, the author meant that at any point in the preparation of a text, writers can

“loop” backwards or forwards to whichever of the activities of the activities involved in

composing a text that they may find useful

The author of this study tends to follow Reid‟s view towards the writing process Following is the summary of the stages according to Reid‟s view

Stage 1: Pre-writing

Pre-writing is the first stage in the writing process, which gets students motivated to write It fills the blank space in student‟s mind with inspirations to initiate writing It may involve understanding the purpose of writing, discovering the topic, thinking about the audience, gathering information or inventing possible content

Stage 2: Planning

Using the results of the first stage, students organize their ideas by making an outline It is a plan, which tells the writers the main points as well as the organization of those main points in the required

Stage 3: Drafting

Once sufficient ideas have been pooled up and organized in an outline, writers proceed to compose the full text At this stage, attention should be paid to the fluency of the writing as well as the choice of language in reference to target audience

Stage 4: Responding

This stage is important to the success of students‟ writing It gives them a sense that their writing is purposeful, e.g it is produced for someone to read and react to In the context of teaching writing, this stage also brings in assistance to student writers to improve their writing through feedback of the teachers or fellow students

Stage 5: Revising

When students revise, they review their texts on basis of the feedback they have

received from the responding stage Hedge (1988, p.23) wrote, “revision involves assessing

what has already has been written and deciding on points like these…” The points she

mentioned here includes clear expression, inclusion of important points, coherence, vocabulary, repetition, arrangement of paragraphs and links between sections

Stage 6: Editing

At this stage, students do some finishing work of their writing for teacher‟s

evaluation Students make final “readjustments and check accuracy so that the text is

maximally accessible to the reader” (Hedge, 1988, p.23)

1.2.3.3 Product approach or Process approach?

Both approaches can benefit students in their writing Deciding on which approach

to use depends on many factors such as the teacher, the students, and the genre of the text

Product writing is the approach that imitates a model text; considers organization of ideas more important than ideas themselves; and focuses on one draft; features highlighted including controlled practice of those features, individual, and an end product Whereas, process writing views text as a resource for comparison and ideas as the starting point; focuses on more than one draft, purpose, theme, text type, collaborative; and creative process It also empowers students by getting them to talk about their writing at every step

of the writing process It is this "talk" that you will be engaged in as tutors and writing assistants

In my teaching writing, I use portfolio, so I choose writing process as my approach Many studies have proven that writing process is more beneficial than the product one as learning to write like learning to do many things requires practice and time All students who are capable of becoming excellent writers should be given enough practice and time The process writing method values the talents and growth of individual writers and makes them want to continue writing because they feel good about their abilities

1.3 Portfolios in Writing

Using writing portfolios in composition classes would better prepared (Pope, 1993) Cooper and Brown (1992) and Zinn (1998) postulated that compiling a portfolio can be

very powerful because it enables students to see themselves as writers, especially when it involves opportunities for self-evaluation and reflection

1.3.1 Definition of portfolios

A range of definitions of the portfolio has developed, illustrating the growth and diversity of its use The most frequently cited definition of portfolios was developed by Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991, p.60):

„A purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student‟s efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection‟

The overall purpose of portfolios is to enable the student to demonstrate to others learning and progress The greatest value of portfolios is that, in building them, students can be active participants in the learning process and its assessment

1.3.2 Types and Contents of portfolios

Many teachers and experts have offered suggestions on portfolio contents based on their experience with using portfolio assessment

According to Mandell and Michelson (1990), portfolios are often grouped into three types:

(i) Showcase – student only puts best example or best product in for each

Valencia and Place (1994) also divides portfolio into 4 types, namely:

(i) the showcase portfolio which includes the student‟s best work;

(ii) the evaluation portfolio which includes specified and marked work;

(iii) the documentation portfolio which includes student work systematically kept

by the teacher but not marked;

(iv) and the process portfolio which contains ongoing work and student

Essential components of portfolio suggested by Campell, Melenyzer and Nettles et

al (2000) should be:

- table of contents with pages numbers

- personal introduction describing the students background and capstone experience

- program outcomes, with artifacts linked to the outcomes

Each artifact should be described in a short narrative (included with artifact) reflecting upon what it is, how it demonstrates obtainment of the objective, and what the students learned as a result (self-reflective) Requiring more than one artifact/objective increases scoring reliability (Campell, Melenyzer, Nettles & Wyman, 2000)

According to Kemp and Toperoff (1998), it is important that a portfolio includes all

of the followings:

(i) cover letter “about the author” and “what my portfolio shows about my progress as

a learner

(ii) table of contents with numbered pages;

(iii) entries – both core (items students have to include) and optional (items of

student‟s choice)

(iv) dates on all entries, to facilitate proof of growth over time;

(v) drafts of aural / oral and written products and revised versions, i.e, first draft and

corrected versions

(vi) And reflections can appear at different stages in the learning process and can be

written in the mother tongue at the lower levels or by students who find it difficult to express themselves in English

Suggestions on portfolio contents are presented above No matter what it contains,

in practice the content in portfolios should be firstly built from class assignment and correspond with the local classroom curriculum Secondly, portfolios should consist of two major components: a collection of evidence of events and experiences, and a reflection by the student on what has been learned (Baume, 2001; Friedman et al., 2001) This may include written reflections kept in the form of journal or diary Typically, these would include reflections on problem areas, what has been learned, what has still to be learned and plans for how new learning will be tackled (Snadden & Thomas, 1998) Besides, teacher notes, teacher-completed checklists, student reading or learning logs, oral performance records (self-, peer- and teacher evaluation), such as story-telling, interviewing, drama performance, multimedia project work and so forth can be included in

a portfolio (Valencia, 1990) All of these are not used all of the time But on the last page

of the portfolio, there should be a summary report by the students and by the teacher according to Wang (2003)

1.3.3 Portfolio assessment

A portfolio assessment is a procedure used to plan, collect and analyze the multiple sources of data maintained in the portfolio A portfolio used for educational assessment must offer more than a showcase for student products; it must be the product of a complete assessment procedure that has been systematically planned, implemented, and evaluated

Portfolio assessment emphasizing the process instead of the result is a type of alternative assessment The assessment is aligned with instructional tasks and offers immediate feedback to instructors The interpretation and design require professional rater judgment (O‟Malley & Pierce, 1992)

Portfolio assessment keeps the records of a student‟s work over time and in a variety of forms to show the student‟s development and abilities It can collect the information from both alternative and standardized assessments (O‟Malley & Pierce, 1992)

Portfolio assessment allows continuous and authentic assessment of student progress It can be integrated into the literacy program (Manning & manning, 1995) For process-oriented teachers, using portfolio assessment is an excellent way of evaluating students‟ progresses (Hoy & Gregg, 1994) The records kept in portfolios can offer a foundation for teachers to discuss the progress and future plans with the students (Goodman, Goodman & Hood, 1989)

Overall, collection, a display of a variety of performances, context richness, displayed evaluation, selection, student centered control, reflection, and measuring growth according to different parameters and over a period of time are important elements of a portfolio (Hamp – Lyons & Condon, 2000)

1.3.4 Why do we use portfolio assessment?

This question can be answered through the comparison of advantages of using portfolio assessment with traditional assessment

According to existing researchs (e.g, O‟Malley and Pierce 1996; Paulson and Paulson 1991.), there are some advantages of portfolio assessment over the traditional assessment as follows:

First, portfolios measure student‟s ability over time, while in traditional assessment

it is measured at one time Second, portfolio assessment is done by teacher and student and the student is aware of criteria, while traditional assessment is done by teacher alone and the student is often unaware of criteria Third, portfolio assessment is embedded in instruction but traditional assessment is conducted outside instruction Fourth, portfolio assessment captures many facets of language learning ability Fifth, portfolio evaluation stresses improvement, effort, and achievement, while traditional assessment only focuses

on results In other words, portfolio evaluation is process-oriented, while traditional assessment is producted-oriented Finally, portfolios connect learning, assessment, and instruction whereas these aspects are separated in traditional assessment In brief, portfolios are considered a better tool for student learning (Yang 2003)

Murphy & Smith (1991) added that portfolio assessment encourages students to collaborate with their teachers and classmates instead of competition, which usually happens in the traditional classroom where students are asked to take a lot of tests

Students and teachers become partners and help one another to establish the criteria for assessing students‟ progress

In sum, portfolio assessment offers teachers, students and parents a more comprehensive understanding of students‟ progress in the certain area and presents the continuum of the change of students (Chen & Martin, 2000) Portfolio assessment can contribute the information that teachers need to evaluate the program and bring in the opportunity for reflexive thinking of the students (Ohlhausen & Ford, 1990)

Kemp and Toperoff (1998) provide us with very convincing reasons for using portfolio assessment in the classroom According to them, portfolio assessment:

 Matches assessment to teaching The products that are assessed are mainly products

of classwork, and are not separated from class activities like test term

 Has clear goals They are decided on at the beginning of instruction and are clear

to teachers and students alike

 Gives a profile of learner abilities in terms of:

 Depth: It enables students to really show the quality of their work, which is done without pressure and time constraints, nd with the help of resources, reference materials and collaboration with others

 Breadth: students can demonstrate a widw range of skills

 Growth: It shows students‟ efforts to improve and develop, and demonstrates progress over time

 Caters to individuals in heterogenerous class Since it is open-ended, students can

show work on their own level Since there is choice, it is flexibly suitable to different learning styles and allows expression of different strengths

 Develop social skills Students are also assessed on work done together, in pairs or

groups, on projects and assignments Therefore their social skills will be developed accordingly

 Develops independent and active learners Students must select and justify

portfolio choices; monitor progress and set learning goals

 Can improve motivation for learning and thus achievement Empowerment of

students to prove achievement has been found to be motivating

 Is an efficient tool for demonstrating learning Different kinds of products and

records of progress are all reflected in this powerful tool – the portfolios Changes over time are also clearly shown

 Provides opportunity for student-teacher dialogue Enables the teacher to get to

know each and every student Promotes joint goal-setting and negotiation of grades Some writing teachers over the last 20 years have begun to rely on portfolio

assessment to change their classroom, as Burham explains, from a “grading environment”

to a “writing environment” (p.137) He asserts that portfolio grading systems allow

students to obtain ownership of their writing and at the same time assume responsibility for

it In short, portfolios, he argues, “create independent writers and learners” who no longer find themselves wrapped up in writing for the sake of a grade, but wrapped up in writing for the sake of writing, learning and a multiple of other personal reasons (“the other writing”) The fact is, when writing becomes personal grades border on becoming irrelevant

1.3.5 Stages of portfolio Implementation

In the article “A Portfolio Assessment Modal for ESL”, Moya and O‟Malley (1994)

discuss the portfolio assessment model, which has interrelated levels of assessment:

1 Identify purpose and focus of portfolio

2 Plan portfolio contents

3 Design portfolio analysis

4 Prepare for instruction

5 Plan verification of procedures

6 Implement the model

(Moya, O‟Malley, p.5)

In Moya and O‟Malley‟s argument, the teacher or “committee” is the guiding factor

in the development of portfolios in the classroom This argument provides explicit instructions for teachers to follow in developing the portfolio program

Matthew and Shimo (2002) identify 5 stages to the implementation of portfolios

They are (1) collection, (2) selection, (3) reflection, (4) evaluation, and (5) celebration

As Kemp and Toperoff (1998, p.4-6) put it, there are 8 stages in implementing portfolio feedback as follows:

Stage 1: identify teaching goals to feedback through the portfolio;

Stage 2: introducing the idea of portfolio to the class;

Stage 3: specifying portfolio content;

Stage 4: giving clear and detailed guidelines for portfolio presentation;

Stage 5: Notifying other interested parties;

Stage 6: Assessing the portfolios and giving feedback;

Stage 7: Student – teacher conferences;

Stage 8: Follow – up

In summary, different authors apply different stages in implementing portfolios These models are somewhat cumbersome and involves a great amount of cooperation from other partners in an educational community Therefore, each researcher should take their own context into consideration to determine the stages of portfolio implementation

1.3.6 The Benefits of Using Portfolios

There are a number of identifiable advantages in using portfolios in English writing class First, students are given the opportunity to write more and to rewrite or revise what they have written Refocusing is important because as time elapses between drafts, students distance themselves from their writings and are able to resee what they have written allowing for objective revision (Nadell, Mc Meninman, & Langan, 1994) Second, students can prepare different types of writing that can benefit them in the future as college students

or as members of the workforce Because different types of writing are included, students are required to „think‟ and to „reflect‟ about what they write They are require to formulate

opinions and to provide specific support for those opinions Peer criticism in the classroom acquaints students with the points of view of others It requires that students seek and accept help, reinforcing the team concept that is prevalent in the work environment Additionally, peer criticism aids students in sharpening their knowledge about essay structure and grammatical rules In order to evaluate someone else‟s paper, students must know what to look for and be able to justify their comments In the role of partner, according to James Britton (1997), students generate and refine their writing system In easier terms, what Britton means is that students are free to explore what other writers do They are able to think critically about other writers‟ techniques, and in responding to their peers they are able to apply their value systems (Britton, 1997) Allowing students to respond also builds a warmer community of writers and these writers, once they get over the initial hesitation about leaving themselves open for criticism, learn to appreciate suggestions, comments and questions about their writings choices In turn, this community

as a whole becomes less concerned with grades and more concerned with writing, learning and, probably most important, having fun in the process Mill-Courts and Amiran have

witnessed this writing enjoyment first-hand and point out that students “feel empowered by

this collection that clearly demonstrates how far they have come, that si concrete evidence

of their growth as learners They often laugh with chagrin at the earliest drafts, delight in later versions, and quietly take pride in the final products” (p107) There are also

recognizable disadvantages with the use of writing portfolios; the added load for writing teachers is almost unmanageable

Finally, students can become motivated to write by writing on the subjects that are

of interest to them Portfolios provide for this variety and give the students a sense of ownership Students spend the majority of class time writing, thus becoming accustomed to the process

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 Introduction

The previous chapter was devoted to reviewing literature work in writing and portfolio in writing This chapter will focus on details of the practice study, involving background to the study, methodology, procedures of collecting data, and data analysis

2.2 Background to the study

2.2.1 An overview of the teaching writing at Dien Chau 4 high school

Generally, in the high school context, where exposure to English is typically limited to forty-five minutes nearly two weeks, students receive little practice in writing in English When they do write, they find themselves confused with word choice, correct grammatical use, organization and the generation of ideas Moreover, students show little knowledge about how to write a contextually appropriate paper and how to develop their process of creative writing Unfortunately, the pressures of the graduation and the university English examinations and the English curriculum force English teachers to focus their attention on grammatical rules, linguistic accuracy and students‟ final “piece of work” instead of functional language skills Due to students‟ low level proficiency, time constraints and low motivation, writing still remains a weak point Teaching English writing in high school is a challenging job for many English teachers because it not only requires high language competence among the teachers themselves, but also the application

of appropriate writing instruction

In the Dien Chau 4 high school context, the product approach, for many years, has been the dominant mode of instruction in writing classes, highlighting the learner‟s final piece of work instead of how it is produced This has various consequences; firstly, writing quality is judged on the basis of the final product and grammatical and linguistic accuracy Furthermore, due to this product focus, students pay little attention to the whole process of writing since they know little about how to generate ideas for writing (Ge, 2005) Consequently, they struggle with text organization, independent thinking and generation of ideas (Chen, 2002) Inspite of a new approach introduced in the teaching context called

„process approach”, many teachers tend to prefer the older one This is because the class

time is not enough for the teachers to carry out effectively all the steps mentioned in the new approach

For a long time, teacher-dominated feedback has been prevalent in English writing classrooms Due to the high pressure from the English examinations and heavy emphasis

on linguistic forms, high school English teachers mainly concentrate on the correction of grammar and spelling and they believe that students can make progress only after teachers identify the mistakes However, this over-dependence is said to induce a sense of lack of concern among students about the detailed corrections from their teachers because the teachers‟ efforts are taken for granted Some students just take a glance at what the teacher has corrected, while many others may not even look at the corrections This results in a mindset in which they fail to reflect upon their mistakes (Wang, 2005) Ge (2005) also points out that one further consequence is that teacher-centered assessment is seen as not only time-consuming, but also an inefficient means to improve student writing level The end result of this lack of independence is that student creativity and activeness are hindered, and motivation and proficiency in writing remain low

Moreover, due to the large English classes and teachers‟ heavy workload, assessment is also essential part of the writing process A self-report checklist would help

self-to promote learners‟ motivation; raise consciousness of writing skills and strategies; and strengthen their positive attitude towards writing (Mesana, 2004)

2.2.2 Teaching writing to the 10 th graders

At the time of the research, the students had just completed semester one and were entering semester two The teaching of writing to the 10th graders at this semester had to meet basic requirements defined in the syllabus

The textbook for the 10th graders is English 10 which includes 16 units Each unit is divided into 5 separated sections as follows: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus They all focus on discussing one theme In semester two, there are 8 units (from unit 9 to unit 16) It means that there are 8 writing lessons of 45 minutes for nearly two weeks (see Appendix 3) In total, after a 17-week semester, students would have 6 hours of writing, which is not yet sufficient to make a competence writer, hence the urge for a program to facilitate and motivate the students‟ writing

2.2.3 Students

The 10th form students at Dien Chau 4 high school were normally aged from 16 –

18, including both males and females and came from different family backgrounds with majority coming from farming families This entailed a number of difficulties encountered

by those students Besides the time at school, they help their parents do a lot of things like taking care of their younger sisters or brothers, doing the housework, doing in the fields

As a result, they don‟t have much time to self-study at home Further more, doing something heavily may make them tired, which can effect negatively on their concentration on the lessons on the following day at school

What‟s more, at lower-secondary school, they had to pay attention to the main subjects like maths, literature for the final exam to enter high school Most of them did not receive adequate English learning conditions Therefore, besides some knowledge of English grammar, they hardly acquired any effective skills in writing Consequently, their writing performance was quite poor Only a small of number of students who like learning English are better writers

2.3 The quasi-experimental research

This section begins with a repetition of the research questions followed by a brief description of the essential factors in the quasi-experimental research such as variables, participants, and experimental treatment An elaboration on the steps that the researcher took to carry out this study is also provided at the end of this section

2.3.1 Research questions

This research is a quasi-experiment into the effects of using portfolios on the writing skills of the 10th graders at Dien Chau 4 high school In this light, the researcher would like to find answers to the following questions:

1 Does the writing performance included in the portfolio of this study indicate a significant growth in English writing ability?

2 What is the progress, if any, as perceived by the students in developing their writing skills?

2.3.2 Hypothesis

- When the students use portfolios in their writing class, their writing performance

in the post-test is better than that of the pre-test

2.3.3 Participants

As described earlier, the population for this experiment was the 10th graders from

13 classes at Dien Chau 4 high school From this population, a sample of 35 students was selected, 22 females and 13 males They were all the students of the class 10C5 where the researcher has been teaching English during the semester two of the school year 2009 –

2010

2.3.4 Experimental Treatment

Teaching method employed in this experiment was using Portfolios in writing classes conducted over 17 week semester The experimental treatment was designed under the following procedures which was adapted to be suitable with the teaching context at Dien Chau 4 high school These procedures are presented steps by steps below:

Step 1: Planning for portfolios

This is considered the most important step because it affects the success of the use

of portfolio in teaching The planning of this portfolio assessment project was divided into four sub-steps: planning portfolio purposes, planning portfolio contents, planning portfolio assessment criteria, and planning classroom procedures The very first and most important part of organizing portfolio assessment is to decide on the teaching goals These goal will guide the selection and assessment of students‟ work for portfolio This step is so important because teachers have to know what their goals are in terms of what the students will be able to do Moreover, students have to know what they need to show evidence of in their portfolios

The second step was planning portfolio contents, deciding on what, how much to put in the portfolios and how to organize the information students brought to their portfolios In this research, the content of our students‟ portfolio was specified as follows:

(i) a cover including the student‟s full name, language skill, school year and the

teacher‟s name;

(ii) the table of contents;