Việc sử dụng hồ sơ tập bài để phát triển kĩ năng viết của sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại trường đại học ngoại thương

ABSTRACT This study was carried out for two aims – first, to find out the roles of portfolio in teaching and learning EFL writing and its theoretical bases; second, to evaluate the effec

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THI AN

THE USE OF PORTFOLIOS TO DEVELOP FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL AT FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

“VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HỒ SƠ TẬP BÀI ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI

THƯƠNG”

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HA NOI – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ AN

THE USE OF PORTFOLIOS TO DEVELOP FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ WRITING

SKILL AT FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

“VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HỒ SƠ TẬP BÀI ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH

VIÊN NĂM NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI THƯƠNG”

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Đức Hoạt

HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2015

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I, Do Thi An, CH22A, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Master’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of the study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Hanoi - October, 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support from the people who play indispensable roles and have a great influence on the research

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr.Nguyen Duc Hoat – a sincere and enthusiastic supervisor, for his careful reading, critical comments and useful guidance during my research His contribution played an integral part in the completion of my study Thank to his help and his enthusiasm, I have more inspiration to conquer challenges and complete this research on time

I wish to thank 40 students from two classes – TAN.101.4 and TAN.101.33 at Foreign Trade University, Hanoi for their cooperation and willing participation in finishing my writing course as well as completing my questionnaire

Last but not least, I am truly grateful to my friends, my colleagues and my family for their continual encouragements during the time I carried out the research

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out for two aims – first, to find out the roles of portfolio in teaching and learning EFL writing and its theoretical bases; second, to evaluate the effectiveness of portfolio on developing EFL students’ writing skill and increasing their motivation

To fulfill the objectives, quasi experimental research was utilized 40 year students were chosen to take part in the experiment – a writing course They also answered questionnaire and completed self assessment The collected data then were cautiously analyzed

first-The results of this research are, in summary, quite positive Using portfolio,

as a complementary to traditional tests, in teaching and assessing EFL writing was recommended and that assessment should be an integral part of the teaching process The study concluded that writing portfolio is found to be an effective instructional strategy to improve students’ writing skill and enhances their English writing motivation In addition, portfolio assessment strategy allows students to create a bridge between their teacher and themselves when students get feedback from their peer and teacher Based on the findings of the study, one extremely important recommendation is that portfolio should be planned and implemented by EFL teachers in writing classes at Foreign Trade University

Though the limitations have been unavoidable, the study is expected to be beneficial to teachers, students and researchers of the related studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT II ABSTRACT III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS V LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES VI

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 R ATIONALE - S TATEMENT OF THE P ROBLEM 1

2 A IMS OF THE STUDY 2

3 R ESEARCH QUESTIONS 2

4 S IGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 3

5 S COPE OF THE STUDY 3

6 O RGANIZATION OF THE STUDY 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 K EY CONCEPTS 4

1.1.1 Writing as aprocess and writing as a product 4

1.1.2 Portfolio 4

1.1.3 Portfolio Assessment 8

1.1.4 Writing skill 12

1.1.5 Writing performance 13

1.1.6 Motivation 14

1.2 P REVIOUS RESEARCH 19

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 23

2.1 R ESEARCH DESIGN : Q UASI - EXPERIMENTAL 23

2.2 S ETTING 23

2.3 P ARTICIPANTS 24

2.4 D ATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 24

2.5 D ATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 26

2.6 D ATA A NALYSIS 28

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

PART C: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 39

REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I

A PPENDIX 1: S ELF - REPORTING Q UESTIONNAIRE I

A PENDIX 2: S ELF - ASSESSMENT III

A PPENDIX 3: P ORTFOLIO H OLISTIC S CORING R UBRIC ( PHSR) III

A PPENDIX 4: S AMPLES OF STUDENTS ’ WRITING DRAFTS VI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ELT: English language teaching

EFL: English as foreign language

L2: Second language

ESP: English for special purpose

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1.1 Traditional assessment vs Portfolio assessment 9

Figure 2.2 The process of the portfolio-based writing 27

Figure 3.1 Comparison between scores of both group in pre-test 30

Figure 3.2 Comparison between scores of both group in post-test 31

Figure 3.3 The percentage of students having planning step 34

Figure 3.4 The percentage of students having planning step 34

Figure 3.5 The percentage of students having revising step 34

Figure 3.6 The percentage of students having editing step 34

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale - Statement of the Problem

Recently, the use of portfolio has been a topic commonly mentioned in methodologies which are especially suggested for English writing classes; since portfolio is not only to document students’ achievements, but also to demonstrate how their skills have developed over the years as a consequence of their learning background According to Yang (2003),“Portfolio is considered as a compilation of students’ work, which documents their effort, progress and achievement in their learning, and their reflection on the materials negotiated for the portfolio” Obviously, portfolio is considered as an effective method used in language learning classroom and plays an indispensable part in leading to the success of a lesson Nonetheless, they often receive less attention than they should To save time, teachers always choose the quickest way to give students tasks and assess their performance through these single tasks only This can causes the ineffectiveness in students’ carrying task process as well as their final result

In the light of process-based approach, students’ work is evaluated through a whole process of effort They step by step improve their writing skill and enhance the written work quality day after day Using portfolio is the way fully expressing the effectiveness of this approach With portfolio method applied in class, traditional teaching style in which teachers give one writing task, students make one daft no longer takes its dominant place in classroom Instead, students have more opportunities to complete their writing in a series of many writing versions They keep making improvements from their first draft until they satisfy with their final product Once they have done their work, they must be more confident with the significant progress they have made Hence, they will have a reason for trying next time and raise more motivation to do their writing task From this point of view, besides helping students increase writing ability, using portfolio to motivate students in writing is essential as well

Turning back to the studying context at Foreign Trade University, in the writing course, a process-oriented approach to writing instruction is not effectively supported, and students are usually expected to write their essays in the traditional one-draft, one-reader context where instructors simply judge students' final products Students did not receive any timely or quality feedback throughout the semester as students' essays were simply scored against the holistic rubrics and returned That is the reason why the quality of students’ writing cannot be guaranteed Teachers, thus, must think about applying portfolio to increase their students’ ability and inspire them more in writing activities

Considering all the ideas above and with the hope to get a profound insight into the roles of writing portfolio method perceived by first-year students and to find out the ways this method increase students’ writing ability and motivation, the researcher has decided to choose the topic “The Use of Portfolios to Develop First-Year Students’ Writing Skill at Foreign Trade University”

2 Aims of the study

This study aims to:

- describe portfolio method, its roles in teaching and learning EFL writing and its theoretical bases;

- evaluate the effectiveness of portfolio on developing EFL students’ writing skill and performance and increasing their motivation

3 Research questions

The study aims at answering the following questions:

To what extent does portfolio improve EFL students’ writing skill and performance?

How does writing portfolio increase their writing motivation?

4 Significance of the research

This study is conducted with the hope that its findings will be beneficial for teachers of English and for the teaching English process as well The results of this study may help teachers aware of the indispensable importance and necessity of using portfolios Moreover, this study would be a reliable source of information for researchers who wish to carry out studies on similar issues in the future

5 Scope of the study

This study is carried out with the participation of 40 first-year students at Foreign Trade University These students, aged 18 to 20, are non-English majors who are required to take a core foundation writing course as one of compulsory subject It will focus on the use of portfolio in writing class to develop students’ writing skill, writing performace and enhance their writing motivation

6 Organization of the study

This study consists of three main parts:

Part A: Introduction: provides the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the

significance and the scope of the study

Part B: Development: comprises three chapters:

Chapter 1, which is named “Literature review”, presents some main terminologies

in the research

Chapter 2 entitled “ Methodology” presents the methodology used in the study It includes the description of the participants, the data collection instrument, the data collection procedures and the data analysis procedures

Chapter 3, namely “Findings and Discussion”, describes the results of the study and discussions based on them

Part C: Conclusion: summaries the findings and give limitations and suggestions

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This part sheds light on the background and relevant contents of the study In the first place, it is necessary to give definition of two concepts – writing process and writing product After that, three key concepts including portfolio, writing skill and students’ motivation, are presented in this section as theoretical fundamentals to frame the study Finally, the last content of the literature review concentrates on the related studies

1.1 Key concepts

1.1.1 Writing as a process and writing as a product

Writing as a process: Crowhurst (1988) defined the writing process as "the thinking processes that go on during writing" (cited in Saskatchewan Education,

1998, p 2)

Kirby (2002) wrote that "the creative writing process permits the author to construct through a series well planned out stages, a thorough piece of writing that

is both organized in its presentation and thorough in its development " (p 1)

Seow (2005) sees writing process as "a private activity which comprises four main stages: planning, drafting, revising, and editing" (p 315)

In the present study, writing process refers to the four writing stages the students pass through to produce a text which are planning, drafting, revising, and editing

Writing as a product: In the current study, this term refers to the final writing

product It involves certain productive writing skills, which are taken into account

in the assessment of the end product namely, purpose, content, organization,

vocabulary, sentence structure, and mechanics

1.1.2 Portfolio

1.1.2.1 Definition of Portfolio and Writing Portfolio

The term portfolio derives from the Latin verb “portare”, meaning to carry and the Latin noun “foglio”, meaning sheets or leaves of paper Barnard & Deyzel (2003) defined portfolio as “a portable, systematic, purposeful collection of work, selected to provide information about attitude, level of development and growth during a given period of time It is a powerful visual tool that provides evidence of self-assessment, personal reflections, learning, growth and development and a comprehensive and complex overview of skills.”

On the other hand, Yang (2003) defined portfolio as “a compilation of students’ work, which documents their effort, progress and achievement in their learning, and their reflection on the materials negotiated for the portfolio” This study will follow this definition because it is important to take into account the role

of a portfolio in the learning process in order to grow and advance in all skills

For this study, writing portfolio intends to situate learners in a real-life circumstance such as writing an article about certain topic in a true setting such as the classroom and their peers All those components raise interest through interrelations among the task, the self, the other, the context, and the use of language In consequence, the whole process offers multiple options in the teaching and learning process Writing portfolio also leads learners to showcase genuineness and uniqueness interacting with peers and strengthening social relations, become agents of their own intellectual growth, be aware of their virtues and shortcomings through self-reflection, and develop critical thinking through the evaluation of the issues they are researching and writing about As Paulson, Paulson, and Meyer (1991) point out, portfolios provide the students with the opportunity to reflect about learning, about the meaning of contexts and about themselves as learners

Additionally, writing portfolio permits both students and teachers to reflect

on strengths, weaknesses, and the learning process (Paulson & Paulson, 1991) Furthermore, through the implementation of writing portfolio, teachers can determine students’ abilities, predilections, and learning styles as this way of teaching is eminently student-centered (Nunes, 2004)

This classroom tool has been used from the mid-1980’s as a form of alternative assessment that accounts for authentic work in the classroom facilitating teaching and learning; according to White ( 1994, cited in Conard, 2001), “ portfolios bring teaching, learning, and assessment together as muttually supportive activities, as opposed to the artificialtity of conventional tests” (p 27) Regarding the academic benefits, Aydin (2010) points out that "Portfolio keeping in EFL writing is beneficial to the improvement of vocabulary and grammar, knowledge, reading, research, and writing skills” (p 194)

Other characteristics of writing portfolio pertinent to this study highlighted

by Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000) include: they are accumulations of students’

works rather than single writings, they allow the students to show and develop

different skills, they enable the students to participate in selecting the topics, discussing and reflecting about content, and evaluating their own and peers’ works;

in addition, the students can see their own progress and learning of language and

contents The authors claim that a simple collection of students’ writings does not constitute a real writing portfolio, unless it implies reflection Such foundations of

writing portfolio have given rise to a task design based on process rather than product which enables students’ interaction, decision making, and reflective thinking

1.1.2.2 Main types of Portfolios

Showcase portfolios

This type of portfolio is a collection of the student best or favorite work determined through a collaborative student - teacher selection Only completed work is included; thus the showcase portfolio emphasizes the products of learning

In addition, this type of portfolio is especially compatible with audio-visual artifact development, including photographs, video tapes, and electronic records of students completed work The showcase portfolio includes reflections by students on the decision-making processes used to determine which work is included

Collection portfolio

This type is also known as the 'working portfolio', 'documentation portfolio',

or 'growth portfolio' This strategy involves a collection of work showing growth or change over time and reflecting and documenting students' achievements Specifically, the collection portfolio includes everything from brainstorming activities to rough and/or early drafts to finished final drafts of all student work The collection can include the best and weakest of students work It is clear that such type of portfolio emphasizes the process of learning

Process - oriented portfolio

The process - oriented portfolio tells the story of a student growth over time

It documents learning process as well as portfolio development process The portfolio includes early rough drafts, reflections on the process, and difficulties encountered along the way Additionally, this approach inevitably emphasizes students' reflection on their learning process, including the use of reflection sheets, reflective journals, think logs, and related forms of metacognitive processing It is necessary to organize the portfolio content in a way that exhibits a student work from the beginning, middle, and end of a learning period

Product - oriented portfolio

It is a collection of student best work The purpose of such collection is to document and reflect on achievements rather than the processes a student immersed

in to produce them Students have to collect all their work until the end of a learning period, at which time they must choose samples that represent their best work It is very common for each work sample in a product-oriented portfolio to be accompanied by self-reflection, usually in writing, on why and in what ways the samples represent work of high quality

To sum up, both types of portfolios are used at all grade levels It is proved; however, that a process-oriented portfolio is more common at the elementary level

as individual growth is the object of concern rather than determining specific levels

of performances A product-oriented portfolio, on the other hand, is more common

at the secondary level as older students generally have higher thinking skills necessary to select their best work wisely as well as engage in self-reflection process deeply (Sweet, 1993; Epstein, 2005)

As a general rule, the purpose of the portfolio determines its type and consequently its content However, portfolios typically are developed for one of three basic purposes: to show growth, to showcase current performance, or to evaluate an achievement (Mueller, 2006) And as cited in Puhl (1997), Gottliob (1995) listed six purposes for creating portfolios: collecting, reflecting, assessing, documenting, thinking, and evaluation Arter (1995), on the other hand, mentioned only two purposes for developing portfolios: assessment or instruction Portfolios may be used to keep track of what a student knows and can do They also can be utilized to promote learning through the process of assembling the portfolio Thus, the teacher has first to identify the purposes for creating a portfolio and then determine the portfolio types that serve the purposes

1.1.3 Portfolio Assessment

1.1.3.1 Definition of Portfolio Assessment

In fact, portfolio assessment is also one kind of portfolio in general However, this important type is analyzed more carefully than the others since it is closely related to the result of this study

There are many different definitions of “portfolio assessment” Moya and O'Malley (1994) viewed portfolio assessment as "the procedure used to plan, collect, and analyze the multiple sources of data maintained in the portfolio" (p 14) Hancock (1994) referred to portfolio assessment as " ongoing process involving the student and teacher in selecting samples of student work for inclusion in a collection, the main purpose of which is to show the student's progress" (p 4) Defining the term, Puhl (1997) mentioned that portfolio assessment is "a meaningful collection of student work to give a fuller picture of what a learner has

achieved " (p 9) According to Sewell, Marczak, &Horn (1999), it is defined as "a way to examine and measure progress, by documenting the process of learning or change as it occurs" (p.1) Furthermore, Neiman (1999) defined it as "a selected collection of work that shows not only the best work, but also the development of the individual's work over a period of time An added dimension is the individual's reflection of his /her development to the present and for the future " (p 1) Eissa (2003) defined portfolio assessment as: "The practice of saving lots of things that a student writes so that the student and his or her teacher can look at the collection and see how they are doing" (p 13)

Based on the above definitions, portfolio assessment is operationally defined

in this study as the strategy of keeping a purposeful collection of writing tasks a student performs during the course of English over a period of time (one term) The collection shows the different writing stages in the production of a piece of writing

as well as the end product It includes guidelines for selecting contents of the portfolio, and assessment criteria by which student performance is judged The student's involvement in selecting contents and reflecting on her own works is of

great concern

Foreign language educators need to able to choose and/or design assessments that meet their most important instructional and assessment needs and which they have the resources to implement and evaluate Below are some strengths of portfolio assessment, seen in contrast to traditional forms of assessment

Table 1.1 Traditional assessment vs Portfolio assessment

(Retrieved from http://www.nclrc.org/portfolio/2-1.html)

often unaware of criteria

Done by teacher and student;

student aware of criteria Conducted outside instruction Embedded in instruction

Assigns student a grade Involves student in own

assessment Does not capture the range of

student's language ability

Captures many facets of language learning performance Does not include the teacher's

responsibility

Student learns how to take responsibility

1.1.3.2 Steps in the Portfolio Assessment Process

Venn (2000, p 540) proposed a portfolio assessment model for EFL learners which included three steps of assessment activities: First, the teacher and the student need to clearly identify the portfolio contents, which are samples of student work, reflections, teacher observations, and conference records Second, the teacher should develop evaluation procedures for keeping track of the portfolio contents and for grading the portfolio Third, the teacher needs a plan for holding portfolio conferences, which are formal and informal meetings in which students review their work and discuss their progress Because they encourage reflective teaching and learning, these conferences are an essential part of the portfolio assessment process Another portfolio model for EFL instruction was suggested by Mueller (2006, p

4) which comprised seven phases First, identify purpose(s) of the portfolio Second, select portfolio audience(s) Third, specify portfolio contents Fourth, focus on processes that will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio Fifth, manage time and materials in the development of the portfolio Sixth, share portfolios with pertinent audiences Finally, evaluate the portfolio

This study follows all the steps of the second model introduced by Mueller as it contained detailed steps and was easy to apply Nonetheless, at step six which is

“share portfolios with pertinent audiences”, the researcher allowed students to exchange their writing draft with their friend to get peer-check; and then, after rewriting, students showed their work to the teacher to get further comments In addition, one step was added to this model namely reflection or self - assessment With this step, students can develop good reflective skills They might need to learn how to respond to questions and/or prompts in a reflection sheet or to any reflective activity They also need to learn how to effectively identify strengths and weaknesses to set goals for themselves, and to develop meaningful strategies for improvement

1.1.3.3 Advantages of Portfolio Assessment

Venn (2000) also emphasized advantages of using portfolios in classroom, as listed bellows:

 Promoting student self-evaluation, reflection, and critical thinking

 Measuring performance based on genuine samples of student work

 Providing flexibility in measuring how students accomplish their learning goals

 Enabling teachers and students to share the responsibility for setting learning goals and for evaluating progress toward meeting those goals

 Giving students the opportunity to have extensive input into the learning process

 Facilitating cooperative learning activities, including peer evaluation and tutoring, cooperative learning groups, and peer conferencing

 Providing a process for structuring learning in stages

 Providing opportunities for students and teachers to discuss learning goals and the progress toward those goals in structured and unstructured conferences

 Enabling measurement of multiple dimensions of student progress by including different types of data and materials (p 538)

1.1.3.4 Disadvantages of Portfolio Assessment

 Requiring extra time to plan an assessment system and conduct the assessment

 Gathering all of the necessary data and work samples can make portfolios bulky and difficult to manage

 Developing a systematic and deliberate management system is difficult, but this step is necessary in order to make portfolios more than a random collection of student work

 Scoring portfolios involves the extensive use of subjective evaluation procedures such as rating scales and professional judgment, and this limits reliability

 Scheduling individual portfolio conferences is difficulty and the length of each conference may interfere with other instructional activities (Venn,

2000, p 538)

1.1.4 Writing skill

Writing skill is one of the four basic skills of language – listening, speaking, reading and writing It is a productive skill of language users, which enables them to put their thoughts into words in a meaningful form and to mentally react to the message Though the goal of writing is expression of thoughts and ideas, it is attained through various phases

Hampton (1989) said that writers are independent when they are able to write without much assistance Next, writers gain comprehensibility when they can write so that it can be read and understood by themselves and others Then, writers attain fluency by being able to write smoothly and easily as well as understandably Finally, writers gain creativity when they can write their own ideas, not copying what has already been written, so that they can be read and understood

The importance of writing skill: Writing skill is an important tool for better

performance in examinations and greater academic achievement In real life situation, most potential employers give importance to writing skill Among a group

of employees requiring writing skill, someone who writes well is sure to stand out and achieve success more quickly than others Moreover, it is the writing skill that has enabled authors to record their thoughts and expressions in books and various other media from the far past

Testing writing skill: Two different approaches are used for assessing

learners’ writing ability Weir (1988) mentioned them as direct method and indirect method In the indirect method, writing can be divided into discrete levels: grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation which can be tested by objective tests In the second method “more direct extended” composition tasks can be used

as stimuli for assessing one’s writing capability focusing on an understanding of vocabulary, structures and cohesive devices This direct way of testing is regarded

as a suitable tool for assessing the ability to present a written argument in a logical manner, which cannot be tested in other ways

1.1.5 Writing performance

According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics by Richards, Platt, and Platt (1992), writing performance is “a person's actual use of linguistics” (p 269)

Brown (2000) referred to language performance as “the overtly observable and concrete manifestation or realization of competence It is the actual doing of

something ” (p 30) Regarding writing performance, he referred to as the actual production of linguistic events

Writing performance can also be defined as the act or process of performing writing tasks (Wehmeier, 2001)

Abu Hjaj (2003) defined it as what students actually do regarding writing tasks (p.107)

In the present study, it can be defined as the means of scores obtained by the students in the writing tasks (products) in addition to their scores in the self-reporting questionnaire on English writing processes

1.1.6 Motivation

1.1.6.1 Motivation in ELT

In spite of all the research and literature on motivation in education, there is

no consensus on a unique definition or orientation On the one hand, this is due to the fact that motivation is not a fixed state of mind On the contrary, it depends on multiple variables On the other hand, this is because motivation is a concept that has undergone fundamental shifts over time and diverse perspectives in the field of L2 research Such conceptions have steadily evolved, from Gardner’s social psychological approach which was a linear cause-effect system in the early sixties

to the current socio-dynamic perspectives, characterized by more complex and holistic views such as individual differences and the power of context on them Ryan and Deci (2000) broadly defined motivation as a force that moves an individual to do something Later, Dornyei and Ushioda (2010) point out three

indispensable facts in the term motivation: the “choice” of a particular action or why students decide to embark on a task or action, the “persistence” with it or why they spend time persevering with its development, and the “effort” expended on it

or how hard they work to achieve the goals (p 4) These authors made an overview

of the different periods of EFL research on motivation, the paramount principles of which are presented here

In the early seventies, social psychologists Wallace Lambert and Robert Gardner studied how several ethnolinguistic communities in Canada learned English as a second language as well as the customs, culture, and behavior of those communities (Gardner, 1985) The key concepts of Gardner’s theory were: the willingness to acquire the language due to specific interests to make part of a community, the attitudes towards such learning process in order to identify with members of that community, and the effort invested to integrate the community by means of learning the language Gardner defined motivation as a “combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” (p 10)

After some critiques of the social psychological period by Crookes and Schmidt (1991), on the limitation of the motivation concept to the social psychological field and the unclear borders between attitude toward L2 culture and motivation, Zoltán Domyei (2005) coined the term “cognitive-situated period” for the new trend in L2 motivation research This period met two needs: first, it fused L2 motivation research with the cognitive revolution; and second, it moved from ethnolinguistic communities to classroom settings

The process-oriented period emerged in the late1990’s giving preponderance

to studies undertaken through long periods of time, as a second language acquisition Dornyei and Otto (1998) presented a model of the process of L2 motivation with three phases: preactional (wishes and hopes, goals, and intentions); actional (subtasks, action control, and appraisal of goals achieved); and postactional (evaluation, elaboration of new standards and strategies, and further planning) This model, undoubtedly, was more complete albeit still linear in the connection of the three phases and thereby behaviorist In addition, the lack of factors such as the self and the context made this period ephemeral, becoming a transition to a more complex approach which has been adopted in tins study, the socio-dynamic perspectives

The socio-dynamic perspectives of motivation

The main contribution of the socio-dynamic perspectives to the field of EFL motivation research resides in the analysis of the complexity of the diverse components involved in motivational factors and their interrelations The most relevant attribute is the view of motivation from a critical perspective amalgamated with the individual and the context Such factors are crucial in the socio cultural theory As Dornyei and Ushioda (2010) observe, “Linear approaches to motivation cannot do full justice to the unique individuality, agency, intentionality and reflexive capacities of human beings as they engage in the process of language learning” (p 76) This socio-dynamic approach was adopted for this study in the frame of a socio-cultural view of teaching, learning, and research which aims at analyzing the interactions of students, the group, the teacher, and the task in the classroom

1.1.6.2 The importance of motivation

Motivation is very important in language learning and it helps make learning successful since motivation can influences 3 basic elements, which are why people decide to do something, how long they want to do it and how hard they are prepared to work to achieve it (Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., Williams, M., 2005)

According to Ur, P (1996), “Learner motivation makes teaching and learning immeasurably easier and more pleasant, as well as more productive” Discussing about the same topic, Jane (1999) emphasized that motivation is one of the elements that affect language learning apart from anxiety, inhibition, self- esteem and learner’s styles Clearly, motivation expresses its role as a determined element in the achievement of learning, especially learning a language

1.1.6.3 Ways to increase motivation of students in class

It will be extremely difficult to point out the ways for an enhancement in motivation of students without fully understanding about some factors affecting motivation Normally, the most common ones which have great influence on

motivation are students’ attitudes, personalities, students’ learning styles as well as learning strategies and teacher’s roles in class Among these factors, attitude is so important that it determines the students’ performance in class If they have a thought that they are forced to study, they may be not active, not attentive in class and not willing to join class activities

From the factors above, many different teaching strategies have been introduced to increase the learning motivation for students in class Some main ways can be listed as following:

A real reflection: to unsure the reality and practicality, teacher should create

learning activities based on topics that are relevant to students’ lives In other words, the topics must be meaningful and familiar with students, make them real to urge students to study about them

Provision of choice: Providing students with numerous choices is an effective

motivator in which it creates more options for students to choose Moreover, it gives

students more opportunities to experience

A balance of challenge: the tasks must have a balance of the level of difficulty It

means that the tasks should not be too difficult or too easy The reason is that if the task is too challenging, students will not be able to deal with the task, so they fail in completing the task and be easy to lose their motivation However, if the task is too easy, students may feel bored because they do not need to invest much effort and the teacher underestimate their ability Therefore, the teachers need to balance the challenge of the tasks

An establishment of a sense of belonging: “More hands make light work”, people do

best when they are in community with a powerful connection with the world and a closer relation to other people Giving students a community sense or a sense of belonging can help them work more effectively Thus, group work or a contest, competition which require students work together can motivate students in learning more actively, happily and enthusiastically

An adoption of a supportive style: It is obvious that when student’s learning style

and their feelings receive a great concern and are satisfied, they will have more inspiration to learn more and more Moreover, students’ interest and engagement are increased because a supportive teaching style gives them autonomy to do its function in learning

1.1.6.4 The Motivation-Learning Connection

In these socio-dynamic perspectives, learning is tackled in terms of achievement framed in multiple factors that blend the individuals, their backgrounds, goals, and intentions with their social world and the context For these perspectives, high levels of motivation often evolve into student learning, Dornyei and Ushioda (2010) suggested that, “we should view language learning as a sociocultural and sociohistorically situated process, rather than as primarily a cognitive psycholinguistic process” (p 71) Such a conception of learning necessarily integrates the self and the context with cognitive, motivational, and affective agents in the classroom Moreover, Ushioda (2009) points out the importance of designing real tasks for real learner, in real contexts to foster social relations in order to “view motivation as an organic process that emerges through this complex system of interrelationship (p 220)

There exist two notions of central importance in the motivation-learning relation from socio-dynamic perspectives: motivational flow and motivational task processing The first is associated to high interest in tasks that are perceived as challenging but doable through engagement; the second entails performance, behaviors, and the active and constant participation of learners at doing the activities that the tasks comprise (Domyei & Ushioda, 2010) These key concepts feature the level of involvement that learners can develop doing a task which raises interest due to its authenticity and close relation with the real world

1.1.6.5 The relationship between portfolio and students’ writing motivation

It can be said that motivation has long been a major problem for most teachers of English as a Second Language Furthermore, it is necessary to consider the relation between motivations and portfolio since it is the desired goal to improve student’s learning quality

One tool that epitomizes the characteristics of a sociocultural approach to motivation and learning is the writing portfolio Firstly, because it is carried out mostly in a learning environment as a classroom, which relates the self and the context; and secondly, because it is an uncommon practice that becomes challenging and demanding in terms of language performance, gathering the features of motivational flow and motivational task processing aforementioned; which are key factors of the sociodynamic perspective Writing portfolios are versatile teaching and learning tools that can serve diverse purposes The vast majority of research on writing portfolios has been done in the fields of assessment and/or development of writing skills In the field of enhancing motivation, few studies have treated such symbiotic relationship in the classroom These studies share the experience of presenting a challenging task such as a writing portfolio to engage students in a demanding process and improve their motivation based on goal achievement In Colombia, Torres (2009) explored the use of writing portfolios and self-assessment to promote critical thinking, Ariza (2003) analyzed the possibilities

of oral portfolios to enhance oral skills, and Viáfara and López (2011) examined the convenience of using portfolios in the EFL curriculum of three different university programs, highlighting the importance of alternative assessment, and autonomous and collaborative learning

In conclusion, motivation and portfolio have an interrelated relationship They combine with each other to create the real effectiveness in language teaching

1.2 Previous research

The following are some related studies which deal with portfolio assessment and

its impact, as an innovative instructional strategy on teaching and learning writing Weiser (1992) discussed how the portfolio grading system at Purdue University

is used to encourage and motivate weak writers At the end of the semester, each student had to submit a portfolio of six to eight completed papers The portfolio contained all of the formal papers the student has written for the course including the required planning assignments, the drafts that have been read and critiqued by classmates, and the initial revision of each paper that has been read and responded

by the instructor

In a descriptive study, Johns (1995) suggested portfolio value to first year university students in ESP literacy programs A survey was made to determine what types of pedagogical text students in an composition program at San Diego State University would be asked to process in content classrooms Observation and interview were used to make decisions about entry categories The study revealed that, whereas reading requirements were quite simple to identify, essay examinations were the most common type of pedagogical writing

A research study was conducted by Frederick and Shaw (1996) to determine the prevalence of reading and language arts portfolios used as a form of authentic assessment in selected public elementary schools The population of the study was composed of 162 teachers representing 12 elementary schools in a large public school system in southwest Alabama Additionally, the survey involved asking the participants if portfolios were an effective means of communication between teacher, students, parents, and administrators A questionnaire was developed by the researchers to access teachers' views concerning the use of portfolios in their

classrooms

In his descriptive study, Aly (2000) investigated the impact of using portfolio assessment on freshman in writing composition The subjects were freshman first year students at the Faculty of Education, Cairo University The data collection instruments used were paragraph writing, the performance checklist, and informational texts After successfully completing a predetermined number of course assignments, the students were asked to select three pieces of writing to compile a portfolio for a final assessment About 95% of the students completed portfolios This finding showed that the students had positive attitudes towards the use of portfolio In addition, the study arrived at the conclusion that portfolio strategy improved students' ability to recognize strengths and weaknesses in their writing It could be concluded that such strategy promotes students' self-assessment skill

Song and August (2002) conducted a quantitative study that compared the performance of two groups of advanced ESL students in ENG 22, a second semester composition course, at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York Both groups had been enrolled in ENG composition 2, a compensatory version of freshman English for students with scores one level below passing on the writing assessment test At the end of ENG composition 2, one group was assessed on the basis of portfolios, as well as the writing assessment test; the other was assessed using the writing assessment test only The study found that the students were twice more likely to pass into ENG 22 from ENG 2 when they were evaluated by portfolio than when they were required to pass the writing assessment test Portfolio assessment seems to be a more appropriate assessment alternative for the ESL population

An action research was conducted by Anderson, Mallo, Nee, and Wear (2003) to improve writing skills at first and fifth-grade levels These skills included capitalization, punctuation, word spacing, and the use of descriptive words The targeted population consisted of 41 first grade students and 69 fifth grade students enrolled in one elementary school located in a Midwestern suburb Journal writing and portfolios were selected as intervention strategies for the proposed study A survey, checklists, rubrics, and document analysis logs were used to document the progress of students' writing skills On a biweekly basis, the researchers discussed students' writing samples during teacher-student conferences It was found that journal writing and portfolios were effective interventions that showed growth and improvement in writing and reflection

Apple and Shimo (2004) examined students' perceptions of portfolio creation in

an EFL setting in Japan The subjects were 61 students in two separate universities attending English writing course A portfolio of student-selected work was used as the primary means of assessment Tests were not used at all for assessment A self report questionnaire was used to measure the learners' responses which showed that they strongly believed that portfolio construction helped them improve compositional and expressive writing ability The study also indicated the benefits

of portfolio assessment compared to traditional testing

There are also some other studies related to “portfolio”; however, it seems that none of them investigate the relationship between portfolio and students’

writing motivation Furthermore, there was not ever any study on this topic carried

at the context of Foreign Trade University Hence, the researcher determined to fill

in this gap and conduct this research

On the whole, chapter 1 covers the background and relevant contents of the study In chapter 2, the method used in this research would be presented

CHAPTER 2: METHOD

To address two research questions and achieve the aims of the study “The Use of Portfolios to Develop First-Year Students’ Writing Skill at Foreign Trade University”, this study was conducted among 40 first-yesr students at Foreign Trade University Details of the research design, the participants, the instrument, the procedures of data collection and data analysis are given below

2.1 Research design: Quasi-experimental

It is very hard to arrange a true experimental design, particularly in school classroom experimental research For this reason, the current study adopts one of the quasi-experimental design, which is “The pre-test – post-test non-equivalent groups” Discussing the concerned design, Best and Khan (2006) mentioned that

"This design is often used in classroom experiments when experimental and control groups are such naturally assembled groups as intact classes, which may be similar" (p 129)

To carry out the experiment of the present study, two classes were randomly selected One class was assigned to serve as an experimental group (portfolio) and the other class as a control group (non-portfolio) by tossing a coin At the end of the experiment, the difference between the mean gain scores of the control and experimental groups were compared and tested for statistical significance

2.2 Setting

The study was conducted at Foreign Trade University In the writing course

at this university, a process-oriented approach to writing instruction is not supported and students are expected to write their essays in the traditional one-draft, one-reader context where instructors simply judge students' final products Students do not receive any timely or quality feedback throughout the semester as students' essays were simply scored against the holistic rubrics and returned The primary

form of assessment is a one-shot writing assessment in which students have to sit for a timed, in-class writing test of about 300 words at the end of the semester

2.3 Participants

The participants were two classes with 40 first-year students at Foreign Trade University These students, aged 18 to 20, are non-English majors who are required to take a core foundation writing course as one of the compulsory subjects

To carry out the experiment, one class was randomly assigned to serve as a control group (20 students), while the other as an experimental group (20 students)

2.4 Data collection instruments

2.4.1 Pre and post tests

A pre-post test design requires that researcher collect data about participants’ level of performance before the intervention took place (pre-), and that researcher collect the same data after the intervention took place (post-) The pre-post test design allows researcher to make inferences on the effect of your intervention by looking at the difference between the pre-test and post-test results The study design

of pre-post tests will follow steps as below:

Figure 2.1 pre-post tests design (Retrieved from http://www.nationaltechcenter.org)

In this research, the writing topic was the same for both two groups Instructions were provided They were written in English They were brief, simple to understand, and free from any possible ambiguities They also contained information about the purpose of the test, the time allowed to complete the test, and the criteria on which scoring was based

The test was scored analytically by using an analytic scoring rubric which was developed by the researcher Students' writing performance was assessed separately

on each of the six predetermined criteria: purpose, content, organization, vocabulary, sentence structure, and mechanics Performance on each criterion was judged along four levels of performance The rater gave each student a score on each of the criteria (sub-writing domains) out of sixty

To prevent the possibility of the researcher's bias, another rater also scored the students' papers Each paper was scored independently by the two raters The final score consisted of the average score of the two raters