Kim Rimma

Taraz State Pedagogical Institute

Taraz, Kazakhstan

Portfolio as an assessment tool of evaluating students’ knowledge

A portfolio is a collection of student work with a common theme or purpose. The use of portfolios is not new. Portfolios have been common in the fine and performing arts for years in seeking support for one’s work, to document change or improvement in style and performance, or to gain admission to special schools. Broad expansion into the academic arena took place in the 1990s as part of the movement toward performance assessment. This change was fostered by a climate of criticism of traditional assessment techniques, especially multiple-choice testing [1].

The focus here is on the use of portfolios for assessment, but portfolios can be utilized to achieve other goals. Portfolios may, for example, document varied experiences of the learner in a course or class, provide points for discussion between learner and teacher or among learners, and represent change in the student’s technique or skill over time. Portfolios as an assessment tool are often described as a more authentic means of assessment than the traditional classroom test. Rather than showing that the learner knows what has been taught, the portfolio demonstrates that the student can do what has been taught. For example, we may identify the component parts of a short story on an objective test.

But the inclusion of a short story in a portfolio documents our ability to write a short story. However, describing portfolio assessment as authentic suggests that other forms of assessment are less valid, or inappropriate. That is not the case. Different methods of assessment are useful for different purposes.

Portfolio assessment is most appropriate when learning can be best demonstrated through a product. The use of the portfolio as an assessment tool is a process with multiple steps. The process takes time, and all of the component parts must be in place before the assessment can be utilized effectively. Decide on a purpose or theme. General assessment alone is not a sufficient goal for a portfolio. It must be decided specifically what is to be assessed. Portfolios are most useful for addressing the student’s ability to apply what has been learned.

Therefore, a useful question to consider is, what skills or techniques do we want the students to learn to apply? The answer to this question can often be found in the school curriculum. Consider what samples of student work might best illustrate the application of the standard or educational goal in question. Written work samples, of course, come to mind. However, videotapes, pictures of products or activities, and testimonials are only a few of the many different ways to document achievement. Determine how samples will be selected. A range of procedures can be utilized here. Students, maybe in conjunction with parents and teachers, might select work to be included, or a specific type of sample might be required by the teacher, the school, or the school system. Decide whether to assess the process and the product or the product only.

Assessing the process would require some documentation regarding how the learner developed the product. For example, did the student use the process for planning a short story or utilizing the experimental method that was taught in class? Was it used correctly? Evaluation of the process will require a procedure for accurately documenting the process used. The documentation could include a log or video of the steps or an interview with the student. Usually, if both the process and the product are to be evaluated, a separate scoring system will have to be developed for each [2].

Usually this is best done through the use of a rubric, a point scale with descriptors that explain how the work will be evaluated. Points are allotted with the highest quality work getting the most points. If the descriptors are clear and specific, they become goals for which the student can aim.

There should be a separate scale for each standard being evaluated. For example, if one standard being assessed is the use of grammatically correct sentence structure, five points might be allotted if all sentences are grammatically correct. Then, a specific number of errors would be identified for all other points with zero points given if there are more than a certain number of errors.

It is important that the standards for evaluation be carefully explained. If we evaluate for clarity of writing, then an operational description of what is meant by clarity should be provided. Points available should be small enough to be practical and meaningful; an allotment of 20 points for clarity is not workable because an evaluator cannot really distinguish between a 17- and an 18-point product with regard to clarity. Share the scoring system with the students. Qualitative descriptors of how the student will be evaluated, known in advance, can guide learning and performance. Engage the learner in a discussion of the product [3].

The teacher has decided to evaluate just the product because there are a variety of processes that could lead to production of a well-written paragraph and it is not really important which process the student uses. Points will be awarded for each main component of the product. For example, three points will be awarded for grammar if no grammatical errors are present and one point will be taken off for each error.

A student with more than three grammatical errors will not receive any points in this category. However, the teacher must describe what is meant by the term “grammatically correct.” One possible description might be, “no errors in tense, punctuation, or sentence structure.” Variety in use of vocabulary could be described as the inclusion of at least a certain number of different descriptive words to receive all points.

Variety in sentence structure could be assessed by the number of different sentence forms in the paragraph. The teacher might have students self-score and then compare their score with that of the teacher during a discussion of reasons for scoring and ways to improve. Many goals on Individual Education Programs (IEP) of students with significant disabilities cannot be assessed by traditional objective or standardized tests. If a student is to learn to tie shoes, remove and hang up a coat, or wash hands independently, the video component of a portfolio could document these accomplishments. It is very important to establish communication with parents when using portfolios [4].

Designing a product with specific goals in mind can improve planning skills and contribute to realistic self-appraisal. Specific descriptors mitigate vague self-assessments, unrealistic positive or negative self-evaluation, generalized “all or nothing thinking” (my work is always bad or always good), and perfectionism [5].

Portfolio assessment is the systematic, longitudinal collection of students’ work created in response to specific, known instruction and objectives, and afterwards evaluated in relation to the same criteria. The assessment is done by measuring the individual sections as well as the portfolio as a whole against the specified criteria, which match the objectives toward a specific purpose.

Portfolio creation is the responsibility of the learner, with teacher guidance and support, and often with the involvement of peers and parents. The audience can participate in the assessment of the portfolio. Academics have developed portfolio instruction and assessment criteria, and gained appropriate administrative support. During the development process, they found answers to their own questions, as well as addressed issues concerning portfolio assessment coming from colleagues, students and parents. Concerns are often focused on reliability, validity, process, evaluation, and time.

These issues could apply equally to other assessment methods. There is no assessment tool that meets every teacher's purpose perfectly, is entirely valid and reliable, takes no time to prepare, administer, or grade, and meets each student's learning style. Foreign language educators need to be able to choose and/or design assessments that meet their most important instructional and assessment needs and which they have the resources to implement and evaluate. Below are some strengths of portfolio assessment, seen in contrast to traditional forms of assessment, traditional assessment versus portfolio assessment.

A specific distinction in using portfolio assessment in second/foreign languages is that the learner's ability to use the language is the primary goal of study. The learner's current use of the target language system and potential growth in the abilities over a period of time is what is at issue. This type of portfolio can capture the learner's use of the language in many ways.

Particularly, it can provide not only the students' progress in four main language skills areas (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) but also their entire progress in the language learning process. Specifically, considering the development of the student’s reading skills and ability to compose written products in the second/foreign language, the student’s written materials can be a part of the portfolios.

Although the growth of oral skills is difficult to be captured through written means, the use of multimedia in this type of portfolio, such as audio and video recordings, enhances the reliability.

The use of portfolios in the field of foreign language education can be to provide students with opportunities to display their work, serve as a vehicle for critical self-analysis, and demonstrate mastery of a foreign language. More specifically, this type of portfolio, for students is able to help them become aware of the language learning contexts that work best for them, establish their goals for future independent learning, allow them to assume responsibility for their own learning and provide evidence of their progress toward meeting their goals as learners, provide them with opportunities to display good work, serve as a vehicle for critical self-analysis, and demonstrate mastery of a second/foreign language.

For teachers, the use of such type of portfolio assessment in the classroom can provide information on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student, help identify effective language learning strategies and materials or reflect the curriculum that is actually being implemented in the classroom, enhance understanding of the educational process among parents and in the community, assess what students can do and not just what they know, engage students actively and foster student-teacher communication and depth of exploration.

Portfolio assessment in the classroom provides goals for student learning, offers an alternative to traditional tests for students with special needs. It can be quite difficult to establish scoring systems that are reliable over raters or time. Reliability across raters is especially important if major decisions are to be based on the assessment outcome [6].

The use of portfolios for assessment is time consuming in terms of hours needed to produce the product, time to develop a workable scoring system, and training for the evaluator(s).

Portfolio assessment offers the opportunity for depth but not breadth with regard to academic material covered. A written test can include questions from an entire unit with a sample of items from all areas taught. Because of the time it takes to produce products, it is not possible to have a portfolio that represents every aspect of a unit.

However, products in the portfolio, if chosen properly, illustrate depth of mastery in the area assessed. It may be difficult for the evaluator to control outside influences on the product such as parental assistance and access to resources like computers. If the assessment contributes to high stakes decision making, lack of equity in resources can be a significant problem. Interpretation of results: Since the portfolio system is rarely standardized, stakeholders may wonder what it really says about the student. How does the learner compare to others at his age or grade level? Would the portfolio assessment result be meaningful to those outside the school system such as college admission officers or those selecting scholarship recipients? Those individuals will not know the nature of the assignment, the help that was given, or the quality of the products of other students in the group.

The use of the portfolio for assessment purposes could detract from its most important contributions to the learning process, such as honest teacher-student communication, forthright self-assessment, and working toward one’s personal best. When the portfolio must be scored, or assigned a grade, students may tend to defend their work rather than engage in true self-assessment.

Teachers may focus more on the scoring process and less on effective communication about the work. The use of portfolios also allows the evaluators to see the student, group, or community as individual, each unique with its own characteristics, needs, and strengths. Portfolio assessment offers the possibility of addressing shortcomings of traditional assessment. It offers the possibility of assessing the more complex and important aspects of an area or topic.

Portfolio assessment is not useful for evaluating programs that have very concrete, uniform goals or purposes. For example, it would be unnecessary to compile a portfolio of individualized "evidence" in a program whose sole purpose is full immunization of all children in a community by the age of five years. The required immunizations are the same, and the evidence is generally clear and straightforward [7].

Moreover, portfolio assessment may be seen as less reliable or fair than more quantitative evaluations such as test scores. If goals and criteria are not clear, the portfolio can be just a miscellaneous collection of artifacts that don't show patterns of growth or achievement.

Collecting all portfolio content can be very time consuming for teachers or program staff to organize and evaluate the contents, especially if portfolios have to be done in addition to traditional testing and grading. Finally, like any other form of qualitative data, data from portfolio assessments can be difficult to analyze or aggregate to show change.

Thus, we have come to the conclusion that portfolio assessment research substantiates the idea that students greatly benefit from assessments that go beyond simple letter grades and involve participants in the evaluation process.

By taking part in the development of their portfolios, analyzing the criteria for what constitutes good work, and learning to evaluate their own work through guided reflective practices, students grow and develop in their knowledge and understandings. Portfolio assessment is part of a substantial body of research documenting the student benefits that emerge from an awareness of the processes and strategies involved in learning.

The benefits of portfolio assessment are numerous. Often, portfolio contents are selected collaboratively, allowing students an opportunity to make decisions about their work and encouraging them to set goals regarding what has been accomplished and what needs further work, an important skill that may serve them well in life endeavors.

Portfolio assessment can promote a dialog between teacher and students about the individualized nature of the work. Too often, students may have papers or projects returned with a number or letter grade only and fail to understand what might be necessary for improvement.

Most importantly, portfolio assessments provide an authentic way of

demonstrating skills and accomplishments. Used in a thoughtful, carefully planned way, portfolio assessment can foster a positive outlook on learning and achievement.

1 McNamara and Deane Assessing students’ knowledge Cambridge University Press, 2009.-321p.

2 Brown, D. Principles of language learning and teaching. New-York: Pearson Education, 2007.-356 p.

3 Authentic assessment: A guide for elementary teachers. New York: Longman. ISBN: 0321037820. Penta, M. Q. 2002.- 58 p.

4 Stiggins, R. J Student portfolios in a standardized world. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 2001. - 81p.

5 Fernsten, L., &Fernsten, J. Portfolio assessment and reflection: Enhancing learning through effective practice. Reflective Practice. 2005.- 303p.

6 Hamp-Lyons, L., & Condon, W. Portfolio as an assessment tool: Principles for practice, theory, and research. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.2000, p. 27-34

7 Jardine, A. S. Key points of the authentic assessment portfolio.Intervention in School and Clinic.1996.-253p