PE 18

The effect of portfolio assessment on EFL studentsʹ writing

كارشناسي ارشد

آموزش زبان انگليسي

91/11/05

فريدون وحداني

هدي ديوسر

portfolio , assessment , writing proficiency , EFL learner

وحداني،فريدون , ديوسر،هدي

In order to compensate the limitations of using standardized tests, educational administrators have tried to use a mixture of formal and informal assessment techniques for monitoring studentsʹ progress. One of these alternative assessment techniques is portfolio assessment. The current study aimed at investigating the effect of portfolio assessment on Iranian EF learners’ writing proficiency and their attitudes toward it. This study followed a quasi-experimental design.One class was assigned to serve as an experimental group (portfolio) and the other class as control group (non-portfolio). First, a total number of 30 female EFL learners who were learning English in "Safir" language institute in Lahijan city, served as sampling. Then, they were randomly divided into two groups. This study was carried out in 22 sessions. A new approach of writing assessment, referred to as "portfolio" assessment, and was used to check the studentsʹ writing in one class while the control group was following the traditional assessment. Oxford Placement Test (2004) was used as the pre-test to determine the proficiency level of participants. The portfolio assessment model used in this study was based on the "classroom portfolio model" and consisted of three procedures: collection, selection and reflection, as suggested by Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000). In order to compare the effect of treatment on students’ writing performance, two IELTS writing tasks were adapted from samples of IELTS writing tests as pre-posttest.The mean scores of the control and experimental groups were compared in pre- and post- writing tests by running independent samples t-test to investigate the possible differences between the two groups in terms of their writing proficiency. Face to face interviews and also a questionnaire which was piloted and examined for its reliability and validity was given to the participants in the experimental group to find out more about their attitudes towards portfolio-based teaching and assessment.The results of independent samples T- test indicated that while the two groups were homogeneous in terms of their writing proficiency before the treatment phase, the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post writing test. The results confirm the positive effects of portfolio based assessment on EFL learners’ writing proficiency. Conducting studies like the present one may contribute effectively on the better teaching and testing of foreign language.

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