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PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO IMPROVE THE STUDENT’S WRITING SKILL IN 10 TH GRADE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL
LORENA CORREA
TUTOR: OSCAR MONTOYA
UNIVERSITY OF QUINDIO FACULTY OF EDUCATION MODERN LANGUAGES PROGRAM ARMENIA, QUINDIO 2013
2 PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO IMPROVE THE STUDENT’S WRITING SKILL IN 10 TH GRADE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL
THEORETICAL REVIEW
LORENA CORREA ELIANA PULIDO
TUTOR: OSCAR MONTOYA
UNIVERSITY OF QUINDIO FACULTY OF EDUCATION MODERN LANGUAGES PROGRAM ARMENIA, QUINDIO 2013
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INTRODUCTION
As it is demanded by the National Ministry of Education in Colombia, (MEN) to strengthen the domain in a foreign language, English in this case, is vital to any competitive society which wants to belong to the Globalized world nowadays. In addition to this, the improvement of the levels of proficiency of students, bring them new opportunities to be more competent citizens and to strength their professional background. Moreover, through the process of acquiring a foreign language, the main skills to be developed in the English students are listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this case, it can be stated that even though the writing skill is one of main importance, because it is a production skill, most if not all students have several problems in relation to it. The writing skill is a very demanding skill which demands form the student a proper domain of the language in terms of grammar, punctuation rules, coherence and cohesion, vocabulary among others. These are perhaps the reasons why it is so difficult for students to develop properly their writing skill, and to submit good writing compositions. Furthermore, there are several techniques and assessment tools that teachers implement in their English classroom on order for students to develop their Listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. However not all of them have the same efficiency, and have good results. Nowadays, Portfolios are commonly known as an assessment technique that can serve as a guide and self-assessment for both teachers and students. In addition, the use of portfolio in the English classroom, brings positive results, and contribute to the development of the student’s writing skill, and is a meaningful tool for educators in the learning process of English as a foreign language. Taking into account all the advantages of learning a foreign language which can be positively influence the citizen’s better professional opportunities, we have decided to research a topic which main goal is to strengthen the student’s writing skill. The development of the writing skill of 10 grader students will be made by the use of portfolio that will work as an assessment tool.
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JUSTIFICATION
As Portfolio is a tool in which students make evident their process of learning, students and teachers should implement portfolio during the process of acquiring a foreign language; in this case English language, since it is important and useful to manage with students of 10 grades to improve their writing skill. Besides, this is also a way to control, assess constantly, and evaluate the students’ progress. For that reason, it should be mandatory to implement portfolio in English subject because this gives the students and the teachers an opportunity to analyze their weaknesses and strengths the development of the writing skill. On the other hand, through the use of portfolio the students have evidence of what they are learning, and at the same time, they improve their writing skill.
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CONTEXT
This research will be held with students of English in 10 th grade, in a public high school, at Marcelino Champagnat , in Armenia, Quindio. The purpose is to work with these students since they already have an adequate acquaintanceship about the writing skill. The intention is that this group will use portfolio assessment. Through the results it will be analyzed the effectiveness of portfolio to develop and strengthen their writing skill.
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PROBLEM
Due to the low results and weaknesses of the students writing compositions of students of 10 grade at Marcelino Champagnat in Armenia, Quindio, it is evident to assert that the acquisition and domain of a foreign language, in accordance with the aims of the PFDCLE implemented in 2004 by the Education Ministry, have not been reached at all. As a result of this, and considering that the writing skill is of main relevance for being a productive skill, is necessary to implement the portfolio as a tool which strengthen it, as it influences positively their learning process as well. Moreover, the formulation of the research problem revolves around the following aspects: 1) Formulation of the research questions 2) Formulation of the research objectives.
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Main research question
1. To what extend can portfolios used as an assessment tool, improve the writing skill in 10th graders in a public high school in Armenia? Specific research questions 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using portfolios as an assessment tool? 3. To what extend can students be motivated to use portfolios in order to improve their writing skill?
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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
General objectives: To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using portfolios as an assessment tool for 10th graders in a public high school. Specific objectives: To describe the improvement of the writing skill through the use of portfolio. To discover the advantages of portfolio in the improvement of the writing skill.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In the PFDCLE, implemented in 2004 by the Education Ministry, and which main goal is to improve the English Teaching quality in Colombia, focuses mainly in both Communicative and Linguistic competence in order to make Colombian people more competent in English as a second language. Similarly, in Colombia, the national Education Ministry has proposed “Alternative Evaluation Strategies in which there appear the use of portfolios and project development… these strategies are composed by observations, expositions, storytelling, experiments, and informal tasks, among others.” It is in the teacher’s guided assessment, where the use of portfolios is being commonly used in some public schools in Colombia. This research project will be conducted to improve the students more meaningful learning process, and the communicative process in a specific context of adolescents with learning deficit and where the assessment methods are the most common or traditional. This research project will be conducted in Grade 10th, at Marcelino Champagnat, in Armenia, Quindío.
ROTE AND MEANINGFUL LEARNING: Ausubel, (1962) makes a distinction between the concepts of rote and meaningful learning. According to him, rote learning occurs when the learner learns by memorization, and forgets easily that information. “The knowledge or information is stored in an isolated compartment and is not integrated into the person’s larger cognitive structure”. (pg. 91-92). On the other hand, Meaningful learning occurs when the learner connects two or more ideas, old and new, and he must attempt to relate the new ideas to those which he currently possesses. If these conditions fail, there will be as a result Rote learning. Additionally, it is a fact that the more meaningful the learning process is for students, the more proficient they will be at the L2. Moreover, in the learning process is vital for teachers , to know not only the best way pupils learn (rote or meaningful learning), but also to be aware of how they are
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becoming proficient at that target language. For this reason, effective teachers will use in their daily professional practice testing and assessment techniques in order to monitor, guide and improve the students learning process. Authors such as Brown, (2004) clarified the difference between the terms test and assessment, which are usually misunderstood by some people. On one hand, he stated that tests is a teaching method in which the person’s abilities or knowledge is measured, and that are carefully designed and have the identifiable scoring rubrics. On the other hand, he defines assessment as an ongoing process that includes a much wider field.
ASSESSMENT: Pinter, (2006) claimed that “assessment of the learning process is an integral part of the teaching and learning. Assessment refers to the process of data analysis that teachers use to get evidence about their learners’ performance and progress in English.” However, she also stated that the traditional methods ( e.g. Paper and pencil tests) are often problematic and negative for students as the low grades often discourages students and they lose their motivation towards English. For these reasons, she advices teachers to have as an assessment technique the use of portfolios. Even though portfolios are not very used in public schools, they are a more meaningful technique to assess students.
PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT: As stated by Meadows and Dyal, (1999) “students strongly agree portfolio assessment measures academic performance more adequately than traditional comprehensive examination process. It examines performance but also provides authentic appraisal of student performance, and enables the student to exhibit examples of achievement and gives a reflection on their work.” Portfolios are commonly used in the world, but late in the 80’s the interest in portfolio for assessment became evident in the education field. (Belanoff and Dickson; 1991).
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Meo S, (2002) stated that “portfolios have been one of the most pervasive innovations recommended by educational reformers of the 1980s and 1990s.� For example, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development identified portfolios as one of the nation's top three curriculum trends. Professional and pedagogical journals exploded with pertinent literature during the next decade, as educators implemented a variety of portfolio projects in a wide array of classroom settings and in subjects as diverse as high school literature and social studies, entry-level college writing, and adult continuing education. Also, Practitioners advocated portfolios as devices that engaged students in critical thinking and realistic performance tasks, as strategies for empowering students to take responsibility for their own learning, and as tools for evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs.
WRITING SKILL: Writing as a productive skill is one of the four basic skills of the English language. Writing is a comprehensive ability involving grammar, vocabulary, conception, rhetoric, and other parts of the language (Zhang &Chen, 1989). Writing enhances language acquisition as learners experiment with words, sentences, and other elements of writing to communicate their idea effectively, and to reinforce the grammar and vocabulary they are learning in class (Bello, 1997).
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LITERATURE REVIEW
As it was stated previously, the aim of this research is to prove that through the use of portfolio as an assessment tool in 10 graders of a public high school, students can both improve and strengthen their writing skill. For these reasons, in this chapter there are states some evidences of the positives results and effectiveness of using portfolio as and assessment tool that can actually strength the students writing skill. These are some of the studies and research all around the world that support this theory.
In Spain, Romero and Crisol, (2011) both teachers at the Universidad de Granada, in their research study named “El portafolio, herramienta de autoevaluacion del aprendizaje. Una experiencia práctica en la Universidad de Granada”, it is presented how portfolios can be meaningful and useful tools for student’s self-assessment in their learning process. They concluded that “the use of portfolios favors the motivation and curiosity of the learner towards the learning process, and that it reduces the disorientation and stimulates the individual development and responsibility of the students.”
Later in Malaysia, Arshad (2012) in his study stated that using portfolios as an assessment method in the Malaysian secondary ESL classroom are beneficial for both students and teachers as it enables them to self- assessment, improves student’s motivation, and provide them an overall review of their learning process.
Also, in the highschool Sagrado Corazón de Jesus, located in Barranquilla Colombia, the professor of English 7th grade, Jorge Cuello, stated that portfolios are used as a classroom project. He claimed that “this pedagogic strategy increases the student’s writing skills, their vocabulary, and at the same time they serve as an auto-evaluation
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method in the learner’s performance, and helps improve the communicative competence of the pupils according to the demands of the Common European Framework�.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In this chapter there is stated the research methodology. The methodology comprises the following information ;( 1) Definition of the research method, (2) Data collection techniques, (3) procedures according to the methodology, (4) Piloting report, (5) Budget, and finally (7) Timetable. 1. Definition of the research method The main aim of the Action research is to give solutions to social and daily situations, and improve concrete practices. ( Alvarez-Gayou, 2003; Merriam, 2009). Its fundamental purpose is to give information that can guide the decision-making to educational programs, and different academic processes. Wallace (1998), asserts that Action research involves the collection and analysis of data, which is related to the professional practice. After gathering all the information, and after is being analyzed, we reflect on what we have discovered, and then it is applied to the professional field. For this reasons, it has been decided that this research will be done using this type of research, because it is the more adequate based on the research puroposes. 2.Data collection techniques Based on Sampieri (1999) qualitative research uses the data collection without numerical data, in order to discover and correct the research questions in the interpretation or analysis process. On the other hand, Arias (1997) declared that they are the different ways to get the information. The data collection techniques consist of video and tape recordings, direct observation, notes, questionnaires, interview, journals, among others. In this research, there will be carried out the questionnaire as a data collection technique.
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CUESTIONARIO DE DIAGNÓSTICO El siguiente cuestionario ha sido realizado por Lorena correa y Eliana pulido. Este cuestionario hace parte de una investigación acerca del uso del portafolio como método de evaluación y como una alternativa para mejorar la habilidad de escritura en estudiantes de 10 grado en un colegio público. Por favor, siéntase libre de agregar comentarios o aclaraciones a sus respuestas. Gracias por su colaboración. 1. Cuál es el concepto que usted tiene acerca de portafolio?
2. Ha utilizado alguna vez durante su proceso académico el portafolio? ○ si ○ No 3. Que otro tipo de evaluación es utilizado en su aula de clase actualmente? •
Exámenes
•
Ensayos
•
Evaluación escrita
•
Evaluación oral
4. De qué manera evalúa su maestro su habilidad escrita?
5. Se siente cómodo con el método se evaluación? Con cual? •
Si
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•
no
6. Cómo considera su habilidad de escritura? ○ mala ○ adecuada ○ buena ○ excelente
7. cuáles son los aspectos que cree, debe mejorar?
GRACIAS !
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CUESTIONARIO DE DIAGNÓSTICO Este cuestionario hace parte de una investigación acerca del uso del portafolio como método de evaluación y como una alternativa para mejorar la habilidad de escritura en estudiantes de 10 grado en el colegio Marcelino Champagnat de Armenia. Agradecemos su colaboración al responderlo y adicionar comentarios o aclaraciones que puedan ser útiles para nuestra investigación. 1.
¿Ha utilizado alguna vez durante su proceso académico el portafolio?
•
SI - ¿ En qué asignatura? ¿ cómo lo ha desarollado?
•
NO
2.
¿cuál es el concepto que usted tiene acerca de portafolio académico en su aprendizaje?
•
Recolección de datos
•
Recolección de evidencias de aprendizaje que mejora las habilidades del estudiante y le
induce a reflexionar acerca de ello. •
Recolección de material de una asignatura en específico.
3.
¿qué tipo de evaluación utiliza el profesor en su clase de Inglés?
*Exámenes escritos
*Ensayos
* Traducciones * Otra
* Presentaciones orales
* Evaluación escrita * Portafolio
* Diálogos * Entrevistas
¿ cuáles?
4.
¿con qué método de los mencionados anteriormente se siente más cómodo? ¿por qué?
5.
¿Qué tipo de composiciones utiliza su maestro para evaluar la habilidad escrita?
* Oraciones
* párrafo corto
* párrafo largo
* Ensayo
* Cuentos * Diálogos
* Dictados
* Poemas
* Portafolio
18 * Otra
6.
¿cuál?
¿cómo considera su habilidad de escritura en Inglés?
*Mala 7.
* Adecuada
* Buena
* Excelente
¿cuáles son los aspectos que cree que debe mejorar en cuanto a su habilidad de
escritura? *Puntuación
* coherencia
* cohesión
* uso de un vocabulario académico ( Formal)
GRACIAS!
* vocabulario
* Gramática
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Piloting report Data collection technique: To carry out this project it is implemented a questionnaire in Spanish language since the students do not manage correctly English language. The questionnaire contains seven questions; one of them is an open format question, four of them are multiple choice questions where the student can select several of them, and one question is yes/no question where the students only have two possibilities. In addition, in this question that is the first one, if the student answers “yes” he or she has to answer two short questions more that are related with the principal question. On the other hand, this questionnaire is to diagnose how much 10th grade students know about portfolio; also, to have an idea about their English level in writing skill and how they are evaluated by their English teacher.
Expert concept The questionnaire was revised by Tatiana Laritza Rico, professor of the University of Quindío. In general she stated that the questionnaire was adequate for the grade and the topic, also the questions were useful and meaningful. However, she suggested modifying some questionnaire aspects. For example, some of the questions that were open questions, they had to be multiple choice questions since it facilitates the analysis of them. Besides in this way students understood better the questions and they did not misunderstood them. Moreover, she suggested writing more alternatives in the multiple choice questions because it is important that in some cases students choose more than one option. In addition, the expert Rico said that each question has to be more specific and to include the important concepts. For instance, English subject, writing ability in English and so on. Another aspect she suggested modifying in the questionnaire was to reorganize the order of the questions since if one question derived from another one, it
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was essential to respect the order it means one follow the other one. Finally, she suggested including the option “another one” “which one”.
Changes Made and the Final version The changes in the final version were made taking into account the expert’s suggestions. First at all, it was not necessary to mention the questionnaires authors, so in the final version it was omitted the names. In addition, at the end of the introduction it was modified a sentence in which it was expressed that they can add any comment about if it is useful for the project. It was exchanged positions the questions one and two; the first question places the first questions in the final version and vice versa since the second one was more general and it started to indicate what portfolio is about if they did not have any idea. On the other hand, the second question that was yes /no question was modified it means that if students answer yes, they have to answer two short questions that were inside of it, “¿ En qué asignatura? ¿Cómo lo ha desarrollado?”. In addition, in the third one the expert professor said that it has to be more specific. For that reason, in this question it was added “English class” with this modification, the student realized which class it was referring. Besides, for the answer of this question it was added five kinds of evaluations in order to give more alternatives to the students to choose. Additionally it was changed the position of the fifth question by the fourth one since it was related with the third question. Also, it was modified because it was an open question and as professor Tatiana Rico said it is more comfortable to analyze multiple choices questions than an open question. What she suggested was that it was essential to ask students a question related with the previous one, but to give the same alternatives that it was given in the third question. Although the fifth question retained the same idea, the way it was written changed since it needed to be more elaborated. Moreover, it stopped being an open question to be a multiple choice question; for the answer it was given nine alternatives to select. Besides,
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it was an option called another one? In which the student could add another if it was necessary. Additionally in the sixth question it was needful to focus the question on the English subject since it was very general. This step was required in order not to confuse the students and to obtain an adequate answer since what was needed in this question was information about writing ability in English subjects not in the other ones. Finally, the last question was modified as well. First at all, it was added the phrase “writing ability” principally to be more specific and to obtain an adequate answer, it means that students answered the questions taking into account that writing ability referring in the English subject. Moreover, in this point, it was added six alternatives, so the students had more possibilities to choice and not to confuse the question.
Population The diagnostic questionnaire was applied in 10 th grade students at Institution Educutiva Marcelino Champagnat School located in Las acacias neighborhood, Armenia-Quindío. This questionnaire was answered by 31 students; 20 of them were women and 11 of them were men. These students were around 15 and 17 years old. In addition, these students have five hours of English classes; one student from the University of Quindío teaches two hours, and their English teacher teaches the other three hours.
The Difficulties Respondents found To answer the questionnaire, the respondent mainly had one difficulty. In fact, they did not have very clear the concept of “portfolio”. It was necessary to explain them what portfolio is. As they associated portfolio with portfolio they used in Spanish class, they continued to answer the questionnaire. In addition, more than a difficulty it was a doubt, as it was not specified if they could select one or more options in the multiple choice
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questions, the majority of them asked the same question that if they chose one or more than one alternatives.
Administration Process The questionnaire was applied at Institution Educutiva Marcelino Champagnat to 10 th grade students. It was done on October 1 st, 2013 at 10 o’clock in the morning. At the moment they started to answer the questionnaire, they were in chemist class solving some exercises about it. On the other hand, it was necessary to have a special permission from the academic coordinator. Nevertheless, the first day the questionnaire was going to be applied, he was not there. For that reason, to carry out the questionnaire it was necessary to wait and go another day, it means almost a week later. However, next time the academic coordinator was not there either. As a consequence, the parish coordinator had to give the permission to enter to the school and to apply the questionnaire. By the way, he went to the classroom and told the student a little about the activity. In the classroom the first thing that it was done was to make a short introduction and explain the motive why it was necessary they answer the questionnaire. After that, it was read all the questions and it was asked if they had any doubt about vocabulary, topic or about any question itself. In fact, some of the students asked about the meaning of a specific word “portfolio”. As a consequence, it was explained what portfolio is. On the other hand, the students lasted 20 minutes answering all the questions, during this period of time, they shared their answers although it was said that it was individual. Finally, all of them handed in the questionnaire paper and the students received a thank you for their collaboration.
Findings based on the questionnaire In the first question ¿Ha utilizado alguna vez durante su proceso académico el portafolio?, 19 of 31 students answered “yes”, they answered that they have had
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implemented it in Spanish subject, what they do with it is to compile the worksheets they did in this subject during their class in a folder, then at the end of the period they hand in this portfolio to their teacher. On the contrary, 12 of 31 students answered “no”. it exposes that although they already implemented portfolio, they did not know what it really is.
20 15 10 5 0
si
no
1
In the second question ¿cuál es el concepto que usted tiene acerca de portafolio académico en su aprendizaje?. As it is shown in the graphic number 2, the majority of the students selected the option B which is the correct one. By contrast, only 8 students selected the option A, and 9 of the students selected the option C. This result indicates that fortunately more than half knows what portfolio is, and the others have an idea about it, but it is not as clear as it expected to be
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A. Data collection.
12 10
B. Collection of learning evidence
8
that improves student skills and
6 4
leads him to think of it.
2 0
C. Collection of material from a
OPTION A OPTION B OPTION C
2
specific subject.
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In the question three “¿qué tipo de evaluación utiliza el profesor en su clase de Inglés? ”Students had the possibility to choose more than one option, in this point it is evident that the method that their teacher implemented most is translations; the method that their teacher implemented less is interviews, and the method that their teacher do not use is portfolio
EXAMENES ESCRITOS TRADUCCIONES ENSAYOS PRESENTACIONES ORALES PORTAFOLIO DIALOGOS ENTREVISTAS OTRAS
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In the question four ¿con qué método de los mencionados anteriormente se siente más cómodo? ¿por qué?, 12 of 31 students wrote that they feel more comfortable with written exams because they were easier than the others, also because the students feel confident with this kind of exam since some of them are shy and they do not like to speak in public In addition, written exams have an advantage, students have more time to process their ideas. On the other hand, 11 of the students prefer reductions because with this method they acquired new vocabulary and new phrases; also, because some of them think that translation is interesting.
25 EXAMENES ESCRITOS TRADUCCIONES PRESENTACIONES ORALES DIALOGOS Sector 5 Sector 6 Sector 7 Sector 8
4 5 of the students totality feel comfortable with dialogues because they say that through this method they practice listening and pronunciation. Besides, with dialogues they have time to memorize what they have to say. Finally, 3 students of the whole group prefer oral presentations because this method helps them to improve their pronunciation and to know more about grammatical use.
30 20 10 0
oraciones
parrafo corto
parrafo largo
ensayo
cuentos
5
As the previous graphic shows the result of the question five ÂżQuĂŠ tipo de composiciones utiliza su maestro para evaluar la habilidad escrita?, the kind of composition the teacher uses most to evaluate writing skill to their students is sentences, after this, he uses the construction of paragraphs short and longs. By contrast, the composition he uses less is tales and poems. On the other hand, he does not use portfolio to evaluate writing ability.
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In the sixth question ¿cómo considera su habilidad de escritura en Inglés? 7 students consider that they have a bad writing skill level, 19 of them think that they writing skill ability is adequate. However, 5 students consider their writing skill is good. And none of them consider their writing ability is excellent.
mala adecuada buena excelente
6
Finally, in the last question ¿cuáles son los aspectos que cree que debe mejorar en cuanto a su habilidad de escritura? All the students agree that vocabulary and grammar are the aspects that they need to improve.
30 20 10 0 puntuacion
Líneas 3D 1 vocabulario
7
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Budget
DESCRIPTION
QUANTITY
COST PER UNITY
FINAL COST
Photocopies
32
$ 100
$3200
Visits to the
4
$1500
$6000
institution
28
TIMETABLE
29
TIME 2014
Activity jan.
Problem
Theoretic
febr. march
apr.
may.
june.
X
X
july.
aug.
sep.
Oct.
X
framework
Data
X
collection Data
X
transcriptio n
Data analysis
Final Project
ORAL SUPPORT
X
nov.
Dic.
30
REFERENCES
Ministerio de Educación Nacional. Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo Colombia 2004 2012. Ministerio de Educación Nacional Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: Ingles, 2006. Ausubel, D.P. (1962). A subsumption theory of meaningful verbal learning and retention. The Journal of General Psychology. Brown, D. (2007). Teaching by principles. An interactive approach to pedagogy. San Francisco state university. Pearson Education ( US). Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching young language learners. Oxford university press.
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Zhang ,X and Chen, J.(1989). The techniques to teaching writing. Forum ,vol XXVII (2),34-36. Bello, T. (1997). Writing topics for adult ESL students. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Convention, Orlando. Meadows, R., Dyal, A. ( 1999). Implementing portfolio Assessment in the Development of School Administrators: Improving Preparation for Educational Leadership." Education 120 (2):304. Belanoff, P., Dickson, M. (1991). Portfolios: Process and product. Portsmouth. NH: Heinemann. Romero, A., Crisol, E. (2011). El portafolio, herramienta de autoevaluación del aprendizaje. http://www.uclm.es/varios/revistas/docenciaeinvestigacion/pdf/numero11/02.pdf Arshad, A, S. (2012). The use of portfolio as an assessment tool in the Malaysian l2 classroom. Taken from: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijele/article/view/2851 Arias, E. (1997). Técnica e Instrumento de Recolección de datos. Colombia. Mc-Graw Hill. Sampieri, R., Colado C., Lucio P. (2003). Metodología de la Investigación. (3a. ed.). Mexico, D.F. McGraw- Hill Interamericana. Wallace, M. (1998). Action research for language teachers.Cambridge university press.