Using Portfolio as an Alternative Assessment Tool to Enhance Thai EFL Students' Writing Skill

Abstract

This present study investigates the effects of portfolios on the development of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing skills. For the purpose of this study 56 senior Thai undergraduate students majoring in Business English at an International University in Thailand were selected and divided into experimental and control groups. Each group, consists of 26 students, both of them were given pretest to ensure the same proficiency level. Throughout the eight weeks in which the experiment was carried, the experimental group was taught through portfolio assessment technique and the control group was taught using the conventional method. Besides, an independent sample t-test was carried out to see the significant differences between the two groups. In order to see the differences within each group, a paired sample t-test was applied. The statistical results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups which signifies that those receiving the treatment, in this case, the portfolio based assessment, outperformed their control group counterpart in the area of writing skill.