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Arguably some of the most interesting aspects of the portfolio approach to the teaching of English and American literatures concern notonly literary matters but also matters of interest

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCT ION OF THE BACKGROUN DS TO THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale for the study

The idea of conducting this study stemmed first and foremost from my own teachingsituation It is a common irony among English and American Literature teachers at theEnglish Department, College of Foreign Languages, that when we mark our students’ finalexam writings, we are actually marking distorted versions of our own ideas and words,which have been expressed in class only as suggestions and prompts for students’discussion and self-learning The truth is the majority of our students seldom have theirown ideas about literary works In case some do have their own comments and feelings,they are often at a loss to express themselves Thus, literature learning has frequ ently falleninto either parrot fashion or a tangled web of poorly expressed ideas While we agree thatparrot fashion learning must be done away with, we must also face the challenge of findingways to raise students’ self -expression abilities, if the pre sent dilemma is to be solved to itsroot

Looking beyond my own situation, I realized that this dilemma also brings headaches

to teachers of English in general Hence, in the picture I am trying to paint hereafter of myown teaching experience, many other teachers may see fragments of their own classrooms,their own problems and pains As a teacher of English and American literatures in acontext where students learn English as their major, I have had a growing concern aboutstudents’ generally weak abilit y of self-expression in spoken and written English, which isreflected most clearly in their learning of foreign literatures This problem is closely related

to students’ passive role in learning For English and American literatures, students usuallycome to class without any preparation for the lesson; during class time they just sitpassively, sometimes listening to the teacher lecturing and sometimes not paying verymuch attention When the teacher asks students to answer a question concerning theliterary text, they often make very little meaningful contribution because they have notdone any thinking about the text at home With this lack of preparation and practice, theyrarely think or feel about literary matters in a critical, original way, or in ca se they do havetheir own thinking and feeling, they are unprepared and unable to express themselvescoherently in English As a result, what they have gained from foreign literatures is littlemore than some mechanical memory of some famous authors and te xts However, this is

not the goal of teaching English and American literatures Rather, the goal is to helpstudents gain an understanding of and appreciation for great literatures in English, to givestudents a chance to voice their own opinions, thought s and feelings about great literatures,and through literatures, about life, culture and society, and not the least to learn the targetlanguage to express all those understanding, appreciation, thoughts and feelings efficiently.Thus, critical thinking an d open expression are vital in learning this subject The problem

is these are very weak among the majority of the students, which has been reported byalmost all the teachers at the English Department

The portfolio approach can be a solution to this pro blem While it can benefit manyother subjects, the portfolio approach would create the best chances for students’ self -expression in both written and spoken English when it is applied to English and AmericanLiteratures In no other subjects would there b e a greater need and a wider scope for thefresh expression of personal responses, individual identities in the form of thoughts andfeelings on a more sophisticated level than in English and American Literatures Byworking on a regular basis on their own portfolio projects, students are given every chance

to exercise greater initiative and autonomy in responding to great literatures and expressingtheir feelings and opinions for themselves Arguably some of the most interesting aspects

of the portfolio approach to the teaching of English and American literatures concern notonly literary matters but also matters of interest to any learner of English as a foreignlanguage: the matter of how to utilize the language efficiently, the matter of naturallythinking, feeling in the language, and actually living the language out, and the matter ofhow to express oneself coherently and convincingly in the target language, both in thewritten and spoken form

First of all, besides its undeniable mind -broadening benefits, learning a foreignliterature by doing portfolios in the target language helps students activate and utilize theirlinguistic reservoir, which might otherwise dry out as a result of blunt, functionalconversations and somewhat mechanical, matter -of-fact expository writings that they oftenhave to do Nowhere else is language so beautifully and meaningfully used as in literature,and when students write about literature in the target language, they tend to try their best toinspire beauty of form and ri chness of meaning to their writings Thus, writings in theliterature portfolio can be the convergence of students’ best efforts at language use

Secondly, doing the portfolio project gives students a sense of being involved in thetarget language, while in the way of “spectator learning”, students normally feel detachedfrom the language all the time it is spoon -fed to them With their own portfolio, they comevery close to thinking in the language, feeling in the language on a much moresophisticated level than they usually do in English Gradually students would have a feelfor the language which would be impossible to achieve for all the teaching in the world Inother words, doing the portfolio project would give students a chance to actually live thelanguage.

Above all, doing the literature portfolio is a chance for students to expressthemselves convincingly with their own identity No longer valid is the view of language

as only a dry, functional tool of knowledge and information perception Langua ge islearned to empower the learner to do more than just take in knowledge: the most wonderfulmastery of a language is in self -expression Working on the literature portfolios, studentsmust do a lot of literary reading, which provides a rich, authentic, high quality input oflanguage, but more importantly, they need to express their thoughts and feelings aboutsophisticated literary matters in the target language, which would train them to expressthemselves confidently and effectively in English for the ir futures

All the explanations above boil down to only one word: self -expression Students’ability to utilize the language, their intellectual and emotional experiences in the languagewill all be shown in their spoken and written expression, which is after all the expression

of themselves The literature portfolio is worth trying out precisely because it would trainstudents’ ability of self -expression in the target language

1.2 Purpose and significance of the study

The study is carried out with a view to investigating the effects of the portfolioapproach on students’ ability of self -expression in English and American literatures.Hopefully, by making the literature portfolio part of the course requirements, teacherscould help students play greater rol es in their own learning, activate and practice theiranalytical power, critical thinking, deep feeling, as well as fresh ways of expressingthemselves about great literatures Furthermore, it is also hoped that students’ writing skillsand self-expressing abilities in English would be greatly improved as a result of practicing

on a regular basis These skills and abilities would benefit not only the learning of English

and American literatures but also the learning of all other language skills and languageelements Equally significant is students’ expected satisfactory performance in formal tests

of English and American literatures, resulting in significantly better scores than those ofstudents who have similar starting points in this subject but who are not exposed to theportfolio approach Thus, this study serves both long -term and practical purposes

1.3 Aim and scope of the study

The aim of this study is to find out the relationship between doing the literatureportfolio project and students’ self -expression abilities as demonstrated in the process oflearning and in their final scores on this subject The study also aims to explore students’experiences and practices on the project It expected to find a positive and significantimpact of this approach on students’ self-expression in English, as well as to find theproject to be a worthwhile practice for students

As regards the scope of the study, due to limited time, it was not possible for me tocarry out the investigation for both English and Ameri can literatures, which would taketwo semesters Therefore, I only chose to investigate the application of the portfolioapproach to the teaching of American literature, after students had finished one semester ofEnglish literature The reason why I chose American literature and not English literature tocarry out my research was that by the time they finished English literature, I could have afairly clear view of students’ literary self -expression abilities based on my observationsand students’ scores o n the English literature exam This would help me conduct myresearch better Furthermore, once they had learned literature for a semester, studentswould definitely be more acquainted with this subject, which would presumably help them

do their literature projects with more ease

1.4 Structure of the paper

Apart from the introduction and conclusion, this paper contains three main chapters:

Chapter 2: Review of Literature, including a review on portfolio assessment and self expression

Chapter 3: Design of the American Literature Portfolio Project

- Chapter 4: The study, including the context of the study, research questions andhypothesis, data collection, data and data analysis, and findings

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Portfolio assessment

The concept of portfolio has been around for a long time and has been the subject ofaccumulating studies Different educators and researchers have provided different views onthis concept, but they have found many important common grounds Many an as pect ofportfolio assessment has been explored, and this section carries no ambition to go deeplyinto each and every aspect The following sections will only briefly present the literature

on the definitions and concept of portfolio assessment, its charac teristics, its advantagesand disadvantages, its use, phases of portfolio development, and portfolio evaluation

2.1.1 Definitions and concept

A portfolio is “a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’sefforts, progress, and achi evements in one or more areas The collection must includestudent participation in selecting the contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria forjudging merit, and evidence of student self reflection.” (Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, 1991,60)

A portfolio is also defined as “a collection of artifacts accompanied by a reflectivenarrative that not only helps the learner to understand and extend learning, but invites thereader of the portfolio to gain insight about learning and the learner” (Porter and Cleland,

1995, 154)

In literature, “the portfolio is a collection of revised and expanded essays that bestdemonstrate [one’s] mastery of selected goals of the literature major The portfoliocontains concrete evidence of [one’s] abilities as a student of literature Furthermore, theportfolio allows [one] to revisit ideas and writings [one] began in earlier coursework, andpursue those ideas and writings through additional research, further development, and/orclarification of focus.” (Neiman, 1999)

But basically, not matter which definition you choose, it comes down to these words:collect, select, and reflect Generally speaking, a portfolio is a collection of works selected

by the student, with some form of reflection on the process and/or the products

Most portfolios fall into the following categories: (1) showcase or selection and (2)developmental or process A showcase or selection portfolio is a collection chosen by thestudent and/or teacher which shows the student’s best work with a specific goal in mind

(Johnson 1996, 30) For example, in writing, it may include the best pieces of a variety ofwriting styles including both expository and creative writing A developmental or processportfolio is a collection of work, which focuses on the student’s development of a process

or a product The type of portfolio chosen, whether it is showcase or developmental, isdependent upon the purpose, which in turn determines the types of items selected from thecollection for the portfolio In my American Literatu re course, the design of the portfolio is

a combination of both the showcase and the developmental portfolio: the students selectedtheir best assignment papers to put in the portfolio, but they also had to include all theirclass notes and the first draft together with the second draft of the essay, which were used

to assess their learning process and development

2.1.2 Characteristics of portfolio assessment

Portfolio assessment is a multi -faceted process characterized by the followingrecurrent qualities:

- It is continuous and ongoing, providing both formative (i.e ongoing) and summative (i.e.culminating) opportunities for monitoring students’ progress toward achieving essentialoutcomes

- It is multidimensional, i.e., reflecting a wide variety of a rtifacts and processes reflectingvarious aspects of students’ learning process(es)

- It provides for collaborative reflection, including ways for students to reflect about theirown thinking processes and meta -cognitive introspection as they monitor thei r owncomprehension, reflect upon their approaches to problem -solving and decision-making,and observe their emerging understanding of subjects and skills

(George 1995)

2.1.3 Pros and cons of portfolio assessment

According to Andrew Epstein, Synapse Lear ning Designer of websitewww.teachervision.fen.com , some important pros and cons of portfolio assessment are asfollows

Pros:

- It allows the teacher to see the student as an individual, each with his or h er own uniqueset of characteristics, needs, and strengths

- It transforms the role of the teacher away from generating comparative rankings ofachievement (grades, percentage rankings, test scores) and toward improving studentachievement through evaluat ive feedback and self-reflection.

- It helps teachers standardize and evaluate the skills and knowledge we expect students toacquire without limiting creativity in the classroom

- It helps students be more accountable for the work they do in class and th e skills andknowledge we are asking them to acquire

- It aids in the diversification of approaches to teaching and learning, thus increasing theconnections with a wider range of learners and learning styles

- It involves students in the assessment pro cess, thus giving them a more meaningful role

2.1.4 Use and standardization of por tfolio assessment

The use of portfolio assessment focuses around the philosophy of the classroomteacher Portfolio assessment at its best involves teachers and learners gathering andanalyzing data and reflecting upon the impact of that data as it relates to those learners andteachers (Stowall and Tierney 1995, 82) This type of assessment demand that the teacherand learner act as collaborators and implies a learner -centered philosophy of education.Like so many other educational reforms, the teacher is the key to the successful use ofportfolio assessment If teachers believe that portfolio assessment is important and useful,and if they are inserviced adequately for its expanded use, portfolio assessment has achance to succeed (Abruscato 1993, 477)

Although portfolio assessment offers great flexibility and a holistic picture ofstudents’ development, several technical issues must be addressed to make portfolios validfor ESL education evaluations These issues are summarized in three organizationalguidelines which are based on current research and instructional practices in education

Portfolios Must Have a Clear Purpose

To be useful, information gathered for portfolios must reflect the priorities of theprogram It must be kept in mind that the purpos e of an education program evaluationstems from the goal of the actual program The first critical step, then, is to identify andprioritize the key program goals of curriculum and instruction As mentioned in chapter 1,the key goals of the Literature pro gram are for students to gain an understanding of andappreciation for great literary works and to express their evaluations, comments andfeelings for those works and authors in the target language Thus, the clear purpose of thestudents’ American Litera ture portfolios is to show their processes of response to literature,

as well as their abilities of self -expression in English

Portfolios Must Interact With the Curriculum

This issue also is known as content validity It is important that the information inportfolios accurately and authentically represent the content and instruction of the program.Content validity can be maximized by making sure portfolios contain (a) a clear purpose ofthe assessment, (b) a close link between the behaviors or products collected and theevaluation goals, (c) a wide variety of classroom exercises or tasks measuring the sameskill, and (d) a cross-check of student capabilities based on both formal tests and informalassessment (Navarete et al 1990)

Apart from having a clear purpose of assessment as aforementioned, the AmericanLiterature Portfolio Project under study also has a close link between the works collectedand the evaluation goals: all the students’ works were to show their self -expressionabilities, which was also the key evaluation goal The class activities and tasks ofdiscussion, response writing, and reports of written essays all measured students’expression of themselves on literary subjects in the target language Moreover, formal pre -and post-tests were designed to check and supplement the rather informal portfolioprocess With these fulfillments, my portfolio project can be said to interact with thecurriculum to a great extent.

Portfolios Must Be Assessed Reliably

Reliability in portfolios may be defi ned as the level of consistency or stability of thedevices used to assess student progress Although there are no set guidelines, there areseveral criteria which are recommended in establishing the reliability of portfolios forlarge-scale assessment Teachers and administrators must, at a minimum, be able to

- design clear scoring criteria in order to maximize the raters’ understanding of thecategories to be evaluated;

- maintain objectivity in assessing student work by periodically checking the consis tency

of ratings given to students’ work in the same area;

- ensure inter-rater reliability when more than one person is involved in the scoringprocess;

- make reliable and systematic observations, plan clear observation guidelines;

- use objective terminology when describing student behavior;

- allow time to test the observation instrument and its ability to pick up the informationdesired;

- check for inter-rater reliability as appropriate;

- keep consistent and continuous records of the students to meas ure their development andlearning outcomes; and

- check judgments using multiple measures such as other tests and information sources

In the American Literature Portfolio Project under study, some actions whichcorrespond with those suggested criteria we re taken to ensure a relatively reliableassessment: right from the planning stage I had drawn up a clear set of scoring criteria foreach component of the portfolio, as specified in the marking sheet (see appendix 1); I also

frequently and objectively com pared the students’ ratings in each component, making quitesure the ratings were fair; moreover, systematic observation plans were designed and used

to record students’ progress; the students’ work was also continuously evaluated (throughweekly grading and reviewing of their writings); and finally, the portfolio constituted onlypart of the whole-course assessment, its rather informal judgment complementing theformality of the end-of-term exam These are the ways in which the portfolio assessment of

my project was made more reliable

A major issue that arises in the use of portfolios relates to the problem ofsummarizing data within and across classrooms in a consistent and reliable manner Usingthe guidelines suggested above in the planning and organiz ation of portfolios will providefor reliable and valid assessment These guidelines, however, are only a framework for theassessment procedures and will need to be applied by teachers to determine theireffectiveness and practicality (Navarete et al 199 0)

2.1.5 Phases of portfolio development

IRI/Skylight Publications on www.ed.gov/pubs/OR/consumerGuides/classure.htmlmention three phases of portfolio development

Phase One:

Organizing and planning: This initial phase of portfolio development entails decision making on the part of students and teachers This phase helps students fully understand thepurpose of the portfolio and its status as a means of monitoring and evaluating their ownprogress

-In the American Literature course, this phase was conducted within one week Mystudents and I worked together discussing the purpose of the project, the things that theywould have to do, and the judging criteria for their work I handed o ut to them theguidelines for doing the project and the marking sheet, and we spent one lesson discussingthese together If the students had any contribution or objection to make to the judgingcriteria, their views would be considered by the whole class and a decision would be madewhether to accept the proposals or not, as well as how to adapt the criteria to suit themajority of the students During this phase, moreover, I made sure that each and everyproject student understood clearly what they would have to do and the goals that theywould need to reach (See appendix 5 for the guidelines)

Phase Two:

Collection: This process involves the collection and selection of meaningful artifacts andproducts reflecting students’ educational experiences and go als Decisions must be made atthis phase about the context and contents of the portfolio based upon the intent andpurposes identified for it All selections included in the collection should clearly reflect thecriteria and standards identified for evalu ation

The purposes of the ALP Project under study were for the students to interact with atleast five authors, to have an appreciation for literature, and to reveal their inner worlds ofthoughts and feelings with regard to literary works Also, I wanted my students to realizehow reading and studying literature can unlock their ideas and thoughts about themselvesand the world The selection of the students’ writings must be based on these purposes

In my course, phase two was conducted during 12 weeks, in which the studentscollected and selected their writings under the teacher’s guidance and suggestions Theyneeded to collect their class notes, graded assignment papers, graded presentation outlines,peer reviews, drafts and essays on particular liter ary works and themes that had beenselected by themselves and/or by the teacher This collection must reflect fulfillment ofgiven judging criteria

At the end of the American Literature course, after the collection phase, the studentswere required to write an honest reflection upon the portfolio process, the weaknesses andstrengths of their own portfolios, and what they thought they had learned and achievedthrough the project Reflection also took place during peer review sessions, where the

students commented on each other’s work Besides, reflection also took the form of theteacher’s continuous reflection upon the students’ progresses, achievements, andlimitations through the ongoing evaluation process.

2.1.6 Portfolio evaluation

According to Porter and Cleland (1995, 124), portfolios can be used to support oreven determine a grade when a well defined scoring guide or rubric is developed by boththe teacher and the learner In order for thoughtful evaluation to take place, teachers musthave multiple scoring strategies to evaluate students’ progress

It is especially important for teachers and students to work together to prioritize thosecriteria that will be used as a basis for assessing and evaluating student progress, bothformatively (throughout an instructional time period) and summatively (i.e as part of aculminating project, activity, or related assessment to determine the extent to whichidentified curricular expectancies, indicators, and standards have been achieved)

As the school year progresses, students and teacher can work together to identifyespecially significant or important artifacts and processes to be captured in the portfolio.Additionally, they can work collaboratively to determine grades or scores to be assigned.Rubrics, rules, and scoring keys can be designed for a variety of portfolio components Inaddition, letter grades might also be assigned, where appropriate

The portfolio scores in the American Literature course were used as the students’midterm scores, accounting for 40% of their final whole -course scores The rubrics (seeappendix 1: marking sheet) were thoroughly discussed with the students, and their opinionswere considered in developing the judging criteria and adjusting the proportions of marksbetween the different tasks of the portfolio Ongoing evaluation was also done on a weeklybasis: I collected the students’ assignments almost every week and gave my judgment s and

a grade on their assignment papers before returning them to the students the followingweek I also gave my comments and grades to the students’ presentations in class Besides,the students’ essays were first evaluated by their peers, which was repo rted in the peerreviews The final portfolio score was determined by the teacher basing on the criteriaclarified in the rubrics, the ongoing evaluation, and the summative judgments of thestudents about their own work Thus, the portfolio evaluation was made as objective andall-sided as possible The students were able to see the relationship between their work,their portfolio, and the grades and scores they earned This scoring system was not a

perfect system, but at least the score was supported with ample judgments, observations,and evidence from the portfolio.

2.1.7 Literature portfolio

The literature portfolio has been researched and applied in the language and literaturedepartments of a number of colleges and universities such as West Chester Un iversity ofPennsylvania, University of Puget Sound, Washington, University of Wisconsin Press,Loras College, Iowa, etc Their websites have detailed descriptions of their application ofthe literature portfolio Neiman (1999) presented a detailed descrip tion of her literatureportfolio implementation, including the design, the process, the course outcome, thegrading and scoring standards Although those ways of applying the literature portfoliosound very inviting, I decided to apply it my own way to sui t my students’ needs andabilities

2.2.1 General definitions of self -expression

According to the prestigious online encyclopedia www.answers.com, self-expression

is the “expression of one’s own personality, feelings, or ideas, as through speech or art.”Pearl S Buck is quoted on this website saying: “Self -expression must pass intocommunication for its fulfillment.”

Another definition, provided by www.thefreedictionary.com , views self-expression

as the expression of one’s individuality, usually through creative activities

In another way of wording, “self -expression is about being able to say what youmean or want to say It is about expressing yourself in words, music, painting, or anyactivity that allows your inner expression to come out (…) Some people find it easier towrite a poem than to verbalize exactly how they feel Other s express themselves through

an activity such as painting or building a house Still others need an audience to preach to.”(www.analyticalq.com) The author of this source also sees true self -expression as beingable to articulate what is original within ourselves, not as summarizing or repeating whathas been said before

In these definitions, we encounter words and phrases such as “one’s ownpersonality”, “feelings”, “ideas”, “individuality”, expressing yourself ”, “allows your innerexpression to come out” All these words and phrases point to the nature of self -expression

as attached to the individual’s inner world of thoughts and feelings Thus, self -expressioncan be understood as the expression or exposure of one’s intellectual and emotionalidentity Anything said or done detached from the self cannot be considered self -expression In the realm of language, for example, the functional use of words andstructures to get things done is usually not seen as the e xposure of oneself, for one does notoften show much of his/her individual qualities in performing speech acts On the otherhand, the use of language to give an argument or comment, for instance, typically creates

an occasion for the self – that is, opinions and feelings – to be expressed It can, of course,

be argued that when one uses language to get things done, one also shows a personal need,but this need is often only superficial and situational, and bears no insight into the depth ofthe person’s mind Hence, the term “self -expression” only applies where there is strongevidence of an individual’s deep -lying pattern of thinking, feeling, and responding thatdefines that individual as distinctly himself or herself and not another

To define a person distinctly as himself or herself, true self -expression must flowfrom what is original within that person It cannot be emphasized enough that thoughtlesslycopying or repeating others’ ideas and language is never the expression of oneself In otherwords, self-expression must be the expression “of oneself, by oneself, and for oneself.”Self-expression is, however, more than a notion – it must “pass into communicationfor its fulfillment” (Pearl S Buck) The word “expression” demands that a person’s innerworld be revealed in some form of communication

2.2.2 Concept of self-expression in language learning

The humanistic approach to language teaching captures language as a means for self expression In this view, language learners are, after all, individua ls, and their learninggoals are defined by what they wish to express

-As a teacher trainer and psychodramatist, Bernard Dufeu (1994, p.212) recognizesfour functions of language – symbolic, expressive, communicative and structuring Thus,self-expression can be regarded as a function of language This author also maintains that

an approach to the whole person should consider five types of involvement – physical,affective, intellectual, social, and spiritual In other words, learning a foreign language isnot an intellectual process alone, but an emotional and spiritual one as well, requiring of usnew ways of perceiving the world, ourselves and others From this, we can see that self -expression is a natural, multidimensional part of language learning Duf eu also putsforward his own concept that the language of a true self -expression “is the language of theinner being and its relationship to the outside world, the language of sensations, feelings,emotions, the expression of needs and desires, observation s, intentions, inter-personalrelations, etc – a relational language.”

Obviously, to learn a language does not simply mean to take in its vocabulary andgrammar – it also means to be able to express oneself competently in that language.Whether one’s self-expression in a foreign language is poor or good depends on one’sability to use the language for that purpose

2.2.3 How to encourage self -expression in a foreign language

Savignon (2002) suggests that learners’ self -expression can be encouraged bypromoting personal language use, as contrasted with “language arts” “Personal languageuse implies, above all, respect for learners as they use English for self -expression.Although language arts activities [focusing on forms of English, including syntax,morphology and phonology] provide an appropriate context for attention to formalaccuracy, personal English language use does not Most teachers know this and intuitivelyfocus on meaning rather than form as learners express their personal feelings orexperiences.” (p.5) The implication here is that although accuracy activities are necessary,teachers should focus on meaning rather than form whenever appropriate in order to givestudents enough linguistic freedom to venture self -expression in the target langua ge

Savignon (2002) furthers her point by calling for teachers to show respect for theirstudents’ personal language use “Respect for learners as they use English for self -expression requires more than simply restraint when they make formal errors that do notinterfere with meaning Respect requires recognition that so -called “native-like”performance may not, in fact, even be a goal for learners.” (p.5) Thus, teachers should beprepared to accept linguistic errors and a non -native-like use of the language , so long asthey do not prevent the students’ successful expression of themselves.

Moreover, to boost self -expression, “learners should not only be given theopportunity to say what they want to say in English, they should be encouraged to develop

an English language personality with which they are comfortable.” (p.5) While this ischallenging, it can be exhilarating at the same time, as learners may discover a newfreedom of self-expression in their new language Speaking, writing, and responding to theworld in a new language can be compared to “putting on a new dress” Expressingthemselves in English, hence, can make students feel fresh, see themselves in a new way,and can offer them freedom to experiment

2.2.4 Self-expression and writing

The humanistic approach to language teaching views writing as an effective means

of self-discovery and self-expression Oliver (1982, mentioned in Allen 1987) claims:

“writing (…) is a tool for discovering one’s thoughts and feelings, as a unique mode oflearning.” (p.3) Allen (1987), on the topic of writing to learn in English, discusses the closeconnection between writing and self -expression: “writing provides students the opportunityfor self-expression, enabling them to react on both cognitive and affective level s to theideas, information, and emotions they encounter The value of writing to learn in Englishextends beyond gaining knowledge and skills of the subject to acquiring understanding ofoneself and one’s relation to the world, clearly a desired outcome o f English.” (p.12)Writing is also seen as a tool to develop self -expression Allen (1987) wrote: “As forthe development of critical response and creative endeavor, writing is essential for growth.Although English teachers have implicitly been aware of t he functions of writing, they maynot always have employed writing to its potential.” (p.3) It can be inferred that a fulfillingemployment of writing would be in the practice and development of self -expression And

in this respect, the writing requirement s of the American Literature Portfolio Project fit the

picture perfectly: the students’ writing process is guided in such a way as to serve exactlythe goal of developing their self -expression ability in English.

2.2.5 Self-expression and literature

A cognitive – affective approach to teaching English as a foreign language seeslanguage in the service of self -expression; language as the interface between cultures;language as a tool for naming the world and interacting with it; language not only forgetting things done in the utilitarian sense but also for expressing ideas and feelings It is inlight of this approach that literature has a reason to survive in the ELT world There hasbeen ample research evidence that points to the role of literature in the development ofself-expression ability Particularly, Prodromou (2000) maintains that while the language

of literature may be impracticable in real life, it opens the learner’s mind to a whole newworld of fresh, brilliant, inspiring expressions of the Se lf, sharpening the learner’sawareness of how language can be manipulated to reveal exactly the individual identitythey want to reveal Inspired and enriched by literature, learners would inevitably seek newways to express themselves more freshly and con vincingly in the target language In herown words, with the specific mention of Shakespeare and his works as representative for

English literature in general, Prodromou writes: “Clearly, the language of The Tempest is

useless, functionally speaking, but i t has the power to sensititize any learner of English tohow language works to express the Self and this is something engineers and businesspeople also have and may wish to express as they go about the world building bridges andsigning contracts (…) we can see the usefulness of Shakespeare from two perspectives:from the point of view of the learner and from that of the teacher For learners who havereached a level capable of coping with the linguistic difficulties of the text, Shakespearecan bring them into contact with language that expresses a wide range of human emotions

in its most powerful and memorable form.” This author goes on to suggest that althoughlearners are unable and unlikely to use sentences and speeches from literary works in real -life situations, the content and beauty of literature may motivate them to engage with theforeign language in ways which an outdated newspaper article or a mundane dialogue in atextbook may fail to Literary texts capture language in natural and memorable c ontexts,and even if the language in the case of Shakespeare is not bang up -to-date, it can serve as acatalyst for a wide range of linguistic skills: language awareness, discussion, and self -expression

Regarding the usefulness of Shakespeare, or of liter ature, for the teacher, Prodromouwrites: “Shakespeare’s plays provide the most powerful example of effectivecommunication in the English language Insofar as language teachers are in the business ofcommunication, Shakespeare would be worthy of study.”

All in all, both writing and learning literature are effective ways to practice anddevelop self-expression ability The ALP Project utilized these two means with students’progress in self-expression as the ultimate goal In the literature, it was also str onglysuggested that in order for this kind of progress to come about, the students’ personallanguage use should be respected and encouraged, so long as it successfully conveys themeaning Accordingly, the ALP Project students were encouraged to express themselves intheir own ways, with their own uses of English Mistakes that did not impede theconveyance of meaning were still considered acceptable, even though their repetitionssometimes made some form of remedial action necessary The project also emp loyedspeaking activities such as class presentations and discussions as another means to helpstudents practice self-expression

2.2.6 Working definition of self -expression ability

From all the literature presented above, I have arrived at my own workin g definition

of self-expression ability, to be used throughout this study

In the context of this study, self -expression ability means the ability to express inwritten and spoken English one’s identity in the form of one’s analytical power,shrewdness of discussion and argument, critical thinking and deep feeling; the ability toexpress one’s understanding of and original ideas and comments on literary texts To beclearer, “self-expression” here means two things: first, the expression of oneself (one’sthoughts and feelings, one’s convincing power) and second, expression by oneself and foroneself (i.e not copying teachers’ or friends’ ideas or ways of expression in parrot fashion;independent thinking and individual, self -initiated ways of expressing it ) Self-expressionability is assessed in two interconnected aspects: the quality (i.e criticality, originality,depth and persuasion) of one’s thoughts and feelings, and the overt verbal expression, orthe externalization, of these inner qualities and pr ocesses (e.g organization of ideas, ideadevelopment and support, language use, writing skills, etc.) In this study, self -expressionability and literary ability are very similar and used interchangeably

Self-expression ability and writing skill (or spe aking skill) are similar but not thesame and should not be mixed up Writing and speaking skills may or may not includeexpression of oneself One can be said to possess good writing and speaking skills if he/shewrites and speaks grammatically and fluent ly, no matter if there is anything fresh orindividual about his/her expression.

2.3 Conclusion

This chapter has briefly presented the literature on portfolio assessment and self expression What was said about portfolio assessment is also perfectly app licable for theliterature portfolio, because, after all, this approach can be applied in various subjects andfields with the same principles, and literature is only one of those fields

-The important thing to bear in mind is that the portfolio ultimatel y belongs to thestudent (Hewitt 1995, 67) “Portfolios are worth the time and trouble because of theirimpact on learning and teaching Portfolios shift learning to the student and teaching to theteacher Students learn content [i.e knowledge and skills ], but they learn more than that.They learn about themselves as learners and they have evidence of their progress Theyknow what they have learned Teachers learn about their students and in doing so, learnabout their teaching They learn what is effect ive and what is not And, they have evidencethat they have taught their students something worthwhile.” (Neiman 1999)

This chapter also reviewed some important aspects in the concept of self -expressionand then proceeded to put forward a working definiti on of self-expression ability as will beused throughout this study In the students’ conduct of the ALP Project, while the portfolio

is the form, self-expression is the content: the form serves to facilitate the realization of thecontent; conversely, the content could not be accessed and understood but for anappropriate form The propriety of the portfolio approach for the practice of self -expression ability will be seen more clearly when we look at the design of the portfolioproject in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN OF THE AMERICAN LITERA TURE

PORTFOLIO PROJECT

The portfolio project was designed to complement class instruction and maximize thelearning of American Literature In other words, it is a part of instruction and it serves thesyllabus The project, therefore, cannot be described in isolation from class activities.Rather, designed to fit in smoothly with what is taught and learned in the classroom, theportfolio must be seen not as some extra burden but as an integrated process of the s yllabuswhich serve to enrich and enliven class activities

3.1 Class activities

Due to the limit of class time for American literature (90 minutes, i.e 2 periods, perweek), class activities are confined to students’ presentations, teacher lecturing an dsuggesting, class discussions, and note -taking

For feasibility, class activities focus on the author and the text to be covered eachweek from the course book These activities range from answering questions after each text

in the book, raising further questions, to discussing points of interest to students,expressing feelings and comments on the author, a character, a symbol used, etc Classactivities such as these are ideally conducted by the students with the teacher’s guidanceand assistance When problems arise regarding the understanding of a literary matter, theteacher and students work together, discussing possible ways and layers of interpretation

3.2 Portfolio project

Along side the class activities, each student has to do an American li terature portfolioover the course of 12 weeks (Each semester lasts 15 weeks, but with this project, threeweeks are spared for the pre -test, the orientation and discussion of the project)

3.2.1 Components

Each portfolio consists of:

1 12 class notes (1 note a week) and the student’ own responses: There are 2 parts toeach note: key information, discussion points in class, and what the student himself orherself thinks about them (see appendix 2);

2 03 best weekly assignments;

3 01 essay on a chosen topic, to be presented orally in class (both first draft and finalessay);

4 01 graded outline for the oral presentation;

5 02 peer reviews for the essay;

6 01 written reflection on what the student has learned doing the portfolio project;

7 (optional) 01 extension project e.g a critique on an American literary text (any one ofthe student’s choice), a piece of research on factors that affect an author’s works, apiece of research/analysis on an author’s style Or the student can write an additionalchapter to a novel or an alternative ending to a story, write prose based on a poem orplay, write a poem based on a play or story, write a play based on a poem/prose, orwrite an imaginary interview with an author (based on and about the author’s life andworks)

3.2.2 Rationale and clarification

The class notes make sure that students pay attention to and take part in classactivities, take notes of ideas, comments, or any points that they think important, original,

or worth thinking about during class discussions The class notes also serve to makestudents seriously think about those ideas that have been expressed in class and have theirown responses to them Differing ideas and further discussion or argument points areencouraged for the personal responses Notes on class discussions must be completed inclass, but the responses can be completed at home, after class time to save time forstudents’ discussions

The weekly assignments are done at home and must be completed before class time.Each weekly assignment has two par ts: the first is answering course book questions (orteacher-initiated questions) for that week’ literary text, and the second is expressing thestudent’s further comments/feelings/impressions on any part, any character, any aspect ordetail of the text that he/she is most impressed with or interested in With the weeklyassignment, students are made to prepare the lesson well before class time, theircontributions to class discussions would therefore be greater Moreover, every week theteacher collects students’ weekly assignments to check their attendance, to give comments,guidance and suggestions for their works; the teacher even gives a grade of A to F tostudents’ weekly assignments to monitor their progress Thus, with only one stone, that isthe weekly assignment, the teacher can kill many birds There are around 11 assignments

in total, in accordance with the 11 literary texts in the American literature course book ofthe English Department But at the end of the semester, students can choose the th ree bestweekly assignments to include in their portfolios.

For the essay, students are given a list of American literary texts (they can be shortstories, chapters in novels, poems, scenes in plays written by famous American writers)which are not in the course book and which students are free to choose from (see appendix8) Then, they have to explore deeply into one aspect of the text of their choice; forinstance, they can choose to analyze and discuss a character, or even one specialcharacteristic of the character in the essay Whatever they choose to write about, they mustask the teacher first for approval of the topic After finishing the essay, students give anoral presentation to briefly present major points of their essays On the day of a stud ent’spresentation, he/she must hand in his/her completed essay, together with a general outline

of their presentation The teacher write comments on the weaknesses and strengths of thepresentation and give a grade (from A to F) on the outline and give it back to the student,telling him/her to include the graded outline in the portfolio

The teacher then gives the essay to 2 other students in class, chosen at random,asking them to read the essay and fill in the peer review form The two peer reviews andthe essay must be returned to the student within 1 week, so that he/she can base on the peerreviews to improve the first draft and write the final draft of the essay Students arerequired to have both the first draft and the final essay in their portfol ios

Students begin to give presentations (and submit their first drafts of essays) from theseventh week of the 15 -week course This means every week from the seventh week, 2 -3students will give their presentations and submit their first drafts The maxi mum time foreach presentation is 10 minutes

3.2.3 Assessment

3.2.3.1 Whole-course assessment

Traditionally in the English department, students’ final literature marks are made up

of three different components:

60% final (or end-of-term) exam mark + 30% oral presentation mark (or oral presentation+ short midterm essay) + 10% participation mark (participation means attendance and level

of contribution to class activities)

This way of assessment has become a norm among teachers of literature where Iwork, but it is not a fixture Rather, each teacher is relatively free to adapt this norm to suittheir own teaching, as long as 60% of the final mark is spared for the end -of-term exammark.

In the portfolio approach, I aim to change this assessment into:

60% final exam mark + 40% portfolio mark3.2.3.2 Portfolio assessment (aimed at process)

The assessment for the portfolio project is specified as follows:

- Student’s presentations and portfolios will be a requisite for them to be qualified to sitthe American literature final examination

- Students’ portfolios must include all the six compulsory components listed above.Without any of them, students will be disqualified and cannot sit the final examination

- Students’ portfolio marks will include their presenta tion marks (presentation marks onlymake up a small percentage of portfolio marks) and account for 40% of their final marks;portfolio marks will be given according to the criteria clarified in the marking sheet

- There is no necessity to have a separate pa rticipation mark as in the traditionalassessment because the marking sheet makes sure that students’ involvement in the subject

is also assessed in their portfolio mark

- Every week the teacher collects students’ weekly assignments to monitor and guidetheir progress as well as to check their attendance Those who are absent for more than20% of the total number of lessons are not allowed to sit the final examination

- The portfolio scoring criteria and system are specified in the marking sheet (seeappendix 1)

3.3 Where does this design fit into the literature review?

As was discussed in chapter two, the portfolio process should not be isolated frominstruction; nor should it be an extra burden on the educational program On the otherhand, portfolio assessment is at its best when it interacts with and complements instructiontowards the goals of the syllabus Reflecting this aspect, the design of the AmericanLiterature Portfolio makes sure that students’ work in the portfolio is in perfect harmonywith the syllabus They need to do writings, research, and presentations on the authors andtexts from the course book, and what they do each week corresponds to the literary text

that is taught in class Thus, the pace of the portfolio process is in accordance with that ofclass instruction Besides, doing the portfolio crucially aids students’ learning of theliterature program The weekly assignments, for instance, not only help students prepareideas and arguments for class activities, but also promote indep endent thinking andattempts at self-expression Another example is the class notes, which serve to makestudents keep records of important discussion points and respond to them Whenresponding happens, either in the emotional or the intellectual realm, l earning happens.Even the essay, which is about a text outside the course book, greatly contributes to theachievement of the syllabus goals in the sense that it brings students further material and aricher view of an author’s writing style, philosophy an d principles, which would strengthentheir understanding of and appreciation for literature Obviously, this design definitelylives up to the general expectation that a portfolio must assist formal teaching and learning.This portfolio project was born to be a helpful part of instruction, aiming at the samesyllabus goals.

This design also fits the general picture of portfolio assessment in that it is composed

of a variety of entries serving the same end: the collected entries range from class notes,assignment papers, essays, to peer reviews, outlines, drafts and written reflections, allserving to reveal students’ self -expression abilities

The portfolio under study, furthermore, clearly reflects the three principles:collection, selection, and reflection Students’ collection of the portfolio components isbased on their own selection For example, among the many discussion points expressed inclass, they need to select the ideas they think most important or interesting to note down, itbeing impossible and inadvisable to keep records of everything that is uttered in class.Students have to write assignment papers almost every week, but they just select their threebest writings to put in the portfolio The essay and presentation are also products ofstudents’ selection of literary texts and topics to explore These are only some examples todemonstrate the role of the selection element in the project The last principle of reflection

is shown through the peer review and self -reflection sessions

Another factor that nicely fits this portfolio design in the literature review is itscollaborative nature: the teacher does not set his/her own rules but works with the students

to develop and adjust the criteria; they also discuss the content of the portfolio and theways to select items All this, of course, must be done in a limited period of time, and the

teacher must give out all the necessary information, guidance and criteria to start with, butthe students definitely have a role to play in developing and ad apting those to suit theirown needs and conditions During the portfolio process, the teacher constantlycommunicates with individual students about the choice of their topics, the quality of theirwork etc., thus indirectly helping in their selection pro cess Collaboration exists not onlybetween teacher and students but also between students themselves The peer review, forinstance, requires that students work with their peers to improve each other’s work.

When it comes to portfolio evaluation, this pr oject also complies closely with theliterature The evaluation of this project was designed to be both ongoing and summative:ongoing in that the teacher gives regular evaluations throughout the portfolio process(weekly assignment and presentation gradin g, observation of students’ progress); andsummative in that a final evaluation is given to the finished product based on evaluationsduring the process and on the set criteria The assessment of portfolio comes from differentsources: besides the teacher’ s ongoing and summative evaluations, peers (through peerreviews) and students themselves (through self -reflection) also contribute to the assessment

of portfolio

Last but not least, the design under study is in line with the literature in that theevaluation of portfolio makes up only part of the whole course evaluation The fact thatthere is also a formal exam adds a touch of all -sidedness and reliability to the finalassessment

All in all, this section has explained with painstaking care and objectiv ity the extent

to which my design of the American Literature Portfolio Project is grounded in theliterature After all, all review of literature would be meaningless without its role toposition the subject of investigation in a larger and more complete p icture of what has beengoing on regarding that subject

In my research into portfolio assessment, I have found that although it has beenapplied to the teaching and learning of all language skills, of translation, grammar, andmany other areas of EFL in V ietnam, this approach has not been adopted for English andAmerican literatures And this study is desired to fill in this gap, so that the picture ofportfolio assessment in Vietnam would become more complete

CHAPTER 4: THE STUDY

4.1 Introduction

The previous chapter presented the design of the American Literature Portfolio(ALP) Project and how it is grounded in the literature Such a thorough description of thatdesign is a preliminary necessity which would inform and facilitate our journey throughthis chapter on the study itself This study is an investigation into the implementation of theALP Project, the design of which we had just gone through, as well as its effects onstudents’ self-expression abilities, the concept of which was clarified in c hapter 2 Thestudy was conducted during one semester in 2006 with two groups of final year students.The ALP Project was implemented during the 15 weeks in the subject of Americanliterature In accordance with the project implementation was the collectio n of data, anddata analysis happened afterwards Finally, the findings would throw light on the researchhypothesis and answer the research questions In this chapter, these major steps will bepresented in a logical order and in great detail

4.2 Context of the study

4.2.1 Overview

This study was carried out in the teaching and learning context of the EnglishDepartment, College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University This department iswidely recognized as one of Vietnam’s leading institution s in EFL teaching, as well as ineducating future teachers, translators, and interpreters of English at the undergraduatelevel The English Department provides a highly dynamic, supportive, and stimulatingenvironment in which to work and do research Its policy is an open one which encouragesall the teachers, especially young teachers, to research and implement new ways ofteaching so as to facilitate and maximize students’ learning of the syllabus content Many arevolutionary change in teaching materia ls and methods has been welcomed and practiced

in the various divisions of the department, with the learner at the center of it all Amongthe new approaches to EFL teaching is portfolio assessment, which has been appliedwidely in many subjects, mainly in the language skills, teaching methodology, translation,and the language elements Before this study, this approach had never been implemented inthe subject of English and American Literatures

Students of the English Department all undergo a four -year undergraduate program,with a focus on the English language skills and elements, the Anglo -American cultures, aswell as the knowledge and skills necessary to become teachers, translators, and interpreters

of English after graduation Students, depending o n their wishes and levels of qualification,follow either a teacher-training English program or a translator and interpreter -trainingone There is also a separate program for fast -track students, who make up a small group of20-25 for each academic year

The subject of English and American Literatures is only introduced into the learningprogram from the second semester of the third year During this semester, students aretaught English Literature, and they proceed to learn American Literature over the fi rstsemester of the fourth year This is believed to be a thoughtful arrangement, as literaturewould only serve to further the learning of a language when the learners are mature enoughboth linguistically and emotionally to tackle literary language and m atters If introducedtoo early in the learning program, literature could become counterproductive as a burdenthat makes little sense to learners not yet prepared for it

In the overall teaching and learning program of the English Department, the role ofEnglish and American Literatures is identified as furthering understanding of the Englishlanguage and Anglo-American cultures, building the linguistic skills, as well as thethinking and feeling processes necessary for self -expression in the target langu age Literarytexts, moreover, provide a highly authentic and powerful language input, thus inspiring andempowering learners to reach for a more advanced use of English in servitude of their self -expression English and American Literatures, hence, can be said to be indispensable in awell-built English program

In the English Department, the students’ levels of proficiency in English varybetween groups and even between individuals Generally speaking, however, with theexception of fast-track learners, most students are expected to be at pre -intermediate level

in their first years, intermediate in their second years, upper -intermediate in their thirdyears, and advanced in their fourth years We now can see that English and AmericanLiteratures are programmed to be taught to upper -intermediate and advanced students ofEnglish Saying this, however, could be misleading, because the actual classroom practice

in this subject is often far from satisfying for the teachers (and who knows for the students

as well!) The problem is most students respond to literature either too little or too poorly

for their supposedly upper -intermediate or advanced levels The reasons for this can be alack of motivation, a lack of independent thinking, coupled with a habit of pa rrot-fashionlearning, or a language deficiency that hinders understanding of literary texts; or, mostlikely, the problem may stem from a combination of all these factors Whatever the causes,this poor learning practice must be dealt with if literature i s still to keep its principle ofserving language and culture learning in a way to make learners think, feel, and expressthemselves.

4.2.2 English and American Literatures program

4.2.2.1 Time allocation and score weighting

English and American Literat ures are taught in two semesters, one after the other.The class time allocated for this subject at the present is two periods (i.e., 90 minutes) aweek, 15 weeks (i.e., 30 periods, or 22.50 hours) a semester Considering this tightallocation of class time, students’ home reading and preparation for the lessons is a must.However, there has been no official requirement of students’ self -study time for thissubject

English and American Literatures final scores make up four academic units (for bothsemesters taken together), a very modest weighting in comparison with the language skills,but a reasonable weighting in comparison with other language elements and culturesubjects

4.2.2.2 Materials and tasks

The major materials for this subject are the two cou rse books English Literature and American Literature, which were compiled and edited by the teachers in the English and

American Literatures Division for internal use Each course book is composed of briefintroductions about five representative authors of the late 19th and early 20th centuryEnglish or American Literature, literary texts (i.e., short stories, novel excerpts, poems, orscenes of plays) by each of those authors, followed by questions and suggestions fordiscussion The structure of the cours e books can be said to be simple, coherent, and easy

to follow Apart from the course books, students have to search elsewhere for materials to

do their presentations They often turn to the college library or Internet literature websitesfor the texts which they have been assigned to read and respond to, and which are outsidethe course books

The major tasks for students learning English and American Literatures are readingthe literary text for each week, answering questions in the course books or teach er-initiatedquestions, and doing class presentations But often only a minority of the students fulfillthese tasks satisfactorily, the rest of them being passive “spectators” to the show.

4.2.2.3 Teaching methodology

The teachers of English and American Literatures all try their best to make theirteaching as interactive as possible But the students’ passive learning means the teachersoften have to resort to lecturing, and this is something our students always expect and takefor granted This is a com mon picture for all other subjects, and if a major change inteaching methodology were not brought about to challenge the learner’s role, the situationwould go on like this for ever

4.2.2.4 Examinations

The official English and American literature exam inations come at the end of thesemester and account for 60% of the final score These exams are often very stressful forstudents because most of them are in the habit of waiting until the last minutes to startcramming their heads with whatever materials they can lay hand on Oftentimes, manystudents hardly do any self -study in this subject during the semester except to survivethrough their presentations When the exams come, they lack a long -term preparation, and

as a result have to resort to last -minute cramming For those who have taken notes duringthe lessons, the seemingly safest way is to copy exactly (or not so exactly, due to the nature

of short notes and the slipping away of memory) what the teacher has said in class Forthose who have not been so diligent, ready-made, patchy literature materials of unknownorigins, which are mass -produced and sold at photocopy shops, come in useful In bothcases, the examiners have to suffer and endure commentary writings that at best lackoriginality of idea and expression and at worst make no sense at all The common situation

of students’ poor self -expression also breeds the evil of their copying each other’s exampapers

All in all, the stressful exams may or may not reflect students’ true literary abilit ies,but it is certain that students do very little to express their own comments in a fresh andcoherent way The overall results of literature exams are consequently usually very low.The situation of the exams also point to the necessity for training st udents in the practice ofself-expression

4.2.3 Conclusion

The preceding sections have presented the context of the study in some detail In thesections to come, we shall revisit many factors and components of this context as theyprove to be indispensable in the forming and understanding of this study

4.3 Research questions and hypothesis

This study started with forming the research questions and hypothesis

4.3.1 Research questions

- What are the effects of doing literature portfolios on students’ ab ility of self-expression

in English as reflected in studying American literature?

- How does the portfolio project help students express themselves better in written andspoken English?

- In what ways does the portfolio approach to teaching literature produc e better learningprocesses and results in students?

4.3.2 Research hypothesis

Doing the literature portfolio helps students develop their abilities of self -expression

in written and spoken English and have higher results in American Literature

4.4 Data collection

4.4.1 Subjects and sampling

The subjects of the study were 45 fourth -year students of the English Department,College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University The students belonged to twonon-fast-track (normal) groups who pursued the teacher-training English program Thesetwo groups were chosen from five groups which were randomly selected from the 18 non -fast-track fourth-year groups of the English Department in 2006 These two groups werechosen on the basis of their very similar r esults in the pre-experiment test, which wasadministered to all the five groups, and on the basis of their high level of representation forthe whole population of fourth -year students in the English Department in 2006 Thealmost identical pre-test results of the two chosen groups, reflected by the equal means andstandard deviations of the two sets of scores, mean that they had very similar abilities inself-expression to start with They also represented the fourth -year population to a greatextent because they were neither special fast -track groups nor groups near the bottom of

the judging scale, according to general study results and common opinions in the EnglishDepartment Moreover, their scores in the pre -test were in the mid-section of all the fivegroups’ scores Thus, it is fair to say these two groups were somewhere in the middle ofthe general picture of the fourth -year population.

It was impossible for me to randomly assign the 45 subjects to the experimental andcontrol group, so I just used the intact groups and randomly appointed one as theexperimental group (E) and the other as the control group (C) The numbers of students ingroup E and group C were 23 and 24 respectively, with one case of on -course dropout ineach group, leaving only 4 5 subjects under the study Like other groups in the EnglishDepartment, these two groups had few male members; they were supposed to haveadvanced proficiency in English, but were actually not up to that level, in common with thegeneral situation as clarified in the previous section

The sampling methods used in this study were a combination of stratified randomsampling (Hopkins and Antes, 1990, p126) and non -random assignment First, five groups

of fourth-year students were chosen randomly from the mid dle strata of the wholepopulation Then, a pre -test was administered to the five groups, the results of whichdecided the selection of the two groups to be the experimental and control group Forpractical reasons, there was no random assignment of subjec ts, but the choice of the twointact groups ensured that they were really “equal” to start with

4.4.2 Method and procedure

4.4.2.1 Form of research: action research

According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988), action research is defined by threecharacteristics: it is carried out by the practitioners (in our context, classroom teachers)rather than outside researchers; it is collaborative; and it is aimed at changing things “Adistinctive feature of action research is that those affected by planned change s have theprimary responsibility for deciding on courses of critically informed action which seemlikely to lead to improvement, and for evaluating the results of strategies tried out inpractice Action research is a group activity" (Kemmis and McTaggart 1988; 6)

According to Cohen and Manion (1985), action research is first and foremostsituational, being concerned with the identification and solution of problems in a specificcontext They also identify collaboration as an important feature of this typ e of research,

and state that the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within theeducational context in which the research is being carried out.

This research was carried out by me, a practitioner, a teacher of English andAmerican literatures The inspiration for the research was the recognition and observation

of a real problem in the classes that my colleagues and I taught Most of the students didnot appear to be very deep or critical in their literature responses, comment s, anddiscussion Many of them learned literature in parrot fashion and took what the teacherssaid without a lot of critical thinking or selection This research was conducted with a view

to activating students’ critical thinking, fresh personal feeling and discursive skills, as well

as the verbal expression of these inner qualities in learning literature through the portfolioproject This activation would make them take charge of their own learning, turningliterature teaching from teacher -centered lecturing and dictating to learner -centeredstudying With this view, this research meets the definition of action research as aiming atchanging things for the better

This is also an action study because it was conducted in the real context of myAmerican literature classrooms, aimed at professional development through changing mymethods of teaching to raise students’ self -expression ability and performance in Englishand American literatures

4.4.2.2 Materials and tools for data collection

In the study, there were three sets of materials used for data collection:

a Two American Literature tests with a rating rubric

The pre-experiment and post-experiment American Literature tests, the two principletools to collect quantitative data for the study, had th e same form: each test consisted oftwo questions asking for the students’ responses to certain aspects of a literary text that isintroduced and printed in the course book; both tests required the students to write theirresponses in the form of expressiv e essays of 150-300 words within the same limit of time(90 minutes) Based on the same course book, both the pre - and post-test’s questionsconcerned the literary texts and matters that the students had already learned and preparedfor beforehand, with no tested knowledge lying outside the taught and learned scope Thetwo tests were also administered under strict supervision by the teachers in the English andAmerican Literatures Division

Most importantly, however, the pre -test and post-test were marked according to thesame rating rubric, developed by the teachers of the division, which made the scoringresults of the two tests consistent and reliable, even though the markers might not havebeen the same people This common rating rubric (Table 1) also c oncretely illustrates thefact that the two tests really measured what they purported to measure – students’ self-expression ability Thus, there could be no doubt about the construct validity of the study.

Table 1: Rating rubric for English and American L iterature tests

9-10 Full realization of test questions; completely to the

point;

Individual, original thoughts and feelings, developed

convincingly through well selected evidence; well

-supported comments an d analysis; reflection of deep,

critical understanding of the text

Natural English withminimal errors; refinedlanguage to literaryeffects

7.5-8.5 Good realization of test questions; well to the point

Fairly individual ideas and certain depth of feel ings;

well-supported comments and analysis; deep

understanding of the text

grammar and writingstyle, with only minorerrors; simple yeteffective language; easy

to read and follow.6.5-7 Fairly good realization of test questions; largel y to

the point

Some good ideas, though not very original,

reasonably supported with comments and analysis;

good understanding of the text

Fairly effective use oflanguage, with someerrors in vocabulary andgrammar

5-6 Sufficient realization of test qu estions, with some

little wanderings off the point

Common ideas, with little criticality or individuality

in comments and analysis; average understanding of

the text

Acceptable accuracy andfluency in writing skills,with some errors

3-4.5 Insufficient realization of test questions; largely off

the point

No individual ideas; little support with comments and

analysis; insufficient understanding of the text

Lack of control inwriting skills; frequentbasic errors

0-2.5 Gross irrelevance to test questi ons

No ideas/ ideas do not make any sense

Incoherent; extremelyweak writing skills.The pre-test was administered at the beginning of the semester to 5 randomlyselected fourth-year groups to choose two groups with equal self -expression abilities forthe experiment, while the post -test was administered at the end of the semester (in fact thepost test was the end-of-term American Literature test) in order to measure changes of thetwo chosen groups after the experiment

b Field notes, checklists, ongoi ng judgments and evaluations

These constitute the second set of tools for data collection During the process of theexperiment, I wrote field notes, filled in checklists, used my own and the students’judgments and evaluations to monitor, as well as to re cord information on the two groups’learning processes and progresses

c Students’ writing products and portfolios

These materials were vital in the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data.The grades and scores on students’ writings and por tfolios provided important hard data toconduct the statistical analysis on the relationship between portfolio performance and post -test performance Apart from this, analyzing recurring patterns of idea expression anddevelopment in the students’ writings enriched the study with insights into the students’thinking and feeling processes, as well as their efforts and progresses in self -expression.4.4.2.3 Data collection method: experiment

Experimentation as a research method has been deeply explored and richly presented

by many authors and researchers in the field of applied linguistics According to Hopkinsand Antes (1990, p.307), an experiment, in the strictest sense, “can take place only on alaboratory setting with the greatest possible control to st udy the effects of manipulation”;and in the broadest sense, “any interjection of something different into a natural settingcould be considered an experiment.”

Nunan (1992, p.24-25) contributed another view of this method: “Generallyspeaking, experiments are carried out in order to explore the strength of relationshipbetween variables.” He also differentiated two kinds of variables involved in anexperiment Independent variable is the label that the experimenter expects to influence theother The variable upon which the independent variable is acting is called the dependentvariable (p.25)

This study, at its center, utilizes an experiment to measure the strength of relationshipbetween two variables, the details of which shall be given hereafter

a Experimental design: quasi -experiment

Nunan (1992, p.41) also distinguished three types of experiment: pre -experiment,quasi-experiment, and true experiment The following table summarizes the maindistinctions

Table 2: The three types of experiment and their characteristics

b Experimental procedure

Two variables

This experiment was conducted to determine the strength of the relationship betweentwo variables: the application of the literature portfolio (independent variable) andstudents’ self-expression abilities as reflected in their post -test scores (dependent variable).Random selection of five groups

First of all, five groups were randomly se lected from the 18 non-fast-track groups offourth-year students in the English Department These five groups were in or around themid-section of the fourth-year population in their supposed English proficiencies andcharacteristic features (such as size of groups, proportion between the sexes, learning style,etc.)

Preparation and Pre-test

After the initial selection of participants (students of the five groups), the first week

of the semester was spared for the students to learn their first lesson of A mericanLiterature Understandably, it was essential for them to be introduced to the author and thetext that were going to appear in the pre -test questions, if they were to make any sense ofthe text at all Unlike English skill and English proficiency t ests, a test of self-expressionability based on a literary text must be prepared for through prior reading and learning ofthe text and the author Without this preparation, the students would not be able to do thepre-test, having no prior understanding of the subject on which to express themselves.Thus, after one week of learning their first lesson (Introduction to Mark Twain and

Chapter II of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ), with chances for the students to discuss the

central matters of the text, the s econd week’s class time was spent on the administration ofthe pre-test The pre-test contained two questions concerning the text that the students hadlearned in the first week These questions did not ask for summaries or retellings of thechapter’s events or details, but asked for open expressions of the students’ own response tothe text in the form of personal comments, thoughts and feelings, with evidence from thetext to convince readers The answers must have the content of individual responses andthe form of short essays All these requirements of the pre -test were made clear to thestudents of the five groups during the first week of the semester Thus, we can see that thepre-test had high construct validity: it really measured what it purported to measure, which

is self-expression ability (See appendix 9 for the pre -test.)

Pre-test results and the choice of two similar groups

Having administered the pre -test, I then collected all the students’ test papers andmarked them on a 0-10 scale Basing on the results, from the initial five groups I chose twogroups that had the most similar sets of scores, that is, the most similar means and standarddeviations, to become the subjects of my study The pre -test results of the two groups arepresented in table 3 below

Table 3: Pre-test results

of literary abilities (the abilities to express one’s understanding of and responses to works

of literature) to start with To illustrate this point, let us take a step further to explore the

population that these two groups come from If we plot the two sets of scores as frequencydistributions, we will notice that their curves closely resemble the normal distributioncurve (or bell curve) Furthermore, the means of all the five sets of scores on the pre -testwhen plotted as a frequency distribution also make up a rough bell curve From oursamples, we can anticipate that if we continue to collect more samples, all the samplemeans will be normally distributed For the convenience of analysis, let us suppose that thetwo selected groups come from two different populations, and if we can prove that thesetwo populations are actually the same (i.e if their bell curves coincide or nearly do so ),then we can be confident that the two groups really had equal starting points in self -expression ability before the treatment.

First of all, given the standard deviations of the two sets of scores, we can calculatethe standard errors (SE), which are t he standard deviations of sample means “We can usethis information to place a single sample mean in relation to the population mean fromwhich it is drawn.” (Nunan 1992, p.32)

SE1 = SD1/square root of N1 = 1.1061/square root of 22 = 0.2358

SE2 = SD2/square root of N2 = 1.1639/square root of 23 = 0.2427

(The numbers 1 and 2 stand for group 1 and 2 respectively)

Given the normal distribution of sample means, we can be 95% confident that thepopulation mean lies within 2SEs of the sample mean:

Population mean 1 = sample mean 1 (SE1*2) = 5.6591 (0.2358*2) = (5.188; 6.131)Population mean 2 = sample mean 2  (SE2*2) = 5.6739 (0.2427*2) = (5.189; 6.159)(The numbers 1 and 2 stand for group 1 and 2 respectively)

Thus, we come up with two ranges of possible population means for group 1 andgroup 2 With a 95% probability, the population mean for group 1 will be within the range

of (5.188; 6.131), and the population mean for group 2 will fall within the (5.189; 6.159)range

Plotting the two ranges of possibl e population means as two frequency distributions,

we have figures 1 and 2 (p.38) Combining these two ranges to reflect the relationshipbetween the two supposedly different populations, we have figure 3 (p.38)

It is clear from figure 3 that the two bel l curves, which represent the two possiblepopulation mean ranges, almost coincide Thus, we can say with 95% confidence that the

two supposedly different populations are actually the same, and that although the subjectswere not randomly assigned to the t wo groups which would become our experimental andcontrol groups, these two intact groups, coming from the same population, were reallyequal in self-expression abilities to start with Thus, if we can prove after the treatment that

we have created two dif ferent populations, one that has been exposed to the portfolioproject and one that has not, we can draw valid conclusions about the effects of the newapproach on students’ progress It must be kept in mind, however, that there is still a 5%chance in the case of both group 1 and 2 that the true population mean will be outside therange we have established

Figure 1: Distribution of possible population means for group 1

at the 95% level of confidence

5.19 5.4 2 5.66 5.89 6.13

Figure 2: Distribution of possible population means for group 2

at the 95% level of confidence

5.19 5.43 5.67 5.92 6.16

Figure 3: Relationship between the t wo possible population mean ranges

Besides the almost identical sets of pre -test scores, these two groups also had othersimilar features For example, in both groups, most of the students were female, which wasalso a general feature of all the oth er groups in the English Department; most of thestudents in both groups come from outside Hanoi and were hard -working;

Experimental group and control group

After selecting the two groups with the similar features and literary abilitiesdiscussed above, I randomly assigned one group as the experimental group and the other ascontrol group The experimental group (group E) was the one to apply the literatureportfolio to, while the control group (group C) was the one to be taught with the traditionalmethod of lecturing In this case, I assigned group 1 as the experimental group and group 2

as the control group It should be noticed that the pre -test mean of group E (5.66) wasslightly lower than that of group C (5.67)

The treatment

I directly undertook the teaching of American Literature for both group E and group

C during the whole semester in order to ensure that the teacher factor was controlled, andthat any differences after the treatment in their study results were due to the difference inteaching approaches and not because they were taught by different teachers

With the first two weeks spared for the preparation for and administration of the pre test, only 13 weeks of the semester were left for the treatment During these 13 weeks,which spanned nearly entirely the first semester of the fourth year in 2006, the portfolioapproach was applied to group E, while group C was taught with the traditional approach

-of lecturing and teacher-initiated discussion In the portfolio approach, each student -ofgroup E had to conduct his/her own ALP project according to the design and requirementsspecified in chapter 3 At the end of the semester, i.e after the 15th week, the studentssubmitted their finished portfolios for the final assessment

As I intended to incorporate qualitative data besides quantitative ones in this study,during the course of the experiment I also took notes of the students’ attitudes andprogresses as shown in their contributions to class activities and in their regular writingsthat I collected and provided suggestions for I also took notes of the learning process ofthe students in group C under the traditional teaching approach to constantly monitor andcontrol all the factors that might interfere in their progress, as well as to d raw regularcomparisons between the two groups

At the end of the 15-week American Literature course, students had around twoweeks for revision and preparation before sitting the final American Literature exam Forpractical reasons and purpose s, this end-of-term American Literature test was used as post -experiment test For one thing, there was hardly any time to administer a separate post -testbecause by the time they finished the semester, the students had their hands full with therevision for all the coming exams and could not be summoned for the sake of the post -experiment test For another, using the real American Literature exam as post -test wouldundoubtedly increase the reliability of the results, since the students’ writings would bemarked by other, and perhaps more objective teachers After the marking was complete,the end-of-term exam scores, or post -test scores of the two groups under study werecollected for data analysis

The experiment had high construct validity because the sco res on both the pre-testand post-test were given according to the rating rubric presented earlier in this chapter(p.33), and because scores on English and American Literature exams always measurestudents’ ability to express their own understanding of an d comments for literary works.4.4.2.4 Research techniques: both quantitative and qualitative

This research is quantitative in the sense that I collected some hard data, which werethe American literature pre -test scores of the experimental and control gr oups as proof thatthey had equal starting points in self -expression abilities More importantly, at the end ofthe American literature course, during which the experiment using the literature portfoliowas conducted, end-of-term exam scores in American li terature for the two groups werecollected, the means and standard deviations measured, which were expected to prove thatthe group with the application of the literature portfolio scored significantly better than thegroup with the traditional method of t eaching and thus, the use of the literature portfoliowould be proved to be an effective and fruitful means to raise students’ ability to expressthemselves in English

The research is also qualitative in the sense that apart from the hard data, subjectiv edata were also collected to lend richer insights into the effectiveness and success of theportfolio approach By subjective data, I mean the observation of the process of doingportfolio projects itself, and the content and quality of students’ literatu re portfolios, aswell as their experiences and reflections about doing their own portfolios These data may