Email this article 
Is Portfolio Assessment Effective in Improving Iranian EFL Students’ Writing?
Abstract
The current study explored the effect of portfolio assessment on the improvement of the Iranian students’ writing. Additionally, students’ attitudes towards using portfolio were investigated. Participants of the study were 46 pre-intermediate Iranian male and female university students who were chosen from a larger group of 70 students. They were divided randomly into experimental and control groups with equal number of students of 23 in each group. All the students in experimental group wrote five essays based on the topics in their course book. To evaluate the students’ writings, word choice, ideas, sentence fluency, voice, and organization were checked by two experienced rates. In contrast, the students in control group wrote five essays and they didn’t receive any feedback from their teacher and also they didn’t have any opportunity to revise their writing papers. The findings of the study revealed that portfolio assessment had a positive effect on the overall writing ability among the Iranian university students.
Keywords: portfolio assessment, writing ability, scoring, EFL students
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Barrett, H. C. (2000). Electronic portfolios, school reform and standards. Barrett, Helen.
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (1997). Assessment by portfolio: Constructing learning and designing teaching. Research and Development in Higher Education, pp. 79-87.
Bowie, C., Taylor, P., Zimitat, C., & Young, B. (2000). Electronic course portfolio in a new on-line graduate
certificate in flexible learning. HERDSA News.
Buyukduman, L. & Sirin, S. (2010). Learning portfolio (LP) to enhance constructivism and student autonomy. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science, 3, 55-61.
Cohen, A. D. (2001). Second language assessment. In M. Celce-Murcia (Eds.), Teaching English as second
language (pp. 513–534). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Cooper, T. (1997). Portfolio assessment: A guide for students. Perth: Praxis Education.
Cooper, T. (1999). Portfolio assessment: A guide for lecturers, teachers and course designers. Perth: Praxis
Education.
Cooper, T., & Love, T. (2000). Portfolios in university-based design education. In C. Swann & E. Young (Eds.),
Re-inventing design education in the university (pp. 159–166). Perth: School of Design, Curtin University.
Delett, J. S., Barnhardt, S., & Kevorkian, J. A. (2001). A framework for portfolio assessment in the foreign language
classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 34 (6), 559–568.
Dysthe , O. (2008). The challenges of assessment in a new learning culture. In A. Havnes & L. McDonald (Eds.),
Balancing dilemmas in assessment and learning in contemporary education (pp. 15-32), New York: Routledge.
Elbow, P., & Belanoff, P. (1997). Reflections on the explosion: Portfolio in the 90s and beyond. In K. B. Yancey
(Ed.), Situating portfolios (pp. 21–33). Logan: Utah States University Press.
Ghoorchaei, B. Tavakoli, M. & Nejad Ansari, D. (2010). The impact of portfolio assessment on Iranian EFL students‟ essay writing: A process-oriented approach. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 10 (3), 35-51.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (1995). Portfolios with ESL writers: What the research shows. Paper presented at the annual
convention of Teachers of English as a Second Language, Long Beach, CA.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (2001). Fourth generation writing assessment. In T. Silva & P. K. Matsuda (Eds.), On second
language writing (pp. 117-128). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (2002). The scope of writing assessment. Assessing Writing, 8, 5-16.
Hamp-Lyons, L. & Condon, W. (2000). Assessing the portfolio: Principles for practice, theory, and research. New
Jersey: Hampton Press.
Hedgcock, J. S. (2005). Taking stock of research and pedagogy in L2 writing. In E. Hinkel (Eds.), Handbook of
research in second language teaching and learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 579-614.
Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Herman, J. L., Geahart, M., & Aschbacher, P. R. (1996). Portfolios for classroom assessment: Design and implementation issues. In R. Calfee & P. Perfumo (Eds.), Writing portfolios in the classroom: Policy and practice, promise and peril (pp. 27-59). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hirvela, A. & Pierson, H. (2000). Portfolios: Vehicles for authentic self-assessment. In G. Ekbatani & H. Pierson
(Eds.), Learner-directed assessment in ESL (pp. 105-126). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers
Hirvela, A., & Sweetland, L. (2005). Two case studies of L2 writers’ experiences across learning directed portfolio
contexts. Assessing Writing, 10, 192-213.
Lam, R. & Lee, I. (2010). Balancing the dual functions of portfolio assessment. ELT Journal Volume 64 (1), 54-64
Liu, Y. (2003). A case study of selected ESL students’ experiences with writing portfolios in college composition
courses. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Ohio State University.
Moran, M. R. (1982). Analytical evaluation of formal written language skills as a diagnostic procedure.
Diagnostique, 8, 17-31.
Song, B. & August, B.( 2002). Using portfolios to assess the writing of ESL students: A powerful alternative? Journal of Second Language Writing, 11(1), 49-72.
Taki, S. & Heidari, M. (2011). The effect of using portfolio-based writing assessment on language learning: The case of young Iranian EFL learners
Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2013-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.
International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies
You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.