Portfolio-Based Assessment in English Language Learning: Highlighting the Students’ Perceptions

Abstract

Portfolio-based Assessment (hereafter, PBA) plays an indispensable role in language assessment. PBA represents the development of the students’ learning process outcomes, trains autonomous learning, and stimulates metacognitive awareness. Conversely, a few investigative attempts, addressed the students’ perceptions of PBA in the Indonesian EFL Context. Therefore, this study aimed to decipher the perceptions of EFL students in Indonesia on PBA use in the English subject. Empirically speaking, two female students were involved as the participants in this study. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview and analyzed with Thematic Analysis (TA) (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings revealed that students articulated their perceptions in three major themes, namely developing self-monitoring from the students’ learning processes, generating discipline, responsible and autonomous language learning attitudes, and mitigating perceptual mismatches among teachers and students. Pedagogically speaking, this study indicates that PBA employment can provide opportunities for students to monitor their learning progress, and enhance their self-confidence and learning motivation.

Navigating the Portfolio Landscape: Examining Lecturers’ and Students’ Perspectives on Portfolio Assessment Practices

“…In contrast, students expressed less clarity regarding the purpose and objectives of portfolio assessment practices, reflecting a disconnect between educators' intentions and students' understanding. This finding deviates from some previous studies that found students to have a clearer understanding of assessment objectives [1,36]. Possible reasons for this discrepancy could include variations in instructional practices or differences in students' prior experiences with portfolio assessment.…”

“…The analysis of the perceptions of both lecturers and students sheds light on the various aspects of portfolio assessment practices. Lecturers demonstrated a high level of awareness regarding the purpose and objectives of using portfolios, emphasising their role in facilitating student learning, which aligns with findings from previous studies [14,36] (Ma'arif et al, 2021). However, concerns were raised about the clarity and communication of objectives to students, indicating a gap in instructional practices.…”

“…Alignment between lecturers and students is evident in certain areas, such as the recognition of the value of collaboration in portfolio procedures and the effectiveness of this assessment in diagnosing students' strengths and weaknesses. These findings resonate with prior research emphasising the importance of collaboration and diagnostic assessment in portfolio practices [25,36,37]. However, divergences exist regarding the adequacy of guidance, the integration of portfolio procedures into the educational programme, and the provision of good portfolio samples.…”

The Effects of Speaking Portfolios on Interactional Competence of Thai EFL Undergraduate Students

“…Portfolio assessment has been pedagogically regarded as a learning assessment tool that can provide students with opportunities to monitor their own progress as well as enhancing self-confidence and motivation (Ma'arif et al, 2021). Several studies on the employment of speaking portfolios have been conducted.…”

“…Several studies on the employment of speaking portfolios have been conducted. E-portfolios and data storage on Google Drive have been employed by a number of scholars in an EFL context (Ma'arif et al, 2021;Yekta & Kana'ni, 2020). This method was found to be effective in boosting the speaking fluency of students.…”