Luận văn a study on using portfolio assessment to motivate 9th form students at nam hai lower secondary school to learn english

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN TI HẠNH A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN TI HẠNH

A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE

9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY

SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH

(NGHIEN CUU VIEC SU DUNG PHUONG PHAP DANH GIA TUYEN

TAP BAI LAM NHAM TANG HUNG THU CHO HOC SINH KHÔI LỚP

9 TRUONG THCS NAM HAI HOC MON TIENG ANH)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: Knglish Language ‘caching Mcthodolagy Code: 60.14.10

HA NOI - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN TI ITANIT

A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE

9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY

SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐÁNH GIÁ TUVẺ

TẬP BÀI LÀM NHẰM TĂNG HỮNG THỦ CHO HỌC SINH KHÔI LỚP

9 TRƯỜNG THƠS NAM HÃI HỌC MON TIENG ANH)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Pham Thi (anh, M.A

TA NOI - 2012

1 Rationale of the study

2 Aims of the study

3 Research questions

A Significance of the study

5 Scope of the sludy

6 Methods of the studi,

7 Design of the study

PART B DEVLOPMENT

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Defining motivation

1.1.2 Motivation in second language learning "¬

1.1.3 Strategies to motivate language learner

1.2 Theoretical background of portfolio assessmen!

1.2.1 Defining portfolios

1.2.2 Portfolios in Language education

1.2.3 Portfolios in HSL as Alternative Assessment

1.2.4 The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment

1.2.5 Portfolio Assessment Madel

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1 The setting of the study

2.1.2 The subject of thơ stuổty sen

2.4, Data analysis procedures

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.2 The effects of portfolio assessment on students' motivation and

proficiency in learning English

1 Lmplications and suggestions for using portfolio assessment for 9th

form students in learning English subject

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS

igure 1: Students’ needs and wants in the second semester

Figure 2: Students’ preferences about activities in English subject

Table 1: The criteria assessment for grade 9 students’ partfolios

Table 2: 4S-minule test scores and portfolio scores:

Abbreviations:

FSI Second language leaming

L2: Second language

S: Student

PART A INTRODUCTION

‘this chapter presents the rationale, states the aims and research questions of the study TL also describes the significance, he scope, as well as (he methads of the research In addition, it further provides an overview of the research design

1 Rationale of the study

The reform of teaching methods is one of the spirits of innovations in

education at all levels of our country Nowadays people often mention about

education initiative or active leaning, which is the transfer of the central role of teachers in the classroom to the students In this approach, stulents do not depend

too much on the training process and the main keys for them are self-study, self- discovery, self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-assessment Therefore, in order to improve the qualily of traiming, there must be nol only focus on teachers, or innovative teaching methods but also need to enhance methods of testing and

assessing students Besides, evaluation must be organized systematically to see the

whole loarmng process of students, and assessment lools must combine multiple

and diverse forms

So far, in Viet Nam education system, when referring to evaluation and

assessment, people often think about traditional tests, which involve the using of paper-and-pencil, standardized tests to assess students’ performance under time pressure and the memorization of the knowledge What is more, basing on the final

scores, teachers and administrations assess each of individual students Actually,

this is sometimes a bit one-sided factor as the scores do not show everything to

evaluate students Moreover, scores are only part of the assessment and teachers

should not only base on scores to assess them

Additionally, currently there are many ways to examine students’ assessment

im the world, and the utility of porifolo assessment as an allemative assessment is

one of them More cbviously, rescarch evidence suggests that portfolio assessment which expresses strongly one of the final aims of testing and assessing, students*

achievement is “motivates students ta learn” plays ar important role im impacting

and motivating ESE students to study and improve their English level Thus, that is

a great value to apply in context of ninth graders at Nam Iai lower secondary school since they arc said to lose their motivation in learning English for some

‘various reasons

From the above assumptions, the author is inspired to carry her thesis on the topic “4 studp on using portfolio assessment to motivate 9” form students at Nam

Hai lower secondary school te learn English” | hope that the ideas of the thesis

will contribute meaningfully to improve the quality of teaching and learning English

subject at my school im particular and other schools Uhroughout the country i

general

2, Aims of the study

The purpose of the study is 10 investigate the feasibility of using portfolio assessment to motivate grade 9 students to leam English at Nam Hai lower secondary school It aims specifically at:

- finding the attitudes of students and teacher 1owards ihe applivation of portfolio assessment program on the English subject

- exploring the effects of portfolio assessment, method on students’ motivation and

proficiency in learning English

- giving some recommendations for motivating students to learn Linglish through

portfolio assessment

3 Research questions

The research questions of the study are as follows

1 What are the attitudes of students and teacher towards the application of portfolio

assessment program on the English subject?

2 What is the effect of portfolio assessment method on students’ motivation?

3 What is the relation between portfolio scores and the 45-minute wrillen test scores?

nificance of the study

‘The famous researcher Littlewood (1984) said, "In second language learning

as well as in every other field of human leaning, motivation is the crucial force

which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he

devotes to it, and how long he perseveres" Motivation can strongly help a language learner succeed with the language Therefore, the understanding of its role and related theory is very necessary for all the teachers as well as learners of Lnglish

If portfolio assessment method can indeed enhance students' motivation, then

using and applying il in teaching and learning Friglish may have considerable improvements for Linglish classroom ‘I'he outcomes of the study and some recommendations will supply with practical benefits to teaching and leaming English Teachers andl learners will come to know the useful role of portfolio assessment and make use of some portfolio assessment techniques powerfully

5 Scope of the study

As iL is slaled in the tile, the focus of this study is only on the grade nine students Particularly, the subjects are limited to the thirty-eight students from a

qinth grade class ai Nam Hai lower secondary school Furthermore, within a variely

of alternative assessments, the researcher examines the cffectivencss of only one

type that is portfolio assessment

Last but not least, due to limited time, the study targets specially at the advantage of portfolio assessment in the field of motivation, not the other advantages as a whole

6 Methods of the study

The research was realized with regard to both quantitative and qualitative analysis In order to achieve the main purpose of the study, an experimental

research was conducted To collect data, three main research instruments are made

research questions In addition, students’ portfolios with three main sources, i.c

students’ cover letters, scores of portfolios and scores of a 45-minute written test

were ulilived so as to seck the valid and rehable data for the analysis Besides, the

interviews were also carried out to reveal the effectiveness and feasibility of the

portfolio assessment

7 Design of the study

‘The study is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development, and

the conclusion

Part Az Introduction —provides the rationale, the research questions, the arms, the

significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Part B: Development — consists of three chapters

Chapter 1 Literature Review — inlroduces the literature relaled to the two mai parts: theoretical background of motivation, and theoretical background of portfolio

assessment

Chapter 2: The study — focuses on [he methodology used in [his research including the setting of the study such as the textbook and the current methods of testing and

assessment, the subject of the sLudy, and the researcher, data collection mstruments,

data collection procedures, as well as data analysis procedures

Chapter 3: Kindings, discussions, and recommendations shows major findings,

discussions and offers recommendations for motivating students to leam English

through portfolio assessment

Part C: Conclusion — is a summary of the study in which the implications and recommendations for motivating students to leam English through portfolio assessment are discussed, and the limitations of the study and suggestions for

further research are presented

PART B DEVLOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chaplor studios @ range of literature review related Lo the sturly The two main features presented are theoretical background of motivation and theoretical background of portfolio assessment

1.1 Theoretical background of motivation

1.1.1 Defining motivation

“Motivation is a very complex phenomenon with many facets [ ] Thus, it

is nol possible te give a simple definition” These are the words of Gardner (2006, p.242), Irom his point of views, it can be said that the term motivation is defined differently by different researchers

As for Woollolk (2001), he argues thal motivation js an internal state that arouses directs and maintained behavior Sharing the same viewpoints, Harmer

(2001, p.51) mentions that “at its most basic level, motivation is some kind of

internal drive which pushes someone to do Ihings in order to achieve something"

Domyei (2001) gives an extensive explanation of motivation He shares the

same viewpoints with these auhors above, but he further suggests thal apart [rom all the internal factors, there still cxists the extemal ones He states “motivation

explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities" Thus, it can be inferred from

his outlooks that motivation and satisfaction of needs and desire have a mutual connection, and it is in either internal or external to the individual

In conclusion, motivation is a factor that exists in both intrinsic and extrinsic

consciousness of a person; it shows and encourages human the ways to accomplish

everything that he or she really wants in his/her life

112M

ivation in second language learning

‘The issue of motivation related to classroom learmg has caused more

interest in the topic among language teachers and researchers of 1.2 learning

Kirst, in the article "Second Janguage learning motivation", Liuoliene and Metuniene (2006) presents various aspects of motivation and motivation in L2

learning Through their study, it reveals that the meaning of motivation is

discovered and three main approaches to motivational psychology are expectancy- value theory, goal-directed theory and the self- determination theory Besides, they

also quole Gardner's point of views (1993, p.157-194) when he presents that two

distinct orientations for leaming a language are integrative and instrumental orientation Specifically, integrative orientation refers to the interest in integrating into the culture of the community speaking the language, whereas instrumentat

orientation refers to the desire to leam a L2 for an immediate short term goal, for

example good grades, future career, passing the examination, searching and translating material and so on Morcover, the importance of niceds analysis to language learning and several motivational conditions such as interest in the topic

and activity, relevance to the students’ lives, expectancy of success and feelings of

being in control and satisfaction im the outcome are also pravided specifically by

these authors

Second, other researchers such as Domyei (1994) and Oxford (1996) also spend their time studying this particular issue In his research, Domyei specifies that

motivation is involved three levels as follows: the language level, the learner level,

and the leaming situation level The language level focuses on “orientation and motivates related to various aspect of L2 learning" In other words, at this level the basic learning goals and language studied are determined by orientation and motives

The learner level contaius the imfluence of individual characteristic of language

learners Consequently, motivation is influenced at this level by the leamor’s needs

for achievement and self-confidence; furthermore, the learner level is concerned

with internal characteristic of the learner related to expectancy Taal bul nat least,

motivation at the Icaming situation level is influenced by many intrinsic and extrinsic motives which are course specific, teacher specific and group specific

Along with Domyci, Oxford (1996b, p.4) assumes thal “porhaps istrumontal motivation or orientation should have a greater prominence in theory and research,

at least in certain settings, most notably foreign language environments" She also

calls for further development of models into research on motivation in L2 learning

"For the sake of students worldwide, we cannot afford to restrict ourselves to a small set of motivational variables, espacially when we know form research in other fields thal motivation is an extraordinarily complex, multifaceted, and iportatil

construct" Oxford (1996b, p.1)

In short, as one of the famous researchers affirms “motivation represents one

of the most appealing, yet complex, variables used to explain individual differences

in language learning” It is certain that the sesearchers, teachers, and language learners should spend more time and effort in investigating, researching and understanding i in {he most meaningful ways

1.1.3 Strategics to motivate language fearners

From his classificalion of motivation as mentioned previously, Dornyei

(1994) presents the stratcgics to boost L2 learners According to lum, for some

particular reasons, most of the strategies will foous on leaming situation level rather than language and learner ones

At the language level, the strategies will be shown as the followings

- develop leamers' cross-cultural awareness systematically

- include a socio cultural component in the L2 syllabus, eg inviting native speaking guests, showing films or ‘l'V recordings, playing relevant music and so on

- promote student contact with L2 speakers

- develop leamers' instrumental motivation, e.g discussing the role 1.2 plays in the

world and its potential usefulness both for themselves and their community

At the leamer level some strategies are

- develop students’ self-confidence, ¢.g trusting them and projecting the belicf that they will achieve their goal, regularly providing praise, encouragement and

reinforcement, and so forth

- promote the students’ self-confidence with regard to achieving learning goals

- promote favorable self-perception of competence in L2

- decrease students anxiety

- promote motivation-enhancing attributions

- encourage students to set attainable sub goals, e.g learning 200 new words every week ard so om)

Vinally, at the third level, learning situation, the strategies are presented in three components, namely, course-specific motivational, _teacher-specific

components, and group-specifie componerls

At first, in order to achieve course-specific motivational components, the strategies which can be applied are:

- make the syllabus of the course relcvanL

- increase the attractiveness of the course content

- discuss wilh the students the choice of teaching materials

- arouse and sustain curiosity and attention

- increase students' interest and involvement

- match difficulty of tasks with students' abilities

- increase student expectancy of task fulfillment

- facilitate student satisfaction, e.g allowing students to create finished products that they can perform or display, encouraging them to be proud of themselves after accomplishing a task, making a wall chart of what the group has leamed, and celebrating success

Wexl, in leacher-specific motivational components, the stralegies are:

- try to be ompathic, appropriate and accepting

- adopt the role of a facilitator

- promole learner autonomy

- model student interest in L2 learning

- introduce tasks such as a way as to stimulate intrinsic motivation and help

intemalize extrinsic motivation

- use motivating feedback

Then, in the last component the group-specific, a list of strategies as follows:

- increase the group's goal-orientation

- promote the internalization of classroom norms

- help maintain internalized classroom norms

- minimize the detrimental effect of evaluation on intrinsic motivation

-promote the development of group cohesion and enhance intermember relations

- use cooperative learning techniques

All in all, 138 commordy thought, thal the ¢ffectiveness of 1.2 learner is

influenced by motivation Therefore, the teacher should grasp strategies well so as

to develop students’ motivation and to achieve success in their teaching

1.2 Theoretical background of portfolio assessment

1.2.1, Defining portfolios

Currently, porlfolio is a popular term in some Gelds such as business, art,

photography, and education, When viewing portfolio, people often think about a collection of documents, drawings, photos, articles, which can be shown as proof of

what an individual can do at a certain time in his/her professional career

According to Mariani (2001),"it is a collection which can be revised

periodically as one develops new skills or goes through new meaningful experiences" In the area of education, a few researchers (for example Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, 1992) define a portfolio as “a purposeful collection of student

work that exhibits the student's effort, progress, and achievements in one or more

areas The collection must mclude student participation in selecling conlenls, the

criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit and evidence of student self-

reflection”

To recap, in term of education field, there are two aspects creating a portfolio that are a collection or selection of samples of student work and these samples must

be purpesclul collection in order to describe sLudents' own learning progress Tn the following, part, the matters of portfolios in education, especially in language

education will be mentioned more clearly

1.2.2 Portfolios in Language Education

It is sure that when mentioning portfolios in language education, many people still do not understand it adequately The application of portfolios has been

in the United Slates language education for over twenty years

Mariani (2001) states the two most important functions of language

portfolios are: “a reporting fimetion and a pedagogic function" The former refers to the administrative use and it oflen called a "showcase portfolio" In other words, she

considers this function as a way of alternative assessment, which could be used together with the traditional assessment or even substitute it The latter relates to the

classroom uses of the portolio, otherwise, il is called "learning portfolio" She also

adds that this is a collection of something that is a part of a list of students' works

which record how a student implement the process of achieving particular competencies, and it is not necessary to be considered as a tool of assessment

Lesides, the effectveness as well as the advantages of the portfolio in L2 are also viewed as: "[ ] increase the level of students’ motivation and to give them a sense of accomplishment and ownership in their own learning" (Crosby, 1997)

In summary, portfolio in language education is considered as a learning tool

and a form of alternative assessment Besides, it is assumed that the students would

show their abilities and capacity significantly through the process of doing the portfolio Therefore, portfolio will certainly be viewed as a motive to encourage

studenis im oblatmng thei language learning aims

1.2.3 Portfolios in ESL as Alternative Assessment

It seems obvious that there are a large number of ESL teachers complaining about the problems in which they have to deal with i giving evaluation and

10

agscssment to the students One of the facts is that with the traditional assessment

types, they found them difficult to match with the current teaching methods that are focused on the contral role of the learncrs, and the emphasis of current language strategies includes thinking critically, learning to solve problems, and working and

communicating with others (Caner, 2010)

Also, the other fact is that "testing and written examination frequently used

techniques of assessment in traditional teaching or instruction Such a technique of assessment suggests that students be successful as a result of memorization are quite

likely 10 forget quickly the knowledge they try to leam [ ] Tn other words, the

traditional way of assessment remains to be insufficient in structuring the Imowledge and keeping it permanent In addition, it does not provide satisfactory information aboul the knowledge gained by students for teachers, students, and

students’ families" (Hasan, 2008)

From the above reasons, it can be implied that there must be alternative

forms of student assessment, im order io prove the effectiveness of the students’ learning progress as well the achievements that they can gain At the momem, these

new lypes of assessment are known widely as authentic or allemalive assessments

According to Glasgow (1997), portfolio application which tries to assess the ability

of students and which is an alternative assessment application is regarded as the most important teaching and assessment application

Moreover, with the descriptions of portfolio stated above, it can be concluded that the assessment of portfolio is definitely one of the techniques or

forms of alternative assessment Still, it is demonstrated of its strengths and benefits

in comparison with traditional forms of assessment in KSL teaching and learning

1.2.4, The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment

Tt is well accepted that although purlfolo assessment has been considered 1o

be an cffoctive type of alternative assessment with its superior advantages: it still has some disadvantages for teachers, educators or researchers to consider carefully before conducting it in real situations or classrooms

11

To start with, in Kemp and Toperoffs viewpoints (1998), portfolio

assessment can be used in the classroom for a number of the following reasons:

- can improve motivation for learning and thus achievement Sludenls are empowered to prove achievement, so they will certainly be motivated

- matches assessment to teaching As portfolic represents students' performance in

the classroom, it can be entirely integrated inte the curriculum And, almost

products of classwork are the assessed product, so they are not separated from class

activities in contract to test items

- develops independent and active learners Porlfolio assessment allows students Lo

take part in the evaluation of their own works because they can decids the content

as well the criteria to assess their portfolio under the directions of the teachers They

also sel (her own Teaming goals and monitor the whole progress

- gives a profile of leamer abilities in terms of:

| depth: Students are provided the opportunities to show the quality of their work,

which is carried oul without pressure and a very limiled periad of time, and with the help of reference materials, as well the corporation with their classmates or others

| breadth: Students cau show a variety of skills More clearly, the portfolio

assessment can be used to measure academic skills compared to “old style" tests

+ growth: Students’ efforts to enrich their knowledge and competencies are presented and their leaming progress is reflected over a period of time

- develops social skills Students are also assessed on work done together, in pairs

or in groups Thus, their social skills will be advanced accordingly

- has clear goals They are decided at the beginning of instruction and are obvious

to teachers and students in the same way

- serve ta individuals in the diversified classroom Because it is open-ended,

studsnis can show work on their own level Still, as there is choice, students who

have different learning styles can find it flexibly suitable and permit them to express their strengths variously

12

- is an efficient tool for demonstrating learning Diverse types of products and records of progress are presented in the portfolios so that students' changes over lime are also clearly shown

Next, in the article “the use of portfolio to assess students’ performance", published in September 2007, the authors conclude that portfolio assessment

enables measuring high-level skills with meaningful and realistic activities for

students instead of measuring low-level skills in a limited-time, using multi assessment methods instead of using only one measurement method, making

assessment nol somelimes but continuously, and determing the student's

weaknesses and strengths Besides, it also encourages students to participate in the aaseasment process actively and to make an affective commumication with his twadher and parcnis As portfolio assessment, places students al the center of the

teaching process, it permits them to direct teaching

In spite of its advantages in education and language leaming, portfolio

asgcssment still bas some drawbacks The mosl disadvantages of ils must be time- consuming for both teachers and students Obviously, in the process of doing

portfolio, students have (9 fulfill more tasks and aclivities than usual, and they also

have to manage time wisely in order to complete all their works

Moreover, researcher (for example, De J’ina, 1992) assumes that it is rather

difficult for teachers to scare students’ works and to assess students’ performance

over time in the crowded classroom ‘Thus, it is suggested to use checkhsts, rubrics and digital portfolio form to reduce time for the assessment of it

Another drawback is that "scoring a portfolio may be seen as less reliable or

faw than multiple choices test scores” (Cicmanec & Viecknicki, 1994) Hence, this

means that the reliability and validity of portfolio assessment is quite accepted in the case the criteria for each entry of portfolio is specific and meaningful Tlis also requisite for the sclocting and deciding asscssmont criteria and the aim of portfolios

should be considered carefully before implementing it in the classroom

13

Data from portfolio asscssments is the next disadvantages of portfolio assessment Since the data here is thought to be a form of qualitative data, it is prolly difficult 1o amailyze To solve this problem, according lo some authors like (Birgin, 2003; Chen et al., 2000), if it is possible, designing the computer-based portfolio and electronic portfolios for students make it easier to examine the portfolios and to give feedback to them; otherwise, utilizing checklists or observation lists could be a facilitator to analyze process

In summary, as a matter of fact, each issue always exists two various sides, which are positive and negative; accordingly, before conducting the using of portfolio assessment, teachers should consider all its matters carefully, in detail and predict in advance the unexpected problems that may occur in the history of its conduct

1.2.5 Portfolio Assessment Model

Surely, in the literature, the design and application stages of portfolio

ment have been researched by many aulhors such as Bambardl ct al (1998)

and Moya and O'Malley (1994),

First, in Moya and O'Malley's views, ihe proposed portfolio assessment medel for ESL includes six interrelated levels of assessment activitics that are the

following:

a) identify the purpose and focus of the portfolio procedure

- establish a portfolio committee and a focus for the portfolio

b) plan portfolio contents

- select assessment procedures, specify portfolio contents, and determine the

frequency of assessment

c) design portfolio analysis

- sel standards and criteria for imerpretation of porlfoho contents, determine the

procedure for integrating portfolio information and schedule staff responsibilities for portfolio analysis

(@) prepare [or instructional use

14

- plan instructional use and fecdback to students and parents

©) identify procedures to verify the accuracy of the information

i.e, cslablish # system lo check the reliabilily of portfolio information and to

validate instructional decisions

f) implement the model

Another portfolio assessment model is presented in Nguyen's thesis (2006), she quotes some experts' model of portfolio development like Barton and Collins (1993) In Barton and Collins’ opinions, this portfolio design contains three distinct aspecls, called purposes, evidence and assessment criteria For the aspect

“purposes”, they provide three steps to develop the portfolio's purposes as follows:

- Step 1: give five answers for the question: "What is it I really want my students to Jearn in this course/lime period?"

- Step 2: prioritize the lists of the answers i.e determine which one is primary or secondary

- Step 3: consider carefully ways in which students can perform how they have accomplished these purposes

Furthermore, in the second aspect “evidence”, Collins (1991) suggests four

"are documents such as homework and student

classes of evidences: "Artifas

papers that are produced during nomnal and academic work in classroom;

"Reproductions" are documentation of student work outside the classroom such as

special projects or interviews, “Attestations” are the documentation teachers

generate about the student's academic progress; "Productions" are documents students prepare just for the portfolios Besides, productions include several kinds

of materials, but the most important one is reflection Moreover, about the last team

“assessment criteria”, it is believed that the purposes which teachers establish for their students have the strong relalionship 10 teacher’s approach to mark sludents’

portfolios At the end, Nguyen summarizes that from Barton and Collins’ model for

portfolio assessment, we can generate that the quality of students’ efforts and the

15

accwacy of teachers’ assessment about their work depend heavily on how clearly portfolio purposes are stated

Tn conclusion, this chapler empha:

the fundamental concepts for the

achievement of the study At first, definitions of motivation are introduced and then come the motivation in L2 leaming and some strategies to motivate language learner In addition, the background knowledge of portfolio assessment is clearly presented such as defining portfolio, portfolios in language education, and portfolios in ESL as an alternative assessment Tinally, the advantages and disadvantages of porlfolio assessment as well as the portfolio assessment inode! are discussed and analyzed as a main part for the study

16

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

‘The previous chapter has reviewed the literature work in motivation and portfolio assessment This chapter will focus on the details of the practical study, including the setting of the study, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures

2.1, The setting of the study

2.1.1 The textbook and the current methods of desting and assessment

The major material for the English subject of grade 9 students is the “Tieng

Auh 9” textbook, which includes ten units for Iwo terms Fach urnt is divided into

seven parts, namely getting started, listen and read, speak, listen, write, and language focus In the time the research was carried out, the distribution for the learning conlents was the uri 9, and in the first period- getting started and liston and read in addition, after completing five units of this semester, students are expected to obtain a wide range of competences and knowledge (see details in Appendix 1) As for class schedule, students have two periods of English every

week during each semester Within this tight timetable, the workload for students is pretly heavy Consequently, students have to make their best effort to stusly under

any circumstances, for instance in classroom ot outside the classroom

In terms of testing and assessment, students’ Unglish performance is measured by some types of achievement tests, ep progress achievement and final achievement tests ‘he former type includes three kinds such as the short oral quiz,

the 15-minute written tests, and the 15-minute written tests Normally, the final

grade is formulated as follows:

10% short oral quiz+ 20% 15-minute written tests+ 40% 45-minute written tests

| 30% final achievement test

with the average mark of 5.0 and over the average students, and students with the average mark below 5.0 considered as under-average students

In short, from the above description, if can be pointed out, that, the syllabus

and the measurement and evaluation for grade 9 students in Hnglish subject are a little bit difficult and challenging for them Consequently, it is commonly agreed that the major objective of the teaching English at lower secondary schools is to help the students to get good marks in the achievement tests

2.1.2 The subject of the study

The research is conducted at Nam Hai lower secondary school with the

participation of thirty-eight 9" form students in a class considered to be one of the

best classes at this school Through the thesis, they are coded from 5l ta S38

according lo ther classroom name's list, Frankly, Lo those studenis, English is not

their prioritized subject, compared to mathematics and literatures, which are the

compulsory subjects for them to take the entrance examination to the upper

secondary school Accordingly, English is not paid much aliention lo by students, or

even by their teachers To some extent, through the questionnaire, they also mentioned a wide range of reastms why they were demolivated in learning English,

which will be discussed in details in the following chapter

2.1.3 ‘The researcher

The researcher and her collaborator are teachers at this school They have

been teaching Hnglish for more than four years Through the process of composing the portfolio assessment project, the researcher is responsible for establishing, instructing, observing, supervising and marking the portfolio Before the project

started, the researcher and her collaborator had auranged to meet and discuss about all the methods, contents, procedures and time allocation for the research They alsa anticipaled the problems that mighl occur in the entire progress, and tned to find the solutions to solve them Furthermore, the researcher also asked for her opimions

ahout some related issues in teaching and leaming English subject in the class she was assigned to be the main English leacher Apart from these, it must be noticeable

18

that the teacher was invited to play the role of coordinator with the writer in her research; on the other hand, she helped the researcher create the most advantageous cireumstanic

and monilor the students for the procedure of the project to be

successful

2.2, Data collection instruments

The three main instruments used to collect the data for the study are

questionnaires, students’ portfolios, and interviews

2.2.1 Questionnaires

As for the first instrument, the questionnaire was used as pre-treatment

questionnaire (see Appendix 3) in fact, it was employed since it is always

considered as one of the most common instruments in collecting data Moreover,

Gillham (2000) assum

s thal a wide range of advantages of questionnaires cart be listed as: "low cost in time and money, easy to get information from a lot of people very quickly [ ], and can provide suggestive data for testing an hypothesis"

However, they still remain some disadvantages such as: 11 1s rather difficult lo build

up a reliable questionnaire since students might copy their partner's answer

Responses mighl nol always be correct as students are sometimes reluctant lo give

truly nogative answers about their tcachors and school To solve this problem,

students are assured that all their answers will be confidential In addition, they are

reminded that their own answers are required and any copies would destroy the data

of the research

The pre-treatment questionnaire was designed with ten questions in order to get

general information about the students and served as the basic information for the

study and need of applying the portfolio assessment program for the grade 9

students It included two main parts: Part one aimed to collect information about the

students’ background, ie their English learning experience Part two aimed to gather information about the students’ attitudes towards learning English (question 2,

3, 4), students! needs and wants in the secand semester (question 5), students’

allitudes Lowards the current achievement Lests (question 6, 7), students’ perception

19

about portfolio and portfolio assessment (question 8, 9), and students’ preferences about activities in leaming Linglish subject (question 10)

Besides, it was piloted on three studenis to see whelher they understood the questionnaire clearly and provided correct answers Before filling in the questionnaire, students were given a brief and clear explanation about the aim of the questionnaire They were also instructed and helped by the researcher during the process of answering the questionaire After collecting their questionnaires, the writer found out that those students did not have any problem completing the

questiormaire, so she decided to distibute this pre-treatment questionnaire to all the

students in the class She also guided and provided help for them when they were completing the questionnaire in the class

although there was abundant evidence collected from students’ portfolios, within,

this minor thesis only three portfolios’ sources were used, i.e cover letters, scores of

portfolios, and scores of a 45-minute written test The cover letters of the students were devised in the form of a questionnaire in which students were invited to

answer three questions as follows:

1 What can you increase from doing the portfolio?

2 In the process of composing the portfolio, what difficulties did you meet?

3 Can you give some suggestions to make the portfolio more interesting and beneficial to you and your learting of English subject?

After analyzing and comparing the data of the other two sourecs, some

computation was made to display the relation between the scores of the portfolios

and the 45-minute written test, which served as ane of the proof of students!

proficiency in their Lnglish subject

2.2.3 Interviews

‘The third instrument for the study was the interviews between the writer and

ten students as well as the teacher, This was a type of structured interview which aimed to check again the feasibility of using portfolio assessment method to motivate the grade 9 students at Nam Hai lower secondary school to learn Hnglish after they finished their performance in the action program, and to further clarify the

studenis' options in their cover lellers Although the author's intention was to

interview each student of the class, the time constraint prevented her from doing so She was able to conduct the interview with the participations of ten students who she apprecialed they had special changes im their attitude and molivation in learning

The interviews were unplemented on a one-to-one basis with each student and teacher asked to answer a set of questians (see Appendix 6) Also, Vietnamese was

used as the medium of the inlervicws so as to avoid any misunderstanding and confusion for students which might be caused by their low language proficiency;

however, the English teacher was inlerviewed in English In the time of the interview, the rescarcher took notes all thei ideas for later categorization and

analysis

2.4, Data collection procedures

The study wes implemented in the second semester of the 2011-2012 year

The procedures for data collection of the study were carried out in the total of eleven weeks, which are illustrated in the following flow chart.

‘Week 1: Distributed the pre-treatment questionnaire for the students, made a

plan of portfolio assessment project, and inlroduced it Lo the students

Stage 1: Planning portfolio assessment

Firstly, in order to achieve the goals of her thesis, the author decided ta use the portfolio which was integrated with the textbook "Tieng Anh curriculum, and

its assessment served as one mark to replace a paper of the 15-minute written test

types in the standardized tests By doing so, she hopes her students will increase

their interests and motivation in learning English subject Others arc help them to increase their test scores as well make progress in Linglish subject; reduce students!

pressure and anxicly in proparing and solving their achievement te

encourage

them to become more autonomous leamers, and satisfy their learning styles and preferences in leaming the language After deciding the portfolio purposes, the researcher makes a plan about the portfolio contents and activities, which are

described as follows:

Each student's portfolio consists of:

1 Students’ answers for the question: "What will you da if you learn English

well?" (These answers will be placed at the first page of the portfolio)

2 Student's learning English goals in this semester (af east 2 goals and put

at the second page of the portfolio)

3 OF cover letter on what student comments about the portfolio assessment method (Students can choose to write either Vietnamese or English and it is

placed at the third paye of the portfolio)

4 All entries on "the main portfolio contents” part (placed at the next pages), (see Appernlix 2)

5 All materials of the "optional or encouraging activities" are placed after the part above In other words, they would be used for awarding marks for students! effort in composing the project Some of them are:

- collecting articles or stories about:

© the Vietnamese good English students or people

© the best strategies or tips to study every aspect of English (for

example, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, writing, reading skills or so on)

(After collecting those, they can reproduce them by writing down or taking notes in their own ways)

- students' pictures about the contents or vocabularies of the lesson.

- a few files, or music CDs that contain students! favorite songs, sterics or news in Linglish

6 All documents, handouts, materials, paper tests, and writing drafts of the students throughout the semester (placed at te end of the portfolio)

Moreover, she also outlines a table of portfolio assessment criteria that is shown in the following table

Table 1 The criteria assessment for grade 9 students’ portfolios

1 Contained all of the portfolio contents 35%

2 Present the tasks clearly, logically and easily | 5%

understandable

3 Show creativity in the process of composing the | 35%

portfolio, as well as the progress and achievement in

Stape 2: Introducing portfolio assessment program to the students

Ilonestly, because this was the first time the participants had been performed the port olio project, iL was quite hard and challenging task for them Therefore, one week before implementing the portfolio project, the researcher organized an orientation day for the students to clarify about all the matters related to their

porlfolio such as ils aims, sigmificance, application, conlenis, asscsstnent critcria,

deadlines for each entry, questions about portfolio and so forth In order to make it

clear to the students, she delivered them a portfolio guideline handout which was written in Vietnamese (see Appendix 5) to avoid their misunderstanding, due to

their low proficien

yin English Afier thal, she and her students discussed sbout all the issues relating to the portfolio such as its contents, assessment criteria, deadlines for the entries, peer response activities, self-assessment, self-reflection, and

students’ questions about portfolio Actually, after exchanging information abcut

portfolio, the researcher and the students reached an agreement about portfolio

contents and assessment criteria as she had planned before

Stape 3: Implementing portfolio asxessment program

As everything had been established, the researcher, the teacher, the students and the author started to conduct this project The role of the researcher and teacher

in this slage was to provide cnoouragement, guidelines, give [ecdback, comments

for the students In addition, students were not required to hand in their entries in

every week, thus, they were free to compose them with their abilities and desire However, in order to ensure the portfolio timelines, sludenls were cnvouraged lo

complete each portfolio entry due to the arrangement of each week

Step 4: Judging the portfolio process

Students would hand in their portfolios, which were packed in a plastic

folder with their full name in the cover in the week 9 of the process After that, the

researcher would evaluate, grade and give feedback on their performance Then, as soon as the researcher completed the students’ portfolios evaluation tasks, she

would return back to them Moreover, she also provided them with a chance to

express their emotion and feeling about researcher’s assessment on their work, whether they agreed with the result or not at the last day of the semester Additionally, to make it more meaningful and practical, she then sent all students’ portfolio Cor their parents lo show thew the whole progress of their children, the students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well their cfforts in đoing all leaming English activities

2.5 Data analysis procedures

‘The data were collected from five sources including the pre-portfolio questiormaire, students’ cover Telters, students! portfolio svores, studonts' 45-minule written test scores and interviews Data collected from the pre-portfolio questionnaires were mostly quantitative, so they were considered as statistics, ie the number of students, or percentage for each kind of answer Conversely, data from post-portfolio questionnaires and interviews were qualitative ‘Thus, they were examined, interpreted, transoribed, coded using coding categories and analyzed

Moreover, the students’ portfolio scores and sludents' 45-minule written lest, scores

were illustrated in table, to make possible interpretations, and they would be presented in the chapter below

To conclude, the chapter has presented the seliing of the sludy, dala collection instruments, data collection procedures as well as data collection instruments Applying such instruments on the participants, the researcher managed

to come up with major findings, which will be discussed in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Applying data analysis instruments on collected data, the researcher managed to discover noticeable research outcomes, which help answer the three research questions ‘his chapter will concentrate on describing and discussing the major findings including participants’ background as basis to evaluate the feasibility

of using the portfolio assessment, the students and teacher's attitudes towards the

program, as well as the effects of this application on students’ motivation and proficiency in leaming English Besides, teacher and students' recommendations

were laken inlo consideration lo make i more suitable and practical for them

the most tiportant ones can be presented as follows

In torm of students’ attitudes towards leaming English, nearly three fourths of the respondents affirmed that Linglish was very necessary while the others 21.1% of the students considered English important And, there still remained 5.2% (2 out of

38 students) who answered they did not find English important at all In addition, when being asked about whether studying English is their preferences, more than half of them (52.6%) said that they enjoyed leaming English Among them, 21.1% thought learning the language was really their interest and desire However, a small number of the participants (10 out of 38) believed they were forced to learn Lnglish,

and it was not from their personal desire Ta the Reld of demotivational factors, the

majotity of the participants (94.7%) admitted they decrcased their motivation in learning English as they found the words difficult to pronounce, and the memorizalion of the voeabulary and granumar was really challenging The other

kẻ 3

factors- not having enough time to study English because having to spend much

time on the core subjects for upper secondary school examinations, preparing and

learning for tests made them pressurized, and they were not be able to answer teacher's questions, do exercises or tests, made up 89.5%, 81.6% and 21.1%,

respectively Moreover, several students added some reasons such as lack of

opportunities to practice English with foreigners, lack of motivation to learn English,

or teachers' grading and assessment sometimes not fair and so on

Regarding students’ needs and wants in the second semester, not surprisingly 100% of the subjects emphasized that to get high marks in exams was their key aim

in this semester Obviously, it could be inferred from the answer the fact that the

students were highly considered the best scores as their primary motivation in

studying the language Another high percentage of the response (94.7%) belonged

to the goal to widen the grammar and vocabulary knowledge The others were to

enhance the reading, writing and translation skills (84.2%) and to improve listening

and speaking skills (52.6%) The following chart will illustrate their answers in

details:

a to get high marks in exams

‘b to widen the grammar and vocabulary

knowledge

c to improve listening and speaking skills

d to enhance the reading, writing and

Figure 1 Students' needs and wants in the second semester

About students’ attitudes towards the current achievement tests, most

students (73.7%) agreed that their teachers and parents could base on the final

scores to assess their learning progress On the other hand, 10 out of 38 students asserted that their parents and teachers should not depend on the final scores to

judge their learning progress Honestly, some reasons for that were they felt the

achievement tests still had a variety of negative points such as some students

cheated in the exams; even in the multiple choice formats, they chose at random

Thus, they luckily got right answers, or a few students still had chances to discuss

with each other during the tests As a result, they got high marks than the others and

so on In term of the combination of the traditional assessment forms with others,

not surprisingly when nearly all of them (97.4%) mentioned they thought it was

absolutely a good idea Actually, it could be assumed that several new forms that

the researcher introduced to the participants really matched their expectations and

preferences

Turning to the portfolio and portfolio assessment notions, 100% of the

students stated they did not know anything about portfolio Perhaps this was the

first time they had heard about the concept As for the purposes of portfolio

assessment, the respondents chose different answers In this case, it was likely that

they had to guess to complete this question Although the answers here were not

really reliable, the author reached her intention in making students acquainted with

the new notion- portfolio assessment Furthermore, the students gave different

answers for the question about their preferences about activities in leaning English

subject Detailed figures are shown through the following chart:

a Write a short paragraph about the topic of the lesson (5-10

sentences),

b Discuss with your friends about the lesson content and knowledge

¢ Work in pairs or in groups in the classroom

d Interview your classmates about a particular issue,

¢ Other ideas (please specify)

Figure 2 Students’ preferences about activities in learning English subject

As can be seen from the chart, in the last question 94.7% of all participants mentioned they liked the activities in which they could discuss with their friends about the lesson content and knowledge Besides, work in pairs or in groups in the classroom was selected by 89.5% Also, 71.1% (27 out of 38) emphasized that they preferred interviewing their classmates about a particular issue Nearly more than a

half of the students assumed writing a short paragraph about the topic of the lesson