A study on using portfolio assessment to motivate 9th form students at Nam Hai lower secondary school to learn English = Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng phương pháp đán

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THI ̣ HẠNH A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIV

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THI ̣ HẠNH

A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE 9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY

SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐÁNH GIÁ TUYỂN TẬP BÀI LÀM NHẰM TĂNG HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP

9 TRƯỜNG THCS NAM HẢI HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

HA NOI – 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ HẠNH

A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE 9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY

SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐÁNH GIÁ TUYỂN TẬP BÀI LÀM NHẰM TĂNG HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP

9 TRƯỜNG THCS NAM HẢI HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, M.A

HÀ NỘI - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

List of figures, tables and abbreviations

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ii iii

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PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

2 Aims of the study

3 Research questions

4 Significance of the study

5 Scope of the study

6 Methods of the study

7 Design of the study

PART B DEVLOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Defining motivation

1.1.2 Motivation in second language learning

1.1.3 Strategies to motivate language learner

1.2 Theoretical background of portfolio assessment

1.2.1 Defining portfolios

1.2.2 Portfolios in Language education

1.2.3 Portfolios in ESL as Alternative Assessment

1.2.4 The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment

1.2.5 Portfolio Assessment Model

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY………

2.1 The setting of the study

2.1.1.The textbook and the current methods of testing and assessment

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2.1.2 The subject of the study

2.1.3 The researcher

2.2 Data collection instruments

2.2.1 Questionnaires

2.2.2 Students' portfolios

2.2.3 Interviews

2.3 Data collection procedures

2.4 Data analysis procedures

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS… 3.1 The participants

3.2 The effects of portfolio assessment on students' motivation and proficiency in learning English

3.2.1 The effect of portfolio assessment on students' motivation

3.2.2 The effect of portfolio assessment on students' proficiency in learning English

3.3 Students' difficulties in doing the portfolio assessment program

3.4 Teacher and students' recommendations for the portfolio assessment program

3.5 Feasibility of motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment

PART C CONCLUSION I Implications and suggestions for using portfolio assessment for 9th form students in learning English subject

1 For teachers

2 Considerations when using the portfolio assessment program

II Conclusion

III Limitations and recommendations for further study

References………

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Lists of FIGURES, tables and abbreviations

Figure 1: Students’ needs and wants in the second semester

Figure 2: Students’ preferences about activities in English subject

Table 1: The criteria assessment for grade 9 students' portfolios

Table 2: 45-minute test scores and portfolio scores

Abbreviations:

ESL: Second language learning

L2: Second language

S: Student

PART A INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the rationale, states the aims and research questions of the study It also describes the significance, the scope, as well as the methods of the research In addition, it further provides an overview of the research design

1 Rationale of the study

The reform of teaching methods is one of the spirits of innovations in education at all levels of our country Nowadays people often mention about education initiative or active learning, which is the transfer of the central role of teachers in the classroom to the students In this approach, students do not depend too much on the training process and the main keys for them are self-study, self- discovery, self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-assessment Therefore, in order to improve the quality of training, there must be not only focus on teachers, or innovative teaching methods but also need to enhance methods of testing and assessing students Besides, evaluation must be organized systematically to see the whole learning process of students, and assessment tools must combine multiple and diverse forms

So far, in Viet Nam education system, when referring to evaluation and assessment, people often think about traditional tests, which involve the using of paper-and-pencil, standardized tests to assess students' performance under time pressure and the memorization of the knowledge What is more, basing on the final scores, teachers and administrations assess each of individual students Actually, this is sometimes a bit one-sided factor as the scores do not show everything to evaluate students Moreover, scores are only part of the assessment and teachers should not only base on scores to assess them

Additionally, currently there are many ways to examine students’ assessment

in the world, and the utility of portfolio assessment as an alternative assessment is one of them More obviously, research evidence suggests that portfolio assessment which expresses strongly one of the final aims of testing and assessing students’

and motivating ESL students to study and improve their English level Thus, that is

a great value to apply in context of ninth graders at Nam Hai lower secondary school since they are said to lose their motivation in learning English for some various reasons

From the above assumptions, the author is inspired to carry her thesis on the

topic “A study on using portfolio assessment to motivate 9th form students at Nam Hai lower secondary school to learn English” I hope that the ideas of the thesis

will contribute meaningfully to improve the quality of teaching and learning English subject at my school in particular and other schools throughout the country in general

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of the study is to investigate the feasibility of using portfolio assessment to motivate grade 9 students to learn English at Nam Hai lower secondary school It aims specifically at:

- finding the attitudes of students and teacher towards the application of portfolio assessment program on the English subject

- exploring the effects of portfolio assessment method on students’ motivation and proficiency in learning English

- giving some recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment

3 Research questions

The research questions of the study are as follows:

1 What are the attitudes of students and teacher towards the application of portfolio assessment program on the English subject?

2 What is the effect of portfolio assessment method on students’ motivation?

3 What is the relation between portfolio scores and the 45-minute written test

scores?

4 Significance of the study

The famous researcher Littlewood (1984) said, "In second language learning

as well as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres" Motivation can strongly help a language learner succeed with the language Therefore, the understanding of its role and related theory is very necessary for all the teachers as well as learners of English

If portfolio assessment method can indeed enhance students' motivation, then using and applying it in teaching and learning English may have considerable improvements for English classroom The outcomes of the study and some recommendations will supply with practical benefits to teaching and learning English Teachers and learners will come to know the useful role of portfolio assessment and make use of some portfolio assessment techniques powerfully

5 Scope of the study

As it is stated in the title, the focus of this study is only on the grade nine students Particularly, the subjects are limited to the thirty-eight students from a ninth grade class at Nam Hai lower secondary school Furthermore, within a variety

of alternative assessments, the researcher examines the effectiveness of only one type that is portfolio assessment

Last but not least, due to limited time, the study targets specially at the advantage of portfolio assessment in the field of motivation, not the other advantages as a whole

6 Methods of the study

The research was realized with regard to both quantitative and qualitative analysis In order to achieve the main purpose of the study, an experimental research was conducted To collect data, three main research instruments are made used of, namely questionnaires, students’ portfolios and interviews As for the first instrument, there are two questionnaires- the pre-treatment questionnaire and its

research questions In addition, students’ portfolios with three main sources, i.e students’ cover letters, scores of portfolios and scores of a 45-minute written test were utilized so as to seek the valid and reliable data for the analysis Besides, the interviews were also carried out to reveal the effectiveness and feasibility of the portfolio assessment

7 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development, and the conclusion

Part A: Introduction –provides the rationale, the research questions, the aims, the significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Part B: Development – consists of three chapters

Chapter 1: Literature Review – introduces the literature related to the two main

parts: theoretical background of motivation, and theoretical background of portfolio assessment

Chapter 2: The study – focuses on the methodology used in this research including

the setting of the study such as the textbook and the current methods of testing and assessment, the subject of the study, and the researcher, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, as well as data analysis procedures

Chapter 3: Findings, discussions, and recommendations – shows major findings,

discussions and offers recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment

Part C: Conclusion – is a summary of the study in which the implications and

recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment are discussed, and the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are presented

PART B DEVLOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter studies a range of literature review related to the study The two main features presented are theoretical background of motivation and theoretical background of portfolio assessment

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Defining motivation

“Motivation is a very complex phenomenon with many facets […] Thus, it

is not possible to give a simple definition” These are the words of Gardner (2006, p.242) From his point of views, it can be said that the term motivation is defined differently by different researchers

As for Woolfolk (2001), he argues that motivation is an internal state that arouses directs and maintained behavior Sharing the same viewpoints, Harmer (2001, p.51) mentions that "at its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something"

Dornyei (2001) gives an extensive explanation of motivation He shares the same viewpoints with these authors above, but he further suggests that apart from all the internal factors, there still exists the external ones He states "motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities" Thus, it can be inferred from his outlooks that motivation and satisfaction of needs and desire have a mutual connection, and it is in either internal or external to the individual

In conclusion, motivation is a factor that exists in both intrinsic and extrinsic consciousness of a person; it shows and encourages human the ways to accomplish everything that he or she really wants in his/her life

1.1.2 Motivation in second language learning

The issue of motivation related to classroom learning has caused more interest in the topic among language teachers and researchers of L2 learning

First, in the article "Second language learning motivation", Liuoliene and Metuniene (2006) presents various aspects of motivation and motivation in L2 learning Through their study, it reveals that the meaning of motivation is discovered and three main approaches to motivational psychology are expectancy- value theory, goal-directed theory and the self- determination theory Besides, they also quote Gardner's point of views (1993, p.157–194) when he presents that two distinct orientations for learning a language are integrative and instrumental orientation Specifically, integrative orientation refers to the interest in integrating into the culture of the community speaking the language, whereas instrumental orientation refers to the desire to learn a L2 for an immediate short term goal, for example good grades, future career, passing the examination, searching and translating material and so on Moreover, the importance of needs analysis to language learning and several motivational conditions such as interest in the topic and activity, relevance to the students’ lives, expectancy of success and feelings of being in control and satisfaction in the outcome are also provided specifically by these authors

Second, other researchers such as Dornyei (1994) and Oxford (1996) also spend their time studying this particular issue In his research, Dornyei specifies that motivation is involved three levels as follows: the language level, the learner level, and the learning situation level The language level focuses on "orientation and motivates related to various aspect of L2 learning" In other words, at this level the basic learning goals and language studied are determined by orientation and motives The learner level contains the influence of individual characteristic of language learners Consequently, motivation is influenced at this level by the learner's needs for achievement and self-confidence; furthermore, the learner level is concerned with internal characteristic of the learner related to expectancy Last but not least,

motivation at the learning situation level is influenced by many intrinsic and extrinsic motives which are course specific, teacher specific and group specific

Along with Dornyei, Oxford (1996b, p.4) assumes that "perhaps instrumental motivation or orientation should have a greater prominence in theory and research,

at least in certain settings, most notably foreign language environments" She also calls for further development of models into research on motivation in L2 learning

"For the sake of students worldwide, we cannot afford to restrict ourselves to a small set of motivational variables, especially when we know form research in other fields that motivation is an extraordinarily complex, multifaceted, and important construct" Oxford (1996b, p.1)

In short, as one of the famous researchers affirms "motivation represents one

of the most appealing, yet complex, variables used to explain individual differences

in language learning" It is certain that the researchers, teachers, and language learners should spend more time and effort in investigating, researching and understanding it in the most meaningful ways

1.1.3 Strategies to motivate language learners

From his classification of motivation as mentioned previously, Dornyei (1994) presents the strategies to boost L2 learners According to him, for some particular reasons, most of the strategies will focus on learning situation level rather than language and learner ones

At the language level, the strategies will be shown as the followings:

- develop learners' cross-cultural awareness systematically

- include a socio cultural component in the L2 syllabus, e.g inviting native speaking guests, showing films or TV recordings, playing relevant music and so on

- promote student contact with L2 speakers

- develop learners' instrumental motivation, e.g discussing the role L2 plays in the world and its potential usefulness both for themselves and their community

At the learner level, some strategies are:

- develop students' self-confidence, e.g trusting them and projecting the belief that they will achieve their goal, regularly providing praise, encouragement and reinforcement, and so forth

- promote the students' self-confidence with regard to achieving learning goals

- promote favorable self-perception of competence in L2

- decrease students anxiety

- promote motivation-enhancing attributions

- encourage students to set attainable sub goals, e.g learning 200 new words every week and so on)

Finally, at the third level, learning situation, the strategies are presented in three components, namely, course-specific motivational, teacher-specific components, and group-specific components

At first, in order to achieve course-specific motivational components, the strategies which can be applied are:

- make the syllabus of the course relevant

- increase the attractiveness of the course content

- discuss with the students the choice of teaching materials

- arouse and sustain curiosity and attention

- increase students' interest and involvement

- match difficulty of tasks with students' abilities

- increase student expectancy of task fulfillment

- facilitate student satisfaction, e.g allowing students to create finished products that they can perform or display, encouraging them to be proud of themselves after accomplishing a task, making a wall chart of what the group has learned, and celebrating success

Next, in teacher-specific motivational components, the strategies are:

- try to be empathic, appropriate and accepting

- adopt the role of a facilitator

- promote learner autonomy

- model student interest in L2 learning

- introduce tasks such as a way as to stimulate intrinsic motivation and help internalize extrinsic motivation

- use motivating feedback

Then, in the last component the group-specific, a list of strategies as follows:

- increase the group's goal-orientation

- promote the internalization of classroom norms

- help maintain internalized classroom norms

- minimize the detrimental effect of evaluation on intrinsic motivation

-promote the development of group cohesion and enhance intermember relations

- use cooperative learning techniques

All in all, it is commonly thought that the effectiveness of L2 learner is influenced by motivation Therefore, the teacher should grasp strategies well so as

to develop students’ motivation and to achieve success in their teaching

1.2 Theoretical background of portfolio assessment

1.2.1 Defining portfolios

Currently, portfolio is a popular term in some fields such as business, art, photography, and education When viewing portfolio, people often think about a collection of documents, drawings, photos, articles, which can be shown as proof of what an individual can do at a certain time in his/her professional career

According to Mariani (2001),"it is a collection which can be revised periodically as one develops new skills or goes through new meaningful experiences" In the area of education, a few researchers (for example Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, 1991) define a portfolio as "a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's effort, progress, and achievements in one or more areas The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit and evidence of student self- reflection"

To recap, in term of education field, there are two aspects creating a portfolio that are a collection or selection of samples of student work and these samples must

be purposeful collection in order to describe students' own learning progress In the following part, the matters of portfolios in education, especially in language education will be mentioned more clearly

1.2.2 Portfolios in Language Education

It is sure that when mentioning portfolios in language education, many people still do not understand it adequately The application of portfolios has been

in the United States language education for over twenty years

Mariani (2001) states the two most important functions of language portfolios are: "a reporting function and a pedagogic function" The former refers to the administrative use and it often called a "showcase portfolio" In other words, she considers this function as a way of alternative assessment, which could be used together with the traditional assessment or even substitute it The latter relates to the classroom uses of the portfolio; otherwise, it is called "learning portfolio" She also adds that this is a collection of something that is a part of a list of students' works which record how a student implement the process of achieving particular competencies, and it is not necessary to be considered as a tool of assessment

Besides, the effectiveness as well as the advantages of the portfolio in L2 are also viewed as: "[ ] increase the level of students' motivation and to give them a sense of accomplishment and ownership in their own learning" (Crosby, 1997)

In summary, portfolio in language education is considered as a learning tool and a form of alternative assessment Besides, it is assumed that the students would show their abilities and capacity significantly through the process of doing the portfolio Therefore, portfolio will certainly be viewed as a motive to encourage students in obtaining their language learning aims

1.2.3 Portfolios in ESL as Alternative Assessment

It seems obvious that there are a large number of ESL teachers complaining about the problems in which they have to deal with in giving evaluation and

assessment to their students One of the facts is that with the traditional assessment types, they found them difficult to match with the current teaching methods that are focused on the central role of the learners, and the emphasis of current language strategies includes thinking critically, learning to solve problems, and working and communicating with others (Caner, 2010)

Also, the other fact is that "testing and written examination frequently used techniques of assessment in traditional teaching or instruction Such a technique of assessment suggests that students be successful as a result of memorization are quite likely to forget quickly the knowledge they try to learn [ ] In other words, the traditional way of assessment remains to be insufficient in structuring the knowledge and keeping it permanent In addition, it does not provide satisfactory information about the knowledge gained by students for teachers, students, and students' families" (Hasan, 2008)

From the above reasons, it can be implied that there must be alternative forms of student assessment in order to prove the effectiveness of the students' learning progress as well the achievements that they can gain At the moment, these new types of assessment are known widely as authentic or alternative assessments According to Glasgow (1997), portfolio application which tries to assess the ability

of students and which is an alternative assessment application is regarded as the most important teaching and assessment application

Moreover, with the descriptions of portfolio stated above, it can be concluded that the assessment of portfolio is definitely one of the techniques or forms of alternative assessment Still, it is demonstrated of its strengths and benefits

in comparison with traditional forms of assessment in ESL teaching and learning

1.2.4 The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment

It is well accepted that although portfolio assessment has been considered to

be an effective type of alternative assessment with its superior advantages; it still has some disadvantages for teachers, educators or researchers to consider carefully

To start with, in Kemp and Toperoff's viewpoints (1998), portfolio assessment can be used in the classroom for a number of the following reasons:

- can improve motivation for learning and thus achievement Students are

empowered to prove achievement, so they will certainly be motivated

- matches assessment to teaching As portfolio represents students' performance in

the classroom, it can be entirely integrated into the curriculum And, almost products of classwork are the assessed product, so they are not separated from class activities in contract to test items

- develops independent and active learners Portfolio assessment allows students to

take part in the evaluation of their own works because they can decide the content

as well the criteria to assess their portfolio under the directions of the teachers They also set their own learning goals and monitor the whole progress

- gives a profile of learner abilities in terms of:

+ depth: Students are provided the opportunities to show the quality of their work,

which is carried out without pressure and a very limited period of time, and with the help of reference materials, as well the corporation with their classmates or others

+ breadth: Students can show a variety of skills More clearly, the portfolio

assessment can be used to measure academic skills compared to "old style" tests

+ growth: Students' efforts to enrich their knowledge and competencies are

presented and their learning progress is reflected over a period of time

- develops social skills Students are also assessed on work done together, in pairs

or in groups Thus, their social skills will be advanced accordingly

- has clear goals They are decided at the beginning of instruction and are obvious

to teachers and students in the same way

- serve to individuals in the diversified classroom Because it is open-ended,

students can show work on their own level Still, as there is choice, students who have different learning styles can find it flexibly suitable and permit them to express their strengths variously

- is an efficient tool for demonstrating learning Diverse types of products and

records of progress are presented in the portfolios so that students' changes over time are also clearly shown

Next, in the article "the use of portfolio to assess students' performance", published in September 2007, the authors conclude that portfolio assessment enables measuring high-level skills with meaningful and realistic activities for students instead of measuring low-level skills in a limited-time, using multi assessment methods instead of using only one measurement method, making assessment not sometimes but continuously, and determining the student’s weaknesses and strengths Besides, it also encourages students to participate in the assessment process actively and to make an affective communication with his teacher and parents As portfolio assessment places students at the center of the teaching process, it permits them to direct teaching

In spite of its advantages in education and language learning, portfolio assessment still has some drawbacks The most disadvantages of its must be time- consuming for both teachers and students Obviously, in the process of doing portfolio, students have to fulfill more tasks and activities than usual, and they also have to manage time wisely in order to complete all their works

Moreover, researcher (for example, De Fina, 1992) assumes that it is rather difficult for teachers to score students’ works and to assess students’ performance over time in the crowded classroom Thus, it is suggested to use checklists, rubrics and digital portfolio form to reduce time for the assessment of it

Another drawback is that "scoring a portfolio may be seen as less reliable or fair than multiple choices test scores" (Cicmanec & Viecknicki, 1994) Hence, this means that the reliability and validity of portfolio assessment is quite accepted in the case the criteria for each entry of portfolio is specific and meaningful It is also requisite for the selecting and deciding assessment criteria and the aim of portfolios should be considered carefully before implementing it in the classroom

Data from portfolio assessments is the next disadvantages of portfolio assessment Since the data here is thought to be a form of qualitative data, it is pretty difficult to analyze To solve this problem, according to some authors like (Birgin, 2003; Chen et al., 2000), if it is possible, designing the computer-based portfolio and electronic portfolios for students make it easier to examine the portfolios and to give feedback to them; otherwise, utilizing checklists or observation lists could be a facilitator to analyze process

In summary, as a matter of fact, each issue always exists two various sides, which are positive and negative; accordingly, before conducting the using of portfolio assessment, teachers should consider all its matters carefully, in detail and predict in advance the unexpected problems that may occur in the history of its conduct

1.2.5 Portfolio Assessment Model

Surely, in the literature, the design and application stages of portfolio assessment have been researched by many authors such as Barnhardt et al (1998) and Moya and O'Malley (1994)

First, in Moya and O'Malley's views, the proposed portfolio assessment model for ESL includes six interrelated levels of assessment activities that are the following:

a) identify the purpose and focus of the portfolio procedure

- establish a portfolio committee and a focus for the portfolio

b) plan portfolio contents

- select assessment procedures, specify portfolio contents, and determine the frequency of assessment

c) design portfolio analysis

- set standards and criteria for interpretation of portfolio contents, determine the procedure for integrating portfolio information and schedule staff responsibilities for portfolio analysis

(d) prepare for instructional use

- plan instructional use and feedback to students and parents

e) identify procedures to verify the accuracy of the information

i.e., establish a system to check the reliability of portfolio information and to validate instructional decisions

f) implement the model

Another portfolio assessment model is presented in Nguyen's thesis (2006), she quotes some experts' model of portfolio development like Barton and Collins (1993) In Barton and Collins' opinions, this portfolio design contains three distinct aspects, called purposes, evidence and assessment criteria For the aspect

"purposes", they provide three steps to develop the portfolio's purposes as follows:

- Step 1: give five answers for the question: "What is it I really want my students to learn in this course/time period?"

- Step 2: prioritize the lists of the answers i.e determine which one is primary or secondary

- Step 3: consider carefully ways in which students can perform how they have accomplished these purposes

Furthermore, in the second aspect "evidence", Collins (1991) suggests four classes of evidence: "Artifacts" are documents such as homework and student papers that are produced during normal and academic work in classroom;

"Reproductions" are documentation of student work outside the classroom such as special projects or interviews; "Attestations" are the documentation teachers generate about the student's academic progress; "Productions" are documents students prepare just for the portfolios Besides, productions include several kinds

of materials, but the most important one is reflection Moreover, about the last term

“assessment criteria”, it is believed that the purposes which teachers establish for their students have the strong relationship to teacher’s approach to mark students’ portfolios At the end, Nguyen summarizes that from Barton and Collins’ model for portfolio assessment, we can generate that the quality of students’ efforts and the

accuracy of teachers’ assessment about their work depend heavily on how clearly portfolio purposes are stated

In conclusion, this chapter emphasizes the fundamental concepts for the achievement of the study At first, definitions of motivation are introduced and then come the motivation in L2 learning and some strategies to motivate language learner In addition, the background knowledge of portfolio assessment is clearly presented such as defining portfolio, portfolios in language education, and portfolios in ESL as an alternative assessment Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment as well as the portfolio assessment model are discussed and analyzed as a main part for the study

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

The previous chapter has reviewed the literature work in motivation and portfolio assessment This chapter will focus on the details of the practical study, including the setting of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures

2.1 The setting of the study

2.1.1 The textbook and the current methods of testing and assessment

The major material for the English subject of grade 9 students is the “Tieng Anh 9” textbook, which includes ten units for two terms Each unit is divided into seven parts, namely getting started, listen and read, speak, listen, write, and language focus In the time the research was carried out, the distribution for the learning contents was the unit 9, and in the first period- getting started and listen and read In addition, after completing five units of this semester, students are expected to obtain a wide range of competences and knowledge (see details in Appendix 1) As for class schedule, students have two periods of English every week during each semester Within this tight timetable, the workload for students is pretty heavy Consequently, students have to make their best effort to study under any circumstances, for instance in classroom or outside the classroom

In terms of testing and assessment, students’ English performance is measured by some types of achievement tests, e.g progress achievement and final achievement tests The former type includes three kinds such as the short oral quiz, the 15-minute written tests, and the 45-minute written tests Normally, the final grade is formulated as follows:

10% short oral quiz+ 20% 15-minute written tests+ 40% 45-minute written tests

+ 30% final achievement test Then, the assessment will be evaluated with the following criteria: Students with the average mark of 8.0 and over are ranked the good and excellent students Students with the average mark of 7.0 and over the rather good students Students

with the average mark of 5.0 and over the average students, and students with the average mark below 5.0 considered as under-average students

In short, from the above description, it can be pointed out that the syllabus and the measurement and evaluation for grade 9 students in English subject are a little bit difficult and challenging for them Consequently, it is commonly agreed that the major objective of the teaching English at lower secondary schools is to help the students to get good marks in the achievement tests

2.1.2 The subject of the study

The research is conducted at Nam Hai lower secondary school with the participation of thirty-eight 9th form students in a class considered to be one of the best classes at this school Through the thesis, they are coded from S1 to S38 according to their classroom name's list Frankly, to those students, English is not their prioritized subject, compared to mathematics and literatures, which are the compulsory subjects for them to take the entrance examination to the upper secondary school Accordingly, English is not paid much attention to by students, or even by their teachers To some extent, through the questionnaire, they also mentioned a wide range of reasons why they were demotivated in learning English, which will be discussed in details in the following chapter

2.1.3 The researcher

The researcher and her collaborator are teachers at this school They have been teaching English for more than four years Through the process of composing the portfolio assessment project, the researcher is responsible for establishing, instructing, observing, supervising and marking the portfolio Before the project started, the researcher and her collaborator had arranged to meet and discuss about all the methods, contents, procedures and time allocation for the research They also anticipated the problems that might occur in the entire progress, and tried to find the solutions to solve them Furthermore, the researcher also asked for her opinions about some related issues in teaching and learning English subject in the class she was assigned to be the main English teacher Apart from these, it must be noticeable

that the teacher was invited to play the role of coordinator with the writer in her research; on the other hand, she helped the researcher create the most advantageous circumstances, and monitor the students for the procedure of the project to be successful

2.2 Data collection instruments

The three main instruments used to collect the data for the study are

questionnaires, students' portfolios, and interviews

2.2.1 Questionnaires

As for the first instrument, the questionnaire was used as pre-treatment questionnaire (see Appendix 3) In fact, it was employed since it is always considered as one of the most common instruments in collecting data Moreover, Gillham (2000) assumes that a wide range of advantages of questionnaires can be listed as: "low cost in time and money, easy to get information from a lot of people very quickly [ ], and can provide suggestive data for testing an hypothesis" However, they still remain some disadvantages such as: it is rather difficult to build

up a reliable questionnaire since students might copy their partner's answer Responses might not always be correct as students are sometimes reluctant to give truly negative answers about their teachers and school To solve this problem, students are assured that all their answers will be confidential In addition, they are reminded that their own answers are required and any copies would destroy the data

of the research

The pre-treatment questionnaire was designed with ten questions in order to get general information about the students and served as the basic information for the study and need of applying the portfolio assessment program for the grade 9 students It included two main parts: Part one aimed to collect information about the students' background, i.e their English learning experience Part two aimed to gather information about the students' attitudes towards learning English (question 2,

3, 4), students' needs and wants in the second semester (question 5), students'

about portfolio and portfolio assessment (question 8, 9), and students' preferences about activities in learning English subject (question 10)

Besides, it was piloted on three students to see whether they understood the questionnaire clearly and provided correct answers Before filling in the questionnaire, students were given a brief and clear explanation about the aim of the questionnaire They were also instructed and helped by the researcher during the process of answering the questionnaire After collecting their questionnaires, the writer found out that those students did not have any problem completing the questionnaire, so she decided to distribute this pre-treatment questionnaire to all the students in the class She also guided and provided help for them when they were completing the questionnaire in the class

2.2.2 Students' portfolios

The students portfolios were utilized as one instrument to find out the valid and reliable data for the analysis All collected portfolios of the students were analyzed so as to discover the attitudes of the students towards the portfolio assessment project, the effects of this program on students' motivation and proficiency in learning English (see samples in Appendix 7) On the other hand, although there was abundant evidence collected from students' portfolios, within this minor thesis only three portfolios' sources were used, i.e cover letters, scores of portfolios, and scores of a 45-minute written test The cover letters of the students were devised in the form of a questionnaire in which students were invited to answer three questions as follows:

1 What can you increase from doing the portfolio?

2 In the process of composing the portfolio, what difficulties did you meet?

3 Can you give some suggestions to make the portfolio more interesting and beneficial to you and your learning of English subject?

After analyzing and comparing the data of the other two sources, some computation was made to display the relation between the scores of the portfolios

and the 45-minute written test, which served as one of the proof of students' proficiency in their English subject

2.2.3 Interviews

The third instrument for the study was the interviews between the writer and ten students as well as the teacher This was a type of structured interview which aimed to check again the feasibility of using portfolio assessment method to motivate the grade 9 students at Nam Hai lower secondary school to learn English after they finished their performance in the action program, and to further clarify the students' opinions in their cover letters Although the author's intention was to interview each student of the class, the time constraint prevented her from doing so She was able to conduct the interview with the participations of ten students who she appreciated they had special changes in their attitude and motivation in learning The interviews were implemented on a one-to-one basis with each student and teacher asked to answer a set of questions (see Appendix 6) Also, Vietnamese was used as the medium of the interviews so as to avoid any misunderstanding and confusion for students which might be caused by their low language proficiency; however, the English teacher was interviewed in English In the time of the interview, the researcher took notes all their ideas for later categorization and analysis

2.4 Data collection procedures

The study was implemented in the second semester of the 2011-2012 year The procedures for data collection of the study were carried out in the total of eleven weeks, which are illustrated in the following flow chart

Procedures for data collection

Week 1: Distributed the pre-treatment questionnaire for the students, made a

plan of portfolio assessment project, and introduced it to the students

Week 2- 9: Students applied the portfolio assessment procedures and wrote their

cover letters

Week 10: The researcher marked the students' portfolios and provided feedback

Week 11: The researcher arranged to interview ten students and the teacher

about their attitudes towards the project after its fulfillment

As can be seen from the flow chart above, basing on the theoretical background of the previous chapters, the pre-portfolio assessment questionnaire and portfolio assessment model for 9th form students in learning English subject were planned, created and distributed to the students In addition, the portfolio assessment model for grade 9 students were established basing on the research of some authors (for example, Moya and O’Malley 1994, Barton and Collins 1993) as presented in the chapter "literature review" However, due to the context of the study, several changes were made in each stage as follows:

Stage 1: Planning portfolio assessment

Firstly, in order to achieve the goals of her thesis, the author decided to use the portfolio which was integrated with the textbook "Tieng Anh 9" curriculum, and its assessment served as one mark to replace a paper of the 15-minute written test types in the standardized tests By doing so, she hopes her students will increase

their interests and motivation in learning English subject Others are help them to increase their test scores as well make progress in English subject; reduce students' pressure and anxiety in preparing and solving their achievement tests; encourage them to become more autonomous learners, and satisfy their learning styles and preferences in learning the language After deciding the portfolio purposes, the researcher makes a plan about the portfolio contents and activities, which are described as follows:

Each student's portfolio consists of:

1 Students' answers for the question: "What will you do if you learn English

well?" (These answers will be placed at the first page of the portfolio)

2 Student's learning English goals in this semester (at least 2 goals and put

at the second page of the portfolio)

3 01 cover letter on what student comments about the portfolio assessment

method (Students can choose to write either Vietnamese or English and it is placed at the third page of the portfolio)

4 All entries on "the main portfolio contents" part (placed at the next pages),

(see Appendix 2)

5 All materials of the "optional or encouraging activities" are placed after the part above In other words, they would be used for awarding marks for students'

effort in composing the project Some of them are:

- collecting articles or stories about:

o the Vietnamese good English students or people

o the best strategies or tips to study every aspect of English (for example, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, writing, reading skills or so on)

(After collecting those, they can reproduce them by writing down or taking notes in their own ways)

- students' pictures about the contents or vocabularies of the lesson

- a few files, or music CDs that contain students' favorite songs, stories or news in English

6 All documents, handouts, materials, paper tests, and writing drafts of the

students throughout the semester (placed at the end of the portfolio)

Moreover, she also outlines a table of portfolio assessment criteria that is shown in the following table

Table 1 The criteria assessment for grade 9 students' portfolios

1 Contained all of the portfolio contents 35%

2 Present the tasks clearly, logically and easily

understandable

5%

3 Show creativity in the process of composing the

portfolio, as well as the progress and achievement in

learning

35%

4 The cover letter is deep, significant and contribute to

the subject development

Stage 2: Introducing portfolio assessment program to the students

Honestly, because this was the first time the participants had been performed the portfolio project, it was quite hard and challenging task for them Therefore, one week before implementing the portfolio project, the researcher organized an orientation day for the students to clarify about all the matters related to their portfolio such as its aims, significance, application, contents, assessment criteria, deadlines for each entry, questions about portfolio and so forth In order to make it

clear to the students, she delivered them a portfolio guideline handout which was written in Vietnamese (see Appendix 5) to avoid their misunderstanding, due to their low proficiency in English After that, she and her students discussed about all the issues relating to the portfolio such as its contents, assessment criteria, deadlines for the entries, peer response activities, self-assessment, self-reflection, and students’ questions about portfolio Actually, after exchanging information about portfolio, the researcher and the students reached an agreement about portfolio contents and assessment criteria as she had planned before

Stage 3: Implementing portfolio assessment program

As everything had been established, the researcher, the teacher, the students and the author started to conduct this project The role of the researcher and teacher

in this stage was to provide encouragement, guidelines, give feedback, comments for the students In addition, students were not required to hand in their entries in every week; thus, they were free to compose them with their abilities and desire However, in order to ensure the portfolio timelines, students were encouraged to complete each portfolio entry due to the arrangement of each week

Step 4: Judging the portfolio process

Students would hand in their portfolios, which were packed in a plastic folder with their full name in the cover in the week 9 of the process After that, the researcher would evaluate, grade and give feedback on their performance Then, as soon as the researcher completed the students’ portfolios evaluation tasks, she would return back to them Moreover, she also provided them with a chance to express their emotion and feeling about researcher’s assessment on their work; whether they agreed with the result or not at the last day of the semester Additionally, to make it more meaningful and practical, she then sent all students’ portfolio for their parents to show them the whole progress of their children, the students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well their efforts in doing all learning English activities

2.5 Data analysis procedures

The data were collected from five sources including the pre-portfolio questionnaire, students' cover letters, students' portfolio scores, students' 45-minute written test scores and interviews Data collected from the pre-portfolio questionnaires were mostly quantitative, so they were considered as statistics, i.e the number of students, or percentage for each kind of answer Conversely, data from post-portfolio questionnaires and interviews were qualitative Thus, they were examined, interpreted, transcribed, coded using coding categories and analyzed Moreover, the students' portfolio scores and students' 45-minute written test scores were illustrated in table, to make possible interpretations, and they would be presented in the chapter below

To conclude, the chapter has presented the setting of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedures as well as data collection instruments Applying such instruments on the participants, the researcher managed

to come up with major findings, which will be discussed in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Applying data analysis instruments on collected data, the researcher managed to discover noticeable research outcomes, which help answer the three research questions This chapter will concentrate on describing and discussing the major findings including participants' background as basis to evaluate the feasibility

of using the portfolio assessment, the students and teacher's attitudes towards the program, as well as the effects of this application on students' motivation and proficiency in learning English Besides, teacher and students' recommendations were taken into consideration to make it more suitable and practical for them

3.1 The participants

As mentioned earlier, the pre-treatment questionnaire aims at investigating the participants' background as well as their needs and wants Such information was used as criteria to compare with the participants' improvements in motivation and proficiency in learning English after they had implemented the project From that, the evaluation about the feasibility of applying the portfolio assessment can be made Among interesting facts about thirty eight students found in the questionnaire, the most important ones can be presented as follows:

In term of students' attitudes towards learning English, nearly three fourths of the respondents affirmed that English was very necessary while the others 21.1% of the students considered English important And, there still remained 5.2% (2 out of

38 students) who answered they did not find English important at all In addition, when being asked about whether studying English is their preferences, more than half of them (52.6%) said that they enjoyed learning English Among them, 21.1% thought learning the language was really their interest and desire However, a small number of the participants (10 out of 38) believed they were forced to learn English, and it was not from their personal desire In the field of demotivational factors, the majority of the participants (94.7%) admitted they decreased their motivation in learning English as they found the words difficult to pronounce, and the

factors- not having enough time to study English because having to spend much time on the core subjects for upper secondary school examinations, preparing and learning for tests made them pressurized, and they were not be able to answer teacher's questions, do exercises or tests, made up 89.5%, 81.6% and 21.1%, respectively Moreover, several students added some reasons such as lack of opportunities to practice English with foreigners, lack of motivation to learn English,

or teachers' grading and assessment sometimes not fair and so on

Regarding students' needs and wants in the second semester, not surprisingly 100% of the subjects emphasized that to get high marks in exams was their key aim

in this semester Obviously, it could be inferred from the answer the fact that the students were highly considered the best scores as their primary motivation in studying the language Another high percentage of the response (94.7%) belonged

to the goal to widen the grammar and vocabulary knowledge The others were to enhance the reading, writing and translation skills (84.2%) and to improve listening and speaking skills (52.6%) The following chart will illustrate their answers in details:

Figure 1 Students' needs and wants in the second semester

About students' attitudes towards the current achievement tests, most students (73.7%) agreed that their teachers and parents could base on the final scores to assess their learning progress On the other hand, 10 out of 38 students asserted that their parents and teachers should not depend on the final scores to judge their learning progress Honestly, some reasons for that were they felt the achievement tests still had a variety of negative points such as some students

a to get high marks in exams

b to widen the grammar and vocabulary knowledge

c to improve listening and speaking skills

d to enhance the reading, writing and translation skills

cheated in the exams; even in the multiple choice formats, they chose at random Thus, they luckily got right answers, or a few students still had chances to discuss with each other during the tests As a result, they got high marks than the others and

so on In term of the combination of the traditional assessment forms with others, not surprisingly when nearly all of them (97.4%) mentioned they thought it was absolutely a good idea Actually, it could be assumed that several new forms that the researcher introduced to the participants really matched their expectations and preferences

Turning to the portfolio and portfolio assessment notions, 100% of the students stated they did not know anything about portfolio Perhaps this was the first time they had heard about the concept As for the purposes of portfolio assessment, the respondents chose different answers In this case, it was likely that they had to guess to complete this question Although the answers here were not really reliable, the author reached her intention in making students acquainted with the new notion- portfolio assessment Furthermore, the students gave different answers for the question about their preferences about activities in learning English subject Detailed figures are shown through the following chart:

Figure 2 Students' preferences about activities in learning English subject

As can be seen from the chart, in the last question 94.7% of all participants mentioned they liked the activities in which they could discuss with their friends about the lesson content and knowledge Besides, work in pairs or in groups in the classroom was selected by 89.5% Also, 71.1% (27 out of 38) emphasized that they preferred interviewing their classmates about a particular issue Nearly more than a

a Write a short paragraph about the topic of the lesson (5-10 sentences)

b Discuss with your friends about the lesson content and knowledge

c Work in pairs or in groups in the classroom

d Interview your classmates about a particular issue

e Other ideas (please specify)