A study on the bennefits of using portfolios as a means of assessment in the writing development for the third year stdents of english at hanoi pedagogical university no 2

2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY NGUYEN THI HUE A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS OF USING PORTFOLIOS AS A MEANS OF ASSESSMENT IN THE WRITING DEVELOPMENT FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HAN

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

NGUYEN THI HUE

A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS OF USING PORTFOLIOS

AS A MEANS OF ASSESSMENT IN THE WRITING

DEVELOPMENT FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HANOI

(A CASE STUDY IN THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE,

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No 2)

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI LE NGUYEN, M.A

Hanoi, May 2014

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research is the fruit of the labor of mine and my supervisor, who has committed time, energy, resource and creativity to help me to complete the research

I am deeply grateful to my supervisor – Mrs Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen, M.A., for her invaluable support and masterful guidance throughout the process of writing the thesis

Many sincere thanks to all the lectures at Hanoi Pedagogical University

No 2, especially to the lecturers in the Faculty of Foreign Language for their dedicated instructions

And finally, a word of thanks goes to my family as well as my friends for their encouragement and enthusiastic support

ii

ABSTRACT

Since the application of Communicative Language Teaching approach

to EFL teaching, process writing and collaborative learning have been greatly emphasized as typical features of teaching writing Writing portfolios is one

of the methods that bear both features above Reviews on this method have been seen in a number of books and articles, yet few experimental studies have been conducted to prove its effectiveness What is more, it has not yet been applied widely in Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2.This encourages the researcher to investigate the subject matter of what advantages of writing portfolios are for undergraduate EFL learners

To describe the characteristics of portfolios, information from materials have been collected and reflected Also, the question of how beneficial writing portfolios are for EFL learners was addressed by means of using the core method: questionnaire

The results indicate that students’ perceptions of various aspects of the portfolio assessment practice are related to their approaches to learning Portfolios also help improve students’ practical writing skills In addition, students facing several obstacles and their solutions to overcome them were discussed in details Those findings are hoped to encourage wider appliance

of writing portfolios to EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam

iii

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP Title: A study on the Benefits of Using Portfolios as a Means of the Assessment in the Writing Development for the Third-year Students of English at Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment for Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English)

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied from other person’s work without acknowledgements and the report is originally written

by me under instructions of my supervisor

Date of submission: May 2014

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION I.1 RATIONALE 1

I.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH 2

I.3 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH 3

I.4 TASKS OF THE RESEARCH 3

I.5 METHOD OF THE RESEARCH 3

I.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 4

I.7 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH 4

CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL BACKGROUND II.1 LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF 5

II.2 An overview of assessment 5

II.2.1 Definition of assessment 5

II.2.2 Reasons for assessing students 5

II.2.3 Principles for assessing students 9

II.3 An overview of portfolio 9

II.3.1 Teaching writing 9

II.3.1.1 Product approach 10

II.3.1.2 Process approach 11

II.3.2 Formative and Summative assessment 12

II.3.3 Portfolio as an assessment tool 13

II.3.3.1 Defining portfolio 13

II.3.3.2 Classifying portfolio 14

II.3.3.3 Organizing portfolio content 15

II.3.3.4 Characterizing portfolio writing process 17

II.3.3.5 Assessing portfolio 18

II.3.3.6 Benefits of using portfolios 18

II.3.4 The use of portfolios in writing lessons for third-year students in the Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 .20

II.3.4.1 Course objectives 20

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II.3.4.2 Course assessment 20

II.3.4.3 Portfolio as a formative assessment tool 21

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY III.1 Research design 24

III.2 Setting of the study 24

III.3 Sampling 25

III.4 Participant selection 26

III.5 Data collection instrument 26

III.5.1 Questionnaire 26

III.6 Summary 27

CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS IV.1 Research question 1 and summary of findings for research question 1 29

IV.2 Research question 2 and summary of findings for research question 2 35

IV.3 Research question 3 and summary of findings for research question 3 37

IV.2 Recommendations 38

IV.2.1 Learners’ characteristics 38

IV.2.2 Design of portfolios 39

IV.2.3 Portfolios combined with other types of assignment 40

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION V.1 Summary of findings 42

V.2 Implications 43

V.2.1 Teachers 43

V.2.2 Peers 44

V.2.3 (Student) writers 44

V.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 44

REFERENCES 46

APPENDICES

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CAE Certificate in Advanced English

CEFR Common European Frame of Reference for Languages EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

FLF Foreign Language Faculty

HPU2 Hanoi Pedagogical UniversityNo2

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VNU Vietnam National University

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.2 Writing portfolio evaluation criteria 22

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students’ interest in making portfolios 29

Figure 4.2 How well students understand and use

portfolios

30

Figure 4.3 Students ‘awareness of promoting mutual

interactions with teacher by using portfolios

31

Figure 4.4 Student’s abilities to organize academic

information after making portfolios

32

Figure 4.5 Students’ awareness of including references

function by using portfolios

33

Figure 4.6 Student’ awareness of using portfolios in the

next semesters

34

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

This part states the research problem, the rationale for the study as well as aims, significance, scope and methods of the study Moreover, the research questions are also clearly stated to act the parameter for the whole paper

Realizing the benefits which portfolios bring about, the Foreign Language Faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 has started to include portfolios as an assessment tool for the third-year students of English in recent years Aiming at C1 level for those targeted students with reference to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the writing program puts central focus on the Certificate in Advanced English design (CAE) Thus, portfolio as an assessment tool also involves elements of CAE marking descriptors The score from portfolios makes up 35 per cent of the total assessment There have been a certain number of studies related to the topic of portfolios in the scope of Foreign Language Faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 Several papers and articles have investigated portfolios from the angle of an alternative assessment tool for traditional assessment Unfortunately, they only give theoretical backgrounds with studying on any particular group of students Besides, many other theses exploit portfolios in the aspect of peer written feedback As a matter of fact, students’ writing portfolios are to be assessed by specific criteria However, there has not been any study which offers an insight into students’ self-assessment of their own writing ability as a result of portfolio writing process,

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guided by those criteria Especially, the specific impacts of portfolio writing process on students ‘practical writing ability with all factors considered together still remains cryptic

To fill the gaps, this paper purports to (1) investigate the effect from the students’ self-assessment and (2) to identify the obstacles and solutions on the writing pieces Three questions were chosen as the research design The main data collection instrument was questionnaire Results from document analysis

of three questions for the third-year students played an important role in verifying the findings attained from their self-assessment

The study yielded fruitful findings in response to the three research questions Findings from three research questions revealed a similarity of the

most tremendous progress in coverage of main points and vocabulary In

analyzing documents collected, it was proven that positive changes were made from version to version thanks to the teacher’s and peers’ comments and the writer’s self-correction Remarkably, there also existed noticeable discrepancy among findings of the three research questions Some writing abilities reported as little improved turned out to be more positively progressed than the students had thought; whereas some reported as seen much enhancement but it was contrasted to what their writing pieces revealed

Based on the findings, implications were made for teachers, peers and the students themselves with the hope of making the most of the writing portfolio process

I.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The major aims of the study are:

 To investigate students’ motivations and attitudes towards benefits

of using portfolios as a mean of assessing their writing development

 To identify the students’ obstacles when writing their portfolios

 To find out solutions to overcome students ‘obstacles

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I.3 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

Portfolios are used in various fields, but within the frame of this paper, the research only approaches it in educational field

The study is concerned with using portfolios as a mean of assessing students’ writing development in Writing course 6 with the third-year English-major students of the Faculty of Foreign Language, Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2

The population involved in the study contains 60 students from two groups of the Faculty of Foreign Language, Hanoi Pedagogical University

I.4 TASKS OF THE RESEARCH

The study consists of the following tasks:

1) To research into the definition and reasons for assessing students and principles of assessing students

2) To study theoretical knowledge about portfolios including the definition, classification, organizing portfolios content, characterizing portfolios, assessing portfolios as well as benefits of portfolios to help students and teacher get acquainted with them and then develop them

3) To identify the effectiveness of using portfolios as a mean of assessing students’ learning process in teaching writing courses so that teacher could make decisions whether portfolios should be used or not and how to use them most efficiently

I.5 METHOD OF THE RESEARCH

To achieve the objectives of study, the following methods have been applied:

 Collecting documents from books listed in the references

 Consulting the supervisor, experienced teachers and friends

 Conducting survey questionnaire

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I.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

Once completed, the study would bring about certain benefits to teachers, students, and other scientists who share the same interest in this topic

Firstly, the research findings may offer teachers a closer look at their students’ perception of the influence of portfolio writing process Hence, they can adjust their teaching methods to help develop students’ writing skills as well as interest in writing lessons

Secondly, students can benefit from this research by choosing the most appropriate suggestions to improve their writing skills

Last but not least, researchers who take interest in the same topic can refer to this paper as a source of updated and reliable information

I.7 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH

This thesis consists of five main chapters:

Chapter one, Introduction, introduces reasons for choosing the topic,

objectives, scope, tasks and significance of the study, the research method as well as an overview of the thesis

Chapter two, Theoretical background, lays the theoretical background

for the study

Chapter three, Methodology, describes the research design,

participants, the data collection instrument as well as the procedure utilized to carry out the research

Chapter four, Findings – presents, analyzes, synthesizes and discusses

the findings revealed from the collected data according to the three research questions

Chapter five, Conclusion, encapsulates the main issues discussed

throughout the study, the limitations of the paper, several implications and some suggestions for further studies This chapter is followed by the

References and Appendices

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CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – provides the theoretical background for the whole paper, in which the key concepts are thoroughly elaborated on Besides, the review of related studies worldwide and in Vietnam will help to point out the gaps with the research aims to bridge through this study

II.1.LITERATURE REVIEW

The notion of portfolio-based assessment began to attract attention around the mid-1980s as a reaction against the psychometric climate prevailing educational standards This atmosphere led to intense pressure to place more emphasis on testing as a means of raising standards, in accordance with the belief that the more students are tested, the more they will be motivated to improve efforts and performance Elbow and Belandoff (1997), in looking back

on that period, noted that “in retrospect, what was urgent and growing pressure for assessment, assessment, assessment: test everything and everyone for a score; don’t trust teachers” (pp.22-23) In fields like composition, in particular, this view of testing was seen as counterproductive to the whole process of teaching and learning the complex, multifaceted skill of writing As a result, many composition specialists began to search for ways of measuring student writing that would be more consistent with the emerging process approach to writing, allowing other views of student writing than the single, timed test, usually placed at the end of a writing course In an attempt to find an attractive alternative approach to writing assessment, many composition researchers began to experiment with portfolio-based approaches

In the context of writing instruction and assessment, a portfolio can be defined

as “a collection of texts the writer has produced over a defined period of time” (Hamp-Lyons, 1991, p.162) and the collection may consist of “selected but not necessarily polished or finished pieces” (Privette, 1993, p.60)

Yancey (1992) also stated that all portfolios, regardless of the particular context, share three essential characteristics Firstly, they are longitudinal in

Another often cited benefit of portfolios can be used to encouraging students to reflect on the pieces they write and on the process they use to write them Student reflection on their writing in preparation of a portfolio is a key concept

in portfolios pedagogy and an essential aspect of learner-directed assessment According to Murphy (1994), portfolios can be used to encourage students to reflect on the pieces they write and on the processes they use to write them

There have been a certain number of studies related to the topic of portfolios in the scope of Foreign Language Faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 Several papers and articles have investigated portfolios from the angle of an alternative assessment tool for traditional assessment Unfortunately, they only give theoretical backgrounds with studying on any particular group of students Besides, many other theses exploit portfolios in the aspect of peer written feedback As a matter of fact, students’ writing portfolios are to be assessed by specific criteria However, there has not been any study which offers an insight into students’ self-assessment of their own writing ability as a result of portfolio writing process, guided by those criteria Especially, the specific impacts of portfolio writing process on students

‘practical writing ability with all factors considered together still remains cryptic

All the aforementioned reasons motivate the researcher to conduct a research paper entitled “A study on the Benefit of Using Portfolios as a Means of Assessment in Writing development for the Third-year Students of English at

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Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2” to fill in the identified gaps in the local literature

II.2 An overview of assessment

II.2.1 Definition of assessment

There are many definitions of assessment which are listed as follows:

According to Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education (2004),

assessment involves the use of empirical data on student learning to refine programs and improve student learning

Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning (Huba and Freed, 2000)

Assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students It is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and using information to increase students’ learning and development (Erwin, 1991)

Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development (Palomba and Banta, 1999)

II.2.2 Reasons for assessing students

The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both respond to the information it provides Assessment for learning is an ongoing process that arises out of the interaction between teaching and learning

Assessment can do more than simply diagnose and identify students’ learning needs; it can be used to assist improvements across the education system in a cycle of continuous improvement:

Students and teachers can use the information gained from assessment

to determine their next teaching and learning steps

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Parents and families can be kept informed of next plans for teaching and learning and the progress being made, so they can play an active role in their children’s learning

School leaders can use the information for school-wide planning, to support their teachers and determine professional development needs

Communities and Boards of Trustees can use assessment information to assist their governance role and their decisions about staffing and resourcing

The Education Review Office can use assessment information to inform their advice for school improvement

The Ministry of Education can use assessment information to undertake policy review and development at a national level, so that government funding and policy intervention is targeted appropriately to support improved student outcomes

II.2.3 Principles of assessing students

In the book Nine Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student

Learning, there are 9 principles of assessing student learning

 The assessment of student learning begins with educational values Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement Its effective practice, then, begins with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve Educational values should drive not only what we choose to assess but also how we do so Where questions about educational mission and values are skipped over, assessment threatens to be an exercise in measuring what's easy, rather than a process of improving what we really care about (AAHE,

1992, p.2)

 Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time

Learning is a complex process It entails not only what students know but what they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge

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and abilities but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth, and increasing degrees of integration Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of learning, and therefore firmer bases for improving our students' educational experience (AAHE, 1992, p.2)

 Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes

Assessment is a goal-oriented process It entails comparing educational performance with educational purposes and expectations - those derived from the institution's mission, from faculty intentions in program and course design, and from knowledge of students' own goals Where program purposes lack specificity or agreement, assessment as a process pushes a campus toward clarity about where to aim and what standards to apply; assessment also prompts attention to where and how program goals will be taught and learned Clear, shared, implementable goals are the cornerstone for assessment that is focused and useful (AAHE, 1992, p.2)

 Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also an equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes

Information about outcomes is of high importance; where students "end up" matters greatly But to improve outcomes, we need to know about student experience along the way about the curricula, teaching, and kind of student effort that lead to particular outcomes Assessment can help us understand which students learn best under what conditions; with such knowledge comes the capacity to improve the whole of their learning (AAHE, 1992, p.2)

 Assessment works best when it is ongoing not episodic

Assessment is a process whose power is cumulative Though isolated,

"one-shot" assessment can be better than none, improvement is best fostered when assessment entails a linked series of activities undertaken over time

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This may mean tracking the process of individual students, or of cohorts of students; it may mean collecting the same examples of student performance or using the same instrument semester after semester The point is to monitor progress toward intended goals in a spirit of continuous improvement Along the way, the assessment process itself should be valuated and refined in light

of emerging insights (AAHE, 1992, p.2)

 Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved

Student learning is a campus-wide responsibility, and assessment is a way of enacting that responsibility Thus, while assessment efforts may start small; the aim over time is to involve people from across the educational community Faculty plays an especially important role; but assessment's questions can't be fully addressed without participation by student affairs educators, librarians, administrators, and students Assessment may also involve individuals from beyond the campus whose experience can enrich the sense of appropriate aims and standards for learning Thus understood, assessment is not a task for small groups of expert’s but a collaborative activity; its aim is wider, better-informed attention to student learning by all parties with a stake in its improvement (AAHE, 1992, p.3)

 Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about

Assessment recognizes the value of information in the process of improvement But to be useful, information must be connected to issues or questions that people really care about This implies assessment approaches that produce evidence that relevant party’s will find credible, suggestive, and applicable to decisions that need to be made It means thinking in advance about how the information will be used, and by whom The point of assessment is not to gather data and return "results"; it is a process that starts with the questions of decision-makers, that involves them in the gathering and

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interpreting of data, and that informs and helps guide continuous improvement (AAHE, 1992, p.3)

 Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of

a larger set of conditions that promote change

Assessment alone changes little Its greatest contribution comes on campuses where the quality of teaching and learning is visibly valued and worked at On such campuses, the push to improve educational performance

is a visible and primary goal of leadership; improving the quality of undergraduate education is central to the institution's planning, budgeting, and personnel decisions On such campuses, information about learning outcomes are seen as an integral part of decision making, and avidly sought (AAHE,

1992, p.3)

 Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and

to the public

There is a compelling public stake in education As educators, we have

a responsibility to the public’s that support or depend on us to provide information about the ways in which our students meet goals and expectations But that responsibility goes beyond the reporting of such information; our deeper obligation - to ourselves, our students, and society - is

to improve Those to whom educators are accountable have a corresponding obligation to support such attempts at improvement (AAHE, 1992, p.3)

II.3 An overview of portfolio

II.3.1 Teaching writing

Nunan (1991) affirms that there are various ways in writing teaching but the

two most commonly applied approaches at the present are product and

process, which will be thoroughly discussed in this part

II.3.1.1 Product approach

Traditional approaches to the teaching of writing focus on the product (Tran, 2009) Early in the literature review, product approach was described

as grammatical correctness-emphasized (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992) This can

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be achieved by keying to a model or following the guidance and control of the teachers Additionally, Nunan (1991) reviews that the product approach emphasizes on grammar exercises and correctness, and focuses on the result

of the final writing paper of learners Accordingly, Steele (2006) regards product approach as a traditional approach, in which students are encouraged

to mimic a model text, which is usually presented and analyzed at an early stage

In a nutshell, the major features of product approach can be described

(Grabe & Kaplan, 1998; Nunan, 1999; Coffin et al, 2003) Because of its natures, there have been numerous trenchant censures for this approach Firstly, Halsted (1975) and Mahon (1992) criticize that the

over-emphasis on accuracy and form may result in serious “writing blocks” and “sterile” and “unimaginative” pieces of work In agreement with them,

Clenton (2006) blames product approach as it neglects the actual processes experienced by students and then leads to the restriction of creativity

Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that this approach can help students to see errors as something that they have a professional obligation to correct and, where possible, eliminate, as claimed by Tribble (1996)

II.3.1.2 Process approach

Process approach began to replace product approach in the mid-1970s Throughout the vast body of research in writing, the concept of process

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approach has undergone various transformations As theorized in earlier literature review, writing is considered as a multi-stage process and is evaluated according to how well it can fulfill the writer’s intentions (Reid, 1993) According to Steward (cited in Joe, 2006), writing purports at written communication between the writer himself and his intended readers Therefore, writing is not the form but the idea that can be seen as the determining factor In process approach, the final product is only “a secondary, derivative concern, whose form is a function of its content and purpose” (Silva, 1990, p 16) Writing is no longer regarded as a “linear and fragmented procedure” (Hairston, 1982, p 78) with the ultimate aim shot an error free product It is, instead, “a cyclical process during which writers can move back and forth on a continuum, discovering, analyzing and synthesizing ideas”

(Hughey et al cited in Joe, 2006, p 48)

As can be seen, by contrast to the product approach, the process approach possesses the following features:

 The focal point is placed on the steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece of work It is the development of successive drafts of a text Therefore, quality is emphasized rather than quantity

 The tasks performed by learners involve producing, reflecting on, discussing and reworking successive drafts of a text

 Teachers assess students’ result through the whole process, not through one final product

(Nunan, 1999, p 127) Process approach has been receiving greater and greater appreciation because of its outstanding advantages Firstly, students are encouraged to generate ideas freely, share their works with other and get feedback from peers and teachers This promotes collaborative group work as well as enhancing motivation and positive attitudes Secondly, they are offered chances to explore a variety of systematic methods of discovery while they

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read, write and talk to each other (Raimes, 1987) Then, they are free to explore the topic of their interest or importance Additionally, the approach encourages content information and personal expression rather than final product grammar and usage (cited in Nguyen, 2007)

II.3.2 Formative and Summative assessment

For other language skills in general and for writing skill in particular, classroom assessment can be understood as “an on-going process aiming at understanding and improving students’ learning” (Angelo cited in Nguyen

2007, p 21) or “an ongoing process in which teachers and learners gather, analyze data and use them to make educational decisions” (cited in Nguyen, 2007) What is noteworthy from these definitions is the repetition of the word

“ongoing”, which emphasizes continuity as the typical feature of classroom

assessment Distinction is now routinely drawn between summative and formative assessment (Hawkey & Barker, 2004) Nonetheless, within the

scope of this paper, focus is deliberately put on the latter assessment form According to Johnson and Jenkins (2012), classroom formative writing assessment refers to continual evaluation, in which the focus is on monitoring student response to and progress with instructions When formative assessments are used in conjunction with summative assessment, the potential exists to improve outcomes for all students (Stiggins, 2002) One of the pivotal arguments in favor of developing and extending the practice of formative assessment in writing classes is put forth by Hawkey and Barker ,

2004 In supporting the practice of formative writing assessment, they claim that it can enhance learning motivation, foster self-study, clarify desired outcome, help students identify gaps in knowledge and diagnose specific understanding

Classroom formative writing assessment involves several procedures such as observation, feedback, and journaling The most common procedures include the following elements:

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 Feedback: The teacher provides oral or written feedback on

students’ discussion or work

 Curriculum-based measurement: This set of standardized

measures is used to determine student progress and performance

 Self-assessment: Students reflect on and monitor their progress

 Observation: The teacher observes and records a student’s level of

engagement, academic and/or affective behavior; develops a plan of action to support that student; implements the plan; and continues to record observations to determine its effectiveness

 Writing portfolios: A growth writing portfolio can be used to

collect evidence of a student’s progress in developing writing skills

(John & Jenkins, 2012) Particularly, a body of copious evidence has proven that portfolio is progressively becoming a promising classroom assessment

II.3.3 Portfolio as an assessment tool

II.3.3.1 Defining portfolio

In writing assessment, the growing dissatisfaction with timed impromptu tests and the development of writing instruction have made portfolios more and more popular The use of portfolios as a formative assessment tool has attracted the attention of many researchers, teachers and students Most of the portfolio studies are of good quality since investigators have generated different well-rounded viewpoints on this issue

“A portfolio is a folder of a student’s work completed during a course

or program” (Coffin et al., 2003, p.88) Likewise, Reid points out that

“portfolio is a collection of texts produced over a defined period of time to the specifications of a particular context” (1993, p.249)

Another definition to be considered is “Portfolios are a collection of student papers usually chosen by the student that will then be graded or assessed at the end of the course” (Clark, 2003) Similarly, Scott describes a

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portfolio as “a collection of texts composed over time that serves as evidence

of a writer’s processes and development” (1991, p.1)

Coombe and Barlow (2004, p.19) define portfolio as “a collection of a student’s writing pieces in a duration of time to show different phases in completing a writing task and the improvement of the writer over time”

In another way, Sweet proposes his idea that “portfolio is a

‘purposeful’ collection of students’ work” (1993, p.1) It may be a folder containing a student’s best pieces of writing or all drafts that illustrates the creation of a product through various stages The former is often called a

showcase or exemplary portfolios while the latter is named process portfolios

Normally, portfolio is a physical folder or box in which three elements are includes:

 Collection (representative samples of class work)

 Selection (selections chosen by students)

 Reflection (self-evaluation by the students crucial)

(Hamp-Lyon & Condon cited in Apple and Shimo, 2004)

II.3.3.2 Classifying portfolio

In reviewing the literature, a wide range of portfolio classifications has emerged illustrating its diversity, among which Satskatchewan Professional Development Unit’s (SPDU) (2011) and Valencia and Place’s classification

(1994) are the most popular Based on their perception of portfolio’s purpose,

SPDU (2011) categorizes portfolio into four types:

 The showcase portfolio: (1) to promote student control of learning;

(2) to track students’ progress; (3) to respond to individual needs; and (4) to facilitate student-led conferences;

 The growth portfolio: (1) to demonstrate individual growth; (2) to

show process and product; and (3) to evaluate and report on students’ progress;

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 The selected works portfolio: (1) to show process and products of

work; (2) to evaluate and report on students’ progress; and (3) to show students’ achievements with respect to specific curricular goals; and

 The passportfolio: (1) to show students’ achievements with respect

to specific curricular goals; (2) to accumulate “best work” for admission to other institution or program; (3) to document achievement for alternative credit; and (4) for employment purpose

Unlike SPDU, Valencia and Place (1994) purpose another way of

classifying on the basis of the content of a portfolio:

 The showcase portfolio which includes the student’s best works;

 The evaluation portfolio which includes specified and marked

works;

 The documentation portfolio which includes student works

systematically kept by the teacher but not marked; and

 The process portfolio which contains on-going works and student

self-reflection

Whatever the type is, it is worth noticing that within each of those categories, there are dozens of variations For a particular purpose, each person may combine categories or invent one type on his own that is unique

in response to his needs

II.3.3.3 Organizing portfolio content

Crockett (cited in Nunes, 2004) classifies portfolio contents into five

categories:

(1) found samples, or pieces done to fulfill class assignment;

(2) processed samples, which refers to students’ analyses and

self-samples of their edition of a work previously graded by the teacher;

(3) revisions or samples of student work that have been graded and

then revised, edited, and rewritten;

(4) reflections, which are related to the processed samples but are

applied to the portfolio as a whole This offers students a chance to think

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about who they are, what they can learn, what they are strong at and what still need to improve; and

(5) portfolio projects, which cover works designed for the sole

purpose of inclusion in the student portfolios, and that can arise from a review

of portfolios that reveals a particular interest or challenge to overcome

Rea (2001) proposes another set of six elements, namely a written

self-eight-page-research dossier and three pieces of works of the student’s own choice It is; nonetheless, up to individual student to choose which genre suits

him or her best

According to Kemp and Toperoff (1998), a portfolio should include all

of those following elements organized according to a certain order:

(1) cover letter about the author and what the portfolio shows about

his/her progress as a learner The cover letter summarizes the evidence of a student’s learning and progress;

(2) table of content with numbered pages;

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

(items of student’s choice) The core elements will be required for each student and will provide a common base from which to make decisions on assessment The optional items will allow the folder to represent the uniqueness of each student Students can choose to include “best” pieces of work, but also a piece of work which causes trouble or one that is less successful, and give reasons why;

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

(5) drafts of aural/oral and written products, revised versions and so

on, first drafts and corrected/revised versions; and

(6) reflections can appear at different stages in the learning process

(for formative and/or summative purposes)

II.3.3.4 Characterizing portfolio writing process

Portfolio writing process can be divided into a number of stages in various ways According to Oshima and Hogue (1991), it basically consists of

To put it differently, the researcher would like to propose a more comprehensive process by synthesizing from those above Accordingly, the portfolio writing process can be viewed in the diagram below:

Diagram 2.0: Portfolio writing process

II.3.3.5 Assessing portfolio

There has been a lot of research carried out to study the way to assess portfolios, which yielded tremendous findings For instance, in their study, Hirvela and Sweetland (2000) highlight four questions which need considering when evaluating a portfolio:

(1) Who decides the content of the portfolio?

(2) What are included in the portfolio?

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(3) What are the timeline for assessing the portfolio?

(4) Based on what criteria is the portfolio assessed?

Notwithstanding, the researcher takes particular interest in Tran et al.’s article (2008), which suggests four criteria for evaluation as follows:

(1) Progress over time;

(2) The quality of the final drafts;

(3) Efforts and participation in learning; and

(4) Cooperation with other students

II.3.3.6 Benefits of using portfolios

The benefits of portfolios have been discussed here and there in articles and researches, the most favored one among which is in assessing This part presents both benefits for teachers and students with the latter greatly emphasized

Benefits for teachers

According to Grabe and Kaplan, portfolios serve as assessment tools for teachers both in large-scale and in-class one (1998) In United State, many universities apply writing portfolios with special stress on the strength of portfolio assessment In their opinions, it gives teachers wider range of writing to evaluate during a process of time so that they can make fairer and more accurate evaluation (Trimbur, 1999)

Benefits for students

Reid (1993) recommends several advantages of portfolios: reinforcing commitment to writing process and multiple drafts, increasing responsibility, offering more complex look at writing activity and establishing writing environment as well as developmental and sequential

Coffin et al also stress the following benefits: First, they allow students

to “preserve, build upon and improve their writing overtime” (2003, p.88) Second, motivate students to assess their own writings and respond to feedback Moreover, large and deep academic development can be achieved

as portfolios include a wide range of items Apart from that, for students who

Two researchers in Japan have recently conducted a study on writing portfolios, aiming at finding out whether students perceive their improvement

in autonomy, to what extend their improvement in meta-awareness of learning process are and which level of student proficiency is most appropriate for portfolios Questionnaires were distributed among 61 undergraduate students from two different four-year universities (Himeji Dokkyo University and Miyazaki Municipal University) Their findings gave the following benefits:

 Portfolio is a reflection on learning, so it increases meta-awareness

of learning process

 Long time assessment and ample feedback lead to more chances for goal setting and self-evaluation

 It offers cooperative learning opportunities

 It gives learners sense of achievement

 Portfolio is an enjoyable learning and assessment tool

(Apple and Shimo, 2004)

II.3.4 The use of portfolios in writing lessons for third-year students in the Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 II.3.4.1 Course objectives

A clearly stated in the curriculum for third-year students majoring in English teacher education (2011), students should be proficient in English at C1 level by the end of academic year III, equivalent to the CAE level in accordance with the CEFR CAE level is required in demanding academic and

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professional settings Achieving a certificate at this level proves that a candidate has reached a very advanced level of English (CAE Handbook for teachers, 2008) Furthermore, with reference to writing course V, some objectives relating to CAE are set as follows:

By the end of the semester, the students should have:

 been able to write various genres for academic purposes, including essays, critical review and summary;

 developed their academic writing skills; particularly documenting skills such as quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing;

 developed their practical writing skills to an advanced level;

 enhanced their background knowledge (with focus on themes of semester 5) and critical thinking (with focus on critical reading, critical writing skills, giving critical comments); and

 been familiar with the format of the CAE Test – Writing Component with focus on writing brochures/leaflets

(Writing Course Syllabus: Term V for third-year students 2011, p.2)

II.3.4.2 Course assessment

For those objectives to be achieved there is a combination of both formative and summative assessment as in the following table:

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60%

Table 2.1: Writing V assessment criteria

At the end of the semester, students’ writing ability will be assessed based closely on what they have learned throughout the semester Therefore,

it normally includes an essay and a CAE task such as writing a brochure or leaflet

II.3.4.3 Portfolio as a formative assessment tool

Recognizing the benefits of portfolios as a formative assessment tool, the third-year students of English at Foreign Language Faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University No 2 started to include the Selected Works Portfolio

as part of the curriculum for third-year students The context for this use of portfolio is the above 15-week writing course for third-year students In this course, learners are required to write different genres and their mark for

portfolio accounts for 35 percent of the total assessment

On week 15, students are to submit the final portfolios which demonstrate the writers’ development over time including:

 a table of contents

 two home-written essays with drafts and revised versions

 one critical review with a first draft and a revised versions

 one brochure or a leaflet with a first draft and a revised versions

 a self-reflective report on all learning activities during the semester Students are required to work in groups (of three or four) to read and give feedback to their team members’ weekly works Like in the common

process mentioned earlier, the students need to go through three main stages:

 Pre-writing: Planning

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 While writing: writing first draft revising as many times as they

wish based on peers’ commentsrevising and writing the final version with reference to the teacher’s feedback

 Post-writing: Editing and choosing 5 best writing pieces as well as

writing the self-reflective report

Assessment criteria are determined by both teachers and students Students’ portfolios will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Effort, engagement in the learning process and

development over time

20%

Quality of final products (task fulfillment, academic

writing skills, reasoning, cohesion and coherence,

grammar and vocabulary)

60%

Collaboration with peers and critical thinking as

reflected through feedback (comments)

20%

Table 2.2: Writing portfolio evaluation criteria

As clearly indicated in the syllabus, particular attention should be paid

to the writer’s progress and quality of final products, which makes up fifths of the total mark Students’ writings are marked based on a number of criteria known as task fulfillment, reasoning, format, register, cohesion and coherence, grammar and vocabulary These indicators shares strikingly common features with the CAE marking rubric Hence, CAE marking scheme will be consistently used to assess students’ writing ability in this research

three-Summary

Chapter 2 has provided a general overview of the literature review on assessment and the research topic, which thus form the basis for the whole paper First, definition of assessment, reasons for assessing students and principles of assessing students have been mentioned Then, critical explanations of the key concepts have been offered Next, international and