CHUYÊN đề hội THẢO các TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN VÙNG DHĐBBB lần THỨ VIII năm 2015 môn TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN hải PHÒNG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Justification of the study
It is a common knowledge that assessment is an indispensable part in the learning and
teaching process. Principally, through evaluation, both teachers and learners can get
positive and negative output in teaching. In addition, by evaluating student
performances, teachers can evaluate both the weak and strong points of the method or
materials that they use in the learning-teaching process, reconsider their way of
teaching, and make necessary adjustments. In terms of students, they can realize their
ability, find out what they are capable of and what is their weakness which should be
overcome.
Recently, teaching strategies in language classrooms are shifting from the traditional way
of enlightening unacquainted learners solely by transmitting knowledge to what students
will need to succeed in the real world (Caner, 2010). Nowadays teachers are demanded
to focus on current language teaching strategies that include thinking critically, learning
to solve problems, and working and communicating with others. However, much of the
assessment work is still done in the traditional method of checking students’
memorization and assessment is mainly conducted at the end of term. It can be
conceded that with the increasing demand of foreign language learning today, it is rather
difficult to do assessment through traditional devices.
It is obvious that multiple- choice tests, usually the only option available from test
publishers, fail to assess higher order skills and other skills essential for functioning in
school or work settings (Haney & Madaus, 1989; Neill & Medina, 1989; O'Neil, 1992:
Wiggins, 1989). Multiple -choice tests are not authentic because they do not represent
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activities students typically perform in classrooms. In addition, multiple- choice tests do
not reflect current theories of learning and cognition and are not based on abilities
students actually need for future success (Herman, 1992). Another concern is that

standardized tests cannot be used to closely monitor student progress in the school
curriculum throughout the year since they are only administered once or twice annually.
Researchers working with populations of adult “intermediate” and “advanced” L2
learners do not always have access to standardized proficiency scores (such as the TOEFL
for L2 English) that have been collected shortly (e.g., less than three months) before the
study. Since these standardized tests are designed for specific decision-making purposes,
they may also not be appropriate for a given study. To avoid the pitfalls of not
adequately documenting L2 proficiency, researchers should find and administer a
proficiency test that is sufficiently integrative (e.g., assessing not only morphosyntactic
competence, but also lexical and discourse competence), meets validity and reliability
standards of testing research while discriminating between L2 learners (for discussion,
see Brown , 1996), and can be completed within the time constraints of an
experimental paradigm. Depending on the target language, it may even be necessary to
create such a test. Given the ability of portfolio assessment to meet these criteria, their
flexibility, and their ease of creation and relative ease of scoring, we believe that they are
an excellent tool for assessing L2 proficiency in a language classroom.
Caner (2010) states that new forms of student assessment are developed in order to
demonstrate what students are learning and what they can do with their knowledge.
These new forms of assessment, known variously as alternative or authentic measures,
require students to perform in some ways such as writing, demonstrating, explaining, or
constructing a project or experiment.
One of the alternative assessment procedures that has gained much interest in the field
of language teaching is portfolio assessment, which is regarded as an ongoing
assessment procedure. Gosselin (cited in Caner 2010) defines ongoing assessment as
examining and documenting learner progress at certain intervals in the learning process.
In addition, a portfolio has a wide range of meanings from a “drawer” into which
documents and other materials such as students’ worksheets are placed, to a highly
structured framework for holistic assessment of an individual (Davis, 2005). To sum up,
basically portfolio is defined as a purposeful collection of any aspect of the student’s
work which is kept in a file folder, box, or any durable and expandable container that tells

the student's improvement, progress, and achievement (Javanmard & Farahani, 2012).
Despite its popularity, it is a great misfortune that this innovative form of assessment has
had very limited application in EFL teaching in Vietnam especially in high school level
where most of evaluation work focuses on grammar presentation. I believe that there
should be something new which helps to change the learning and testing culture in high
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school level where I teach and the innovative nature and procedure of portfolio is sure to
meet our demand of evaluating our students’ learning progress and fostering their active
role in assessment process.
2. Aims of the study
This study aims at:
- Using portfolio to assess students’ English language proficiency at English class
11, Tran Phu Major High School, Haiphong City, Vietnam.
- Suggesting solutions to improve students’ English language proficiency at
English class 11, Tran Phu Major High School, Haiphong City, Vietnam.
3. Methods of the study

The study is conducted with the combination of qualitative and quantitative method. As
regards the qualitative, descriptive and interpretative approaches are made in order to
find out the facts about current situation of the school, the teachers and students. In
addition, formal interviews are done to figure out the teachers and students’ opinion
about portfolio assessment and how they can make progress in their learning.
Turning to quantitative method, statistical analysis is carried out in order to find out
evidence for students’ improvement in their learning process.
4. Scope of the study

There are a wide range of portfolio types and they can be used for students’ ongoing
assessment of different subjects and skills of English. Within this paper, we would like to

focus on the use of teacher-student portfolio to assess students’ English proficiency.
5. Design of the study

The study consists of three parts organized as follow:
• Part one provides justification, aims, scope and design of the study.
• Part two with three separate chapters in which
 Chapter one provides a brief view of the literature review.
 Chapter two elaborates the current teaching and learning situation in Tran Phu
Major High School, especially English class.
 Chapter three presents a detailed description of the application procedures of
portfolio in assessment.
 Chapter four focuses on the findings and recommendation.
• Part three is conclusion in which major issues are recapitulated and some
implications are mentioned.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
1. Portfolio Assessment in EFL Teaching and Learning
Portfolios have been most widely used in the teaching of reading and writing, with a
strong focus on classroom instruction, student ownership and self- evaluation, and
teacher autonomy (Graves, 1983; Tierney, Carter, & Desai, 1991). More recently, portfolios
have been proposed and adopted as statewide student assessment management tools in
addition to or instead of standardized achievement test data (Baron, 1992b; Brewer, 1990;
O'Neil, 1992; Rothman, 1991). Provided that the purpose of portfolio contents is to
expand understanding of a student's growth based on multiple measures, different kinds
of test and non-test data can be included in a portfolio. Portfolios might also contain
required information for state- or district-wide systems, but these data need not

dominate or divert portfolio assessment from being used to inform classroom instruction.
Neiman (2007) defines portfolio assessment as a selected collection of work that shows
not only the best work, but also the development of the individual's work over a period
of time. The students are expected to be independent thinkers or produce individual
solutions to problems they face. Ramazan (2012) asserts that a portfolio, in education,
stands for a kind of student-centered assessment. Unlike the traditional assessment
processes, portfolio assessments enable learners to participate in the evaluation of their
own works because students can decide the content of the portfolio through the given
directions of the instructor.
In practical terms, a student portfolio for assessment purposes is a “library” of reports,
papers, and other materials, together with the student’s reflection on his or her learning
and on strengths and weaknesses. The assessment portfolio is prepared by an individual
student either at the direction of the teacher or as uniquely planned by the student. It
may also contain reports of grades, evaluations, and examinations, and it is usually held
together in some appropriate binder (Lynch & Shaw cited in Huang, 2012).
As portfolios can provide a rich view of learning process, a portfolio is often seen as a
highly valid instrument for assessment. However, the data in a portfolio, being often
descriptive, context-bound and personal, ask for much interpretation before they can be
scored (Moss, cited in Schaaf 2005). This view is supported by Wolf and Dietz (cited in
Schaaf 2005) who conclude that portfolios normally contain selected evidence of
performance and products in various contexts accompanied by a teacher’s comments
and reflections.
Generally speaking, for some a portfolio is a folder containing all the student work;
others see it as a collection of the student’s best work. The literature reviewed on
portfolios reveals that there are many types of portfolios in use. According to Columba &
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Dolgos (cited in Ramazan 2012), there are basically three types of portfolios to consider
for classroom use.

2. Models of Portfolio Assessment
According to Columba & Dolgos (cited in Ramazan 2012) there are three kinds of
Portfolio for assessment. They are:
2.1. Showcase
This type of portfolio focuses on the student’s best and most representative work. This
type of portfolio is similar to an artist’s portfolio where a variety of work is selected to
reflect breadth of talent. Therefore, in this portfolio the student selects what he or she
thinks is representative work. This folder is most often seen at open houses and parent
visitations.
2.2. Teacher - Student Portfolio
This type of portfolio is often called the “working portfolio” or a “working folder”. This is
an interactive teacher - student portfolio that aids in communication between teacher
and student. The teacher and student conference add or delete within the content of the
show-case portfolio.
2.3. Teacher Alternative Assessment Portfolio
All the items in this type of portfolio are scored, rated, ranked, or evaluated. Teachers can
keep individual student portfolios that are solely for the teacher’s use as an assessment
tool. This is a focused type of portfolio and is a model of the holistic approach to
assessment.
Due to its strengths and applicability, we select student-teacher portfolio for this study
and would like to see how it can be used and how much it can help to assess students’
English language proficiency.
3. Models and Implementation of Portfolio Assessment in EFL Classrooms
Models and Implementation of Portfolio Assessment in EFL Classrooms Reviewing the
literature, different models of portfolio assessment are suggested for developing and
implementing portfolio assessment programs in EFL classrooms. Gomez (cited in Serhani
2007) proposes a portfolio assessment model for EFL learners which includes eleven
interrelated levels of assessment activities:
• Decide goals and content
• Design the portfolio assessment program

• Develop scoring criteria and standards of performance
• Align tasks to standards and curriculum
• Implement at pilot sites, provide staff development, and analyze results
• Implement at all sites
• Train teachers to score
• Establish guidelines for administration
• Score the portfolios
• Report the results
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•

Evaluate the program

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Chapter 2: Applying Portfolio in Assessing English Language Proficiency
1. An Investigation into the Current Situation of Teaching and Assessment of EFL in
English Class, Tran Phu Major High School
1.1. Introduction
To realize the objectives of this study, first there is an overview on Tran Phu Major High
School, in which background, facility, trend of development of the school is briefly
presented. Then for a better understanding about the school, some information about
the teaching and assessment will be addressed. In addition, an analysis on teaching
methods, materials, and material assessments will be conducted to help the researcher
have better understanding about the learning and teaching and assessment at Tran Phu
Gifted Major School (TMHS) thus finding suitable methods of assessment to improve
students’ English language proficiency.

1.2. An Overview on Tran Phu Major High School
Tran Phu Major High School is the only high school for gifted students in Haiphong city.
Its operation and development contributed greatly to the quality of high school
education in Haiphong city. With 30 year operation, it has been noted for a large number
of excellent students gaining national and international awards regarding a variety of
subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, so on and so forth.
Tran Phu Major High School has forty-five classes specializing in mathematics, physics,
chemistry, literature, English, French, Russian, Chinese with the total number of more
than one thousand students. There are six English classes divided equally into three
grades 10, 11, and 12. Each class has thirty-five students and their English competence is
nearly the same because they have to pass an entrance exam designed especially for
gifted students. This fact assures that the students surveyed are competent enough to
take part in any kind of assessment.
English has been one of the key subjects introduced in teaching curriculum of Tran Phu
Major High School. All students including the major and non-major have English as a
compulsory subject.
1.3. Learners and Learning Requirements
Learners at Tran Phu Major High School are selectively enrolled from different secondary
schools in the area of Haiphong city. They need to pass an entrance exam specially
designed for gifted students. Therefore almost all of them perform well at school.
However, there are two types of students to be taken into consideration: one specializing
in English and the other specializing in other subjects. There is a huge discrepancy in
their English ability and it becomes a real challenge to select an appropriate measure for
assessment.

1.4.

Teachers and Teaching Methods
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In Tran Phu Major High School, there are one hundred and twenty-one teachers including
eleven teachers of English providing lessons for over six hundred students. Ninety
percent of them have Master degree in English language learning. The oldest teachers
have more than twenty years teaching experience, and the youngest just more than a
year. Annually, the teachers participate in different national and international seminars
Foreign Language teaching and learning, doing scientific research in improving teaching
techniques, thereby they constantly access to new teaching methods. Teachers of English
at TMHS also can get approach to a colossal stock of English books imported from
prestigious publishers such as Longman, Thompson, Cambridge, etc.
From this fact, we can clearly deduce that teachers of English at TMHS are highly
adaptive to new teaching methods and update information about teaching English
nationwide and even worldwide and competent enough to conduct any teaching
program as well assessment project.
1.5. Assessment Methods
In TMHS assessment procedures vary from multiple choice tests to essay assignments.
From standardized tests with cloze tests, matching, multiple choice to informal
assessment, say, presentation, students’ project. Students’ English proficiency is assessed
during and at the end of the semester. There is one test for all non-major students and
one for students of English major.
To guarantee the fairness in assessment, all students sit in an exam at the same time and
students from different classes are mixed to create the exam list.
2. Applying Portfolio in Assessing English Language Proficiency
There is no "right" way to design portfolios. Each classroom, school district, and state will
reflect a unique approach to authentic assessment, and in this sense, each student's
collection of documents will differ somewhat, depending on the purpose of the
assessment (Tierney, Carter & Desai, 1991). Creating and maintaining student portfolios
require that a variety of teacher and staff’s decisions be made concerning the
instructional goals or objectives to be assessed, who will be involved in the portfolio
design and interpretation, what instruments will be selected and how student

performance will be demonstrated, how portfolio information will be used, and how the
results will be conveyed to others. Because the entire portfolio process can be complex
systematic review and evaluation of the process should be conducted on a periodic basis.
Steps to portfolio development should include designing the portfolio, planning for and
collecting the necessary data, analyzing the portfolio contents, and using the results
(Moya & O'Malley, in press). Each of these points will be described in the following
sections.
2.1.
Designing Portfolios
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For the purposes of assessment, the material in a student portfolio is most useful when
each piece collected reflects progress toward particular learning goals. To this end,
portfolios can be designed following a multi-step process that involves:
• setting the purpose of the portfolio
• focusing on specific learning goals
• identifying performance tasks and/or selecting appropriate instruments
• setting criteria
• selecting students to be assessed
• collaborating with other teachers and staff
• conducting staff development; and
• involving students and parents in the portfolio development process
Purpose
Before collecting any samples of student work, the first step in planning a portfolio is to
determine the purpose for conducting the assessment, and how the results will be used
(Moya & O'Malley, in press; Navarrete et al., 1990). Will the results be used for making
decisions related to classroom instruction? Will they be used to determine whether a
student is ready to move out of a special English language support program, such as ESL,
ESL-content, or bilingual education? Will they be used to aid in assigning a student grade?

Specifying how the results of the portfolio assessment are to be used will assist in
determining the goals to be assessed and the samples of student work to be collected.
Within this study, we would like to assess students’ English proficiency with reference to
their ability of reading, writing, listening and speaking in English at pre-intermediate level
in order to see if they can communicate effectively in the real circumstance.
2.3.
Specific Focus
The second step in portfolio design is focusing the portfolio on specific learning goals.
Each portfolio should have a specific focus determined by school staff. The focus may be
on oral or written language skills or on content area skills such as those required in
mathematics, science or social studies. Objectives may also be selected from goals
contained in local curriculum frameworks, state guidelines, program objectives, or
consensus among ESL/bilingual and mainstream teachers concerning important goals for
learning. While it may be possible to collect student work for all content areas as well as
for English language skills in a single student folder focus, on the other hand, avoids
having to go through an overwhelming amount of information in each portfolio
As aforementioned, this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of using portfolio to assess
students’ English proficiency, it is therefore understandable that their ability of reading,
writing, speaking, and listening should be focused. The results of assessment will be used
as a source of evidence for the school to adjust their curriculum, teachers to adjust their
teaching methods so that students can get improvement in their English study.
2.4.
Performance Task
2.2.

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Once learning goals and performance objectives have been identified, portfolio designers
need to identify performance tasks and instruments to be used to measure whether

learning goals are being attained. School staff should strive to combine traditional and
performance assessment measures in order to get multiple indicators of a student's ability
level.
Each portfolio should also contain items which are required to assess progress on
particular instructional goals and others which are optional. Required items might include
those which are necessary to communicate a student's progress to other teachers or to
administrators and can include a student's "best work," while optional items could include
drafts of work in progress, ongoing ratings of performance, and occasional pieces selected
by the student (Valencia, 1990). The use of required items introduces an element of
consistency in the evaluation of student portfolios. By making certain items obligatory and
others optional, teachers get the information they need for making instructional decisions
while also encouraging students to participate actively in portfolio design and use.
In English class in TGHS, the student-teacher portfolio is designed with the requirement of
teacher observation log which enables to the teacher to regulate their student’s work
regularly (see Appendix 1), books, audiotape of students’ performance, test results, the
samples of what students should do. The requirement for each skill of English including
reading, writing, speaking and listening is different. The following figures elaborate what a
portfolio for each skill includes.

Figure 1: Portfolio for Reading
• Teacher observation log
• Examples of what student can read
• Books/materials read
• Audiotape of student reading
• Test results, formal and informal
• Conferencing forms
• Examples of skills mastered
Figure 2: Portfolio for Writing
• Teacher observation log
• Learning log, dialog journal

• Weekly writing samples
• Drafts and final products from different genres (personal narratives, exposition,
letters, poems, essays reports)
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•

Graphics (illustrations, diagrams)

Figure 3: Portfolio for Speaking
• Teacher observation log
• Samples of speaking task including students’ mono-talks and conversations
• Lists of topics for speaking tasks
• Audiotape of Weekly Students’ Performance including students’ mono-talks and
conversations
• Performance results (Formal and informal)

Figure 4: Portfolio for Listening
• Teacher observation log
• Examples of what student can listen
• Books/materials listened
• Audiotape of student listening
• Test results, formal and informal
• Students’ self-created listening tasks
For all the four skills of English, it is important to include teacher observation log in the
portfolio since it enables the teacher to keep consistent supervision on the students’
work. The observation log can be designed from the simple task of giving signature and
mark to more complex structure of signature, comment, feedback, instruction,
recommendation, grading lists, so on and so forth. It depends on the task type that the

teacher can decide what is necessary in his or her log. In addition, examples of what
students can read and listen are also necessary. It provides a guideline for the students in
their reading and listening performance. Third, it is essential that students present what
they have read or listened such as books, materials, CDs, etc. they are very important in
showing how much effort students have made to achieve their target at learning. Video
tapes or test results are evidence showing students’ commitment in the task. Regarding
writing and speaking portfolio, samples, first and final drafts, record of students’
performance in speaking are collected so that we can keep an eye on students’ progress.
2.5.
Setting Criteria
Teachers should determine criteria (performance standards) for interpreting portfolio
contents before collecting any student data. Performance criteria must be established in
order to determine the degree to which a student has attained the objectives each
task/instrument is designed to assess. Teachers need to identify and establish a minimum
number of specific objectives that illustrate attainment of the instructional goals. One way
to set criteria is to require students to perform tasks either independently or with
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assistance. Another possibility is to define expected student performance in narrative or
anecdotal form. The narrative can specify what the students should be able to do to meet
the criteria for performance or growth over time.
The criteria set for this study can be summarized in the table that follows:
Criteria

Interpretation

Excell
-ent
=4

Content

1.

Grading and Marking
Good Fairly Poorly
good performed
=3
=2
=1

No perfor
mance
=0

Authenticity

Validity
Representativeness
Form 1. Grammar
2. Lexis
3. Pronunciation
Table 1: Criteria for Writing Assessment Portfolio
2.6.
Student Selection
Portfolio teams or individual teachers need to consider several factors when deciding
whether to implement portfolio assessment with one or more students. If the classroom
teacher is acting on his/her own to gather the information (without any support from
other school staff), initially it may be advisable to limit the number of portfolios to only a

few students. This can prevent teachers from being overwhelmed by the data collection
and analysis effort and giving up before experiencing the benefits of portfolio assessment.
In our own case, a portfolio is assigned to three different students. Accordingly, a class of
thirty is divided into ten separate groups possessing 10 distinctive portfolios. This way of
division enables the teacher to make full use of students’ collaboration or their team
work; however, there is also requirement for individual performance.
Questions to ask regarding which students will participate in the portfolio process are:
2.
3.

• Will the portfolio be used in only one classroom?
• Will it be used only with students participating in a particular program (such as ESL,
bilingual education)?

• Will the process be limited to a single or multiple grade levels?
• Will all students in each classroom be assessed using portfolio?
• Will the procedure be limited to only those individuals needing frequent
monitoring?
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In fact, we are aware of the authenticity and validity of using portfolio assessment so the
same requirement is given regarding portfolio design and distribution. It is used in two
kinds of students with the same check lists but different requirements.
Data collection for portfolio assessment consists of identifying information to be entered
into the portfolio, determining the frequency of data collection, creating a system to
record and monitor the frequency of data collection, and setting guidelines for the
removal and updating of portfolio material. These guidelines may vary depending on the
purpose of the portfolio. At our high school, portfolios can be updated on a semester
basis with the aim of assessing students’ on-going performance rather than their end of

term test results.
A part of the portfolio can be added or removed pending the specific requirement of each
stage. The adjustment is also to assess students’ performance more accurately.
2.7.
Analyzing Portfolio Content
To determine whether a portfolio's contents reflect a student's progress toward learning
goals the teacher or portfolio assessment team can match contents to specific learning
goals and objectives on a cover sheet, as illustrated in the Sample Portfolio Analysis Form.
The Portfolio Analysis Form includes learning objective(s), illustrations of student
progress, specific citations or page reference to materials that support each objective. It
also houses what students can do and need to fulfill. Summary comments,
interpretations, and recommendations can be added at the bottom of the Portfolio
Analysis Form. These anecdotal notes help interpret and integrate the results of student
performance across various measures or skill areas. Forms such as the one in Figure 5
offer several advantages: teachers can indicate the relationship between each item in the
portfolio and the objectives being assessed; they can make specific suggestions for
instructional adaptations to student needs; and they can sift through portfolio contents
periodically to remove materials that, although interesting, have no use in evaluating
students’ progress.
To determine how students acquiring English as their second language are progressing in
comparison to other students, performance assessments can be administered to native or
proficient English-speaking grade-level peers in mainstream classes and average rating
calculated for these students as well as for the English language learners. Administering
any of the performance assessments described in this publication to a locally selected,
"average" group of English-speaking peers will provide the most meaningful basis for
comparison. This will inform the teacher regarding both the English learner's progress and
his/her preparation for functioning at an independent/average level in a typical
mainstream classroom.
PORFOLIO ANALYSIS FORM
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Date:
Student:
Teacher:
Class:
Learning objective: Mastery of Paragraph Writing
Performance Task
Contents illustrating
References
Date
Signature
student progress
Demonstrate ability Literacy
performance
and
interest
in checklist
varieties of writing
Write the topic Performance of the
sentence
components of topic
sentence
Write the supporting Evidence of Coherence
sentences
and Cohesion
Evidence of Grammar
Accuracy and Variety
Evidence of Lexical
Accuracy and Variety

Write
concluding Performance of the
sentence
components of the
concluding sentence
Summary comments:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Using Portfolio Results
There are a variety of ways in which portfolio results can be used. However, the results
from portfolio assessment can be used for but not limited to the following purposes:
(i)
to diagnose and identify students’ strengths and needs with regard to major
curriculum objectives;
(ii)
to monitor student progress over the course of the semester or school year;
(iii) to feedback on the effectiveness of instruction if individual students are not
progressing, the instructional approach should be re-evaluated and appropriate
adaptations made to meet each student's needs. One possible conclusion is that a
student needs instructional support beyond the services provided by the
classroom(s) in which the portfolio has been maintained;
(iv) to adjust teachers’ teaching method in case it is not up to students’ requirement
or expectation;
2.8.

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(v)

(vi)

to communication with other teachers including other members of the portfolio
team and supports instructional decisions;
to avoid time consuming.

Chapter three: Findings and Discussion
1. Advantages of Portfolio Assessment applied in English classes, Tran Phu Major
High School
1.1. Portfolio is more motivating
It is obvious that portfolio can monitor and assess students’ progress over time.
Students’ autonomous learning ability can be developed through the activity of keeping a
portfolio developed. Up to 91.4% of major students (32/35 of the sampled students)
state that they are more motivated in their learning process when the assessment form
of portfolio is put in use because they are well aware of what they need to do to achieve
their learning objective. It is not like the standardized test like close test or multiple
which tends to be too challenging to overcome. They are often overloaded with such
types of tests because they don’t know what to be tested and how. Simultaneously,
94.2% of non-major students agree that they are more motivated and can control their
studying progress; therefore they feel more relaxed when portfolio assessment is
applied.

Question 1: Are you motivated in learning English thanks to the application of PA?

By compiling a portfolio, the students are able to frequently set goals, reflect on their
learning results and check on their progress, conduct self-assessment and peerassessment by consulting the given criteria with the teacher’s guidance. In addition,
Baume (2000) claims that portfolios are a very effective method for stimulating,
supporting, integrating and assessing student work.
The second major strength of portfolio assessment is that it provides involvement and
collaboration in the learning process and its assessment. It is apparent that teachers have

to do more than just lecturing or teaching and students just listening in this process or
studying for tests. They in fact have to collaborate in the process of assessment. This is
what Davis (2005) confirms that portfolio assessment can be the focus of initiating a
discussion between student and tutor. Anyway, this form of assessment not only

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promotes teacher-student cooperation but also triggers peer collaboration. Students
work together to achieve their learning target.
Thanks to teacher assistance and guidance, students get involved in preparing their own
portfolios. This helps students gain a sense of responsibility towards their work. When
students are involved in reflection activities and setting goals for future progress, they
become more self-critical and reflective about their activities, as Davis (2005) reminds us
that portfolio promotes students’ critical thinking.
As regards teachers, portfolios provide teachers with a broad opportunity to find out who
each student is, what that student knows and does not know. It enables the teacher to
see students as individuals, each with his or her own unique of characteristics and needs.
Besides, it offers teachers vital information for diagnosing students’ strengths and
weaknesses to help them improve their English language performance.
Finally, the form of assessment would support teachers with an effective tool both for
assessing students' performance and for revising their own teaching and learning
processes. They can provide students valuable comments as feedback that reflects
improvement in their future work. This is even more important than purely a mark even
an excellent mark given to the end of each lesson on a multiple choice or cloze test
paper. Then students have no idea what they need to overcome and what to make full
use of.
However, with detail comments and recommendations, teachers can get positive
feedbacks from their students and thereby obtain clear insights into their teaching.
Subsequently, teaching plans and strategies can be modified to improve the instructional

process in the classrooms.
1.2. Portfolios are inclusive

Assessment portfolios can be compiled for students of different ability and background.
Mainly poorly performed students are often excluded from norm-referenced and
criterion-referenced testing programs because of their lack of proficiency in English.
However, with this form of assessment, teachers can assess all types of students because
it simply involves collecting sample of student work and scoring them according to
predetermined criteria. This form of assessment also includes teachers and school
administrators to get involved.
Portfolios demonstrate student learning and achievement more accurately
than single test scores do
Assessment portfolio systems can be designed to assess knowledge gained or skills
developed in any content area. As described above portfolios provide a rich source of
information because they can include documentation of a student’s educational
1.2.1.

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background; multiple examples of student work; and scores on norm-referenced or
criterion referenced tests, along with standardized English proficiency tests.
Moreover, entries in a portfolio are more likely to be representative of the effects of
instruction than are norm-referenced test scores. This form of assessment becomes an
effective tool for teachers to monitor their teaching process and adjust their curriculum if
necessary. Portfolios, even, can be used by educators to determine how well an
educational program work.
Single-occasion, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced tests may be linguistically and
culturally biased, and they do not distinguish between example, one writing prompt used
in a state performance assessment asks students to write a business letter to the school

principal making suggestions about a recreation center that is being built, including what
students would do there, what equipment might be needed, and who might work in the
center.
By incorporating both teachers and students, this form of assessment becomes more
reliable. Students are also asked to write about what benefit the student and other might
gain from the center. A newly arrived immigrant student may not know what a recreation
center is, and therefore could not do well on this assessment even though the student
may be able to write a coherent argument about another topic.
1.3. Portfolios can result in improved student learning

Perhaps the most compelling reason for teachers to apply portfolio assessment is that
they can greatly improve student learning. By using assessment portfolios, teachers can
include students in the process of setting educational goals and developing scoring criteria
in the form of rubrics, checklists, and rating scales. Students can become involved in
assessing their own and others’ work based on the scoring criteria, thus focusing on the
academic goals they are trying to achieve.
From data analysis conducted with students’ scorings at the end of term standardized
tests of multiple choice test shows that students especially with non-major students get
much improved. The mark range changes mainly from 6-8 into 8-10. This is a very positive
signal of students’ learning improvement. Informal interviews with these subjects reveal
that they can master a language problem more easily and for long when they have to find
it out themselves. Also they feel more interested in their developing portfolio so they
remember the lessons more easily.

1.4. Portfolios can promote improved teaching
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When teachers decide to put into practice an assessment portfolio system in their school
or classroom, this decision involves in-depth often time-consuming discussions about

what assessment information they need and how they can obtain it. These discussions
lead teachers to the development of scoring criteria such as rubrics, checklists, and rating
scales. Teachers clarify their goals for their classes as the scoring criteria emerge. Once
goals and expectations are defined, teachers often try to align their scoring criteria to
their goals for their students. This process naturally leads teachers to evaluate their
teaching methods and helps them move toward a more learner-centered teaching model.
In such classrooms, students have greater control over their own learning and teachers
act more as facilitators than as dispensers of knowledge. Thus, portfolios not only ensure
that teachers will encourage students to use self-assessment to focus student attention
on goals and expectations, but encourage teachers to evaluate their own instructional
practices as well.
1.5. Portfolio facilitates cooperation

The task of portfolio assessment can get both teachers and students involved. Students
also cooperate with each other to create portfolio representing for a group. Thereby, they
can strengthen their team work skill and become more motivated.
1.6. Students are more active in learning

In fact, students need to think twice during class time because they are the main subject
matter of the teaching and assessing process. They have to think hard to select the
materials for their self-study. In addition, they need to cooperate with other students as
well as teachers to have effective assessment. Last but not least, they can control their
own learning progress. All of these tasks make them become more active and selfconfident in learning.
2. Disadvantages of Portfolio Assessment applied in English classes, Tran Phu Major

High School
Despite enormous appeals of portfolio assessment, we also need to admit that there are
some downsizes when applying this form of assessment.
2.1. It is difficult to change students’ learning and assessment culture
First, we need to change students’ awareness of being passive in learning. This tends to

be a culture of learning in English classes in Vietnamese high school contexts.
Second, appropriate guidelines must be provided beforehand so that students need to
know what they have to do during the semester. Third, this form of assessment requires
the collaboration of other school staff so it is a bit demanding because school staff get
used to the conventional form of assessment.
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2.2. Portfolio assessment is time consuming

Contrary to what people often assume that portfolio assessment is time consuming
because a lot of work has been done regarding both students and teachers. Students have
to spend a huge amount of time preparing for their portfolio, while it does take time of
the teachers to do the grading and comments. It in fact turns out opposite because
portfolio assessment, if designed appropriately and well-managed, can largely save time.
The following recommendations enable teachers to manage their time more thoroughly.
(1) make the data collection part of daily instructional routines;
(2) make students responsible for collecting information on a regular basis;
(3) identify specific items that go into the portfolio and list them on a portfolio analysis
form;
(4) initially, use portfolios with only two or three students who need intensive
monitoring;
(5) share responsibilities of data collection and interpretation with students by making
full use of peer assessment; and
(6) create common planning times for teachers and students involved in portfolio
development.
2.3. Portfolio assessment is difficult to score

Portfolios pose a scoring dilemma for two reasons. First, developing and using scoring
criteria require labor-intensive staff discussion and training. Educators must keep second

language acquisition principles in mind as the scoring criteria are developed, to ensure
that the criteria are valid and reliable for all students, including English language learners.
When appropriate, content rather than language form should be the focus of assessment
portfolio systems that include English language learners.

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PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Recapitulation
Portfolio assessment has been widely used all over the world thanks to its advantages.
Anyway, teachers and school administrators all realize that their students can be assessed
from different aspects but not just mock learning. Not only their end of course is marked
but also their on-going efforts are realized. It helps a lot in encouraging students to get
involved in both their learning and assessment process.
Teachers and school administrators also find it necessary to adopt portfolio assessment
because they can get not only the solid and rigid marks from the end of term papers, but
they can recognize who their students really are.
Moreover, this form of assessment can boost the spirit of cooperation in learning and this
is very essential for students’ comprehensive development. Added to this, students feel
more self-confident in their learning process as they are the subjects of the assessment
task but they are also active in this process themselves. By and large, portfolio assessment
partly helps to change the passive learning culture into a more active one.
2. Suggestions for further study

Due to the limitation of time and ability, we cannot cover all aspects of portfolio
assessment. We also fail to provide all relevant examples of portfolio checklists therefore
we would like to recommend that the latter study should be devoted to designing one
specific portfolio to see how much assessment can affect learning and teacher process.
And vice-versa how much learning and teaching culture will be adapted to the assessment

form. They are two interwoven and interactive processes which support one another.

PART D: SOURCES OF DATA & REFERENCES
(Haney & Madaus, 1989; Neill & Medina, 1989; O'Neil, 1992: Wiggins, 1989)

1. Neill, D.M., & Medina, N.J. (1989). Standardized testing: Harmful to educational
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2. Bachman, L.F., & Palmer, A. S. (1989). The construct validation of self-ratings of
communicative language ability. Language Testing, 6(1), 14- 29.
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3. Baron, J.B. (1992a, March). Learning and assessment: Achieving the match.
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4. Baron, J.B. (1992b). Performance- based assessment in mathematics and science:
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5. Brewer, W.R. (1990). Performance assessment in Vermont. (Policy Briefs Nos. 10
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6. Cohen, A.D. (1980). Testing language ability in the classroom. Rowley, MA:
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7. Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). (1991). State assessment of
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9. Cummins, J. (1983). Conceptual and linguistic foundations of language
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10. Freeman, Y.S., & Freeman, D.E. (1992a, Winter/Spring). Portfolio assessment for
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11. Freeman, Y.S., & Freeman, D.E. (1992b). Whole language for second language
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13. Kolls, M.R. (1992, March). Portfolio assessment: A feasibility study. Paper
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17. O'Malley, J.M., & Pierce, L.V. (1991). A survey of state assessment practices
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18. O'Malley, J.M., & Pierce, L.V. (1992, March). Portfolio assessment: Experiences
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to Speakers of Other Languages. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

19. O'Neil, J. (1992, May). Putting performance assessment to the test. Educational
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20. Rhodes, L.K., & Nathenson-Mahia, S. (1992). Anecdotal records: A powerful tool
for ongoing literacy assessment. The Reading Teacher, 45, 502-09.

21. Roeber, E.D. (1990). Performance assessment: A national perspective (Policy
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