Task 15 -- Communicative approach

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 13:07:16 08/15/03 Fri
Author: Igor AL Silva
Subject: Task 15

How can we use portfolios to evaluate our students' progress?

According to Sweet (1993), Portfolios are collections of student work representing a selection of performance. (...) A portfolio may be a folder containing a student's best pieces and the student's evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the pieces. It may also contain one or more works-in-progress that illustrate the creation of a product, such as an essay, evolving through various stages of conception, drafting, and revision.� As the author points out, in order to evaluate students� progress in written instructions, portfolios can be used to illustrate the set of assignments, goals and audiences for which a student produced written material. Moreover, they can be as a record of the activities undertaken over time in the development of written products. Besides, they can function as a support to cooperative teaming (for instance, Sweet suggests a videotape of students speaking French in the classroom can be used to oke a critical evaluation of each other's conversational skills at various points during the school year, but actually it would be used to English or any other language). In fact, there are other functions to portfolios, such as an assessment tool, being, according to many authors, much better than old style tests.

However, it is important to keep in mind how a portfolio is supposed to be used. There is no meaning of using it if students are not expected to collect, select and reflect. In accordance to the ideas presented in Hancock (1994), �creative individuals do not have unique mental modules, but they use what they have in more efficient and flexible ways. Such individuals are extremely reflective about their activities, their use of time, and the quality of their products. Then that is a good reason why to use a portfolio and at the same time do not forget the importance of collection, selection and reflection. As the author points out, besides giving a great idea of the students� progress, �perhaps the greatest overall benefit of using portfolio assessment is that the students are taught by example to become independent thinkers, and the development of their autonomy as learners is facilitated.�

Finally, I believe that portfolios are a good way of evaluating students, but teachers should think of it carefully. It is an alternative way (actually, a good one), and then it demands attention in terms of teaching students to carry out the portfolios purposes very well, that is, never forget what the target of a portfolio: collection, sellection and reflection. In my opinion, the reflection would be the main goal, since old style tests usually make students memorize and take a look at the subject moments before the test; and a couple of years after, they do not even know what the test was about.

References:

Student portfolios: classroom use
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/classuse.html

Alternative Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why? http://www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/hancoc01.html

Development and Implementation of Student Portfolios in Foreign Language Programs http://www.stanford.edu/group/CFLP/research/portfolio/portfolio1.html

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]