PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

Definition of portfolio assessment

A portfolio can be defined as ‘a purposeful collection of student works that exhibits to the student (and/ or others) the student’s efforts, progress, or achievement in a given area’. More specifically in terms of writing assessment, a portfolio is a collection of written for different purposes over a period of time. Because portfolio assessment is used in so many settings, there is wide variation in terms of how portfolios are assembled, evaluated, and used; however, certain common characteristics in these points can be found in many, if not most, portfolio assessment programs.

Characteristics

            Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000) give nine characteritics taht are present to  a greater or lesser degree in portfolios:

1. A portfolio is a collection of written woks, rather than a single writing sample.

2. It enables the writer to display a range of writing performances, in different genres and for different audiences and purposes.

3. A portfolio possesses context richness insofar as it reflects closely the learning situation and demonstrate what the writer has accomplished within that context.

4. An important characteristic of most portfolio program is delayed evaluation, giving students both the opportunity and the motivation to revise written products before a final evaluation is given.

5. Portfolios generally involve selection of the pieces to be included in the portfolio, usually by the student with some guidance from the instructor.

6. Delayed evaluation and selection offer opportunities for student-centered control, in that students can select which pieces best fulfill the established evaluation criteria and can revise them before putting them into their portfolios.

7. A portfolio usually involves reflection and self assessment, in that students must reflect on their work in deciding how to arrange the portfolio and are frequently asked to write a reflective essay about their development as writers and how the pieces in the portfolio represent that development.

8. Portfolios can provide a mean for measuring growth along specific parameters, such as linguistic accuracy or the ability to organize and develop an argument.

9. Portfolios provide a means for measuring development over time in ways that neither the teacher nor the student may have anticipated.

            According to Hamp-Lyons and Condon, the most important components of a portfolio are collection, reflection, and selection. By definition a portfolio must include a collection of writing samples, rather than a single piece of writing, since goal of portfolio assessment is to provide more evidence of a student’s ability in writing than a single piece of writing can provide.

Source:

Weigle, Sara Cushing. (2012). Assessing Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.