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 i 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 ii 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 firstyear 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 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 iii 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 RATIONALE - STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AIMS OF THE STUDY RESEARCH QUESTIONS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH SCOPE OF THE STUDY ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 KEY CONCEPTS 1.1.1 Writing as aprocess and writing as a product 1.1.2 Portfolio 1.1.3 Portfolio Assessment 1.1.4 Writing skill 12 1.1.5 Writing performance 13 1.1.6 Motivation 14 1.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 19 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 23 2.1 RESEARCH DESIGN: QUASI - EXPERIMENTAL 23 2.2 SETTING 23 2.3 PARTICIPANTS 24 2.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 24 2.5 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 26 2.6 DATA ANALYSIS 28 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .30 PART C: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 39 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: SELF-REPORTING QUESTIONNAIRE I APENDIX 2: SELF-ASSESSMENT III APPENDIX 3: PORTFOLIO HOLISTIC SCORING RUBRIC ( PHSR) III APPENDIX 4: SAMPLES OF STUDENTS’ WRITING DRAFTS VI iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT: English language teaching EFL: English as foreign language L2: Second language ESP: English for special purpose v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables/Figures Page Table 1.1 Traditional assessment vs Portfolio assessment Figure 2.1 Pre-post tests design 24 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 Table 3.1 The average mark of students 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 vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 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 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 FirstYear Students’ Writing Skill at Foreign Trade University” 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 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? among five Traditions Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 11 Dornyei, Z & Ushioda, E (2010) Teaching and researching motivation 2nd Edition Applied Linguistics in Action series Edited by Christopher N Candlin & David R Hall Pearson Education Limited Great Britain 12 Frederick, L.R., & Shaw, E.L.(1996) A survey of the use of portfolios in selected public elementary schools (Report No TM 026 379) 13 Gardner, H (1993) Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice New York: Basic Books 14 Hamp-Lyons, L., & Condon, W (2000) Assessing the portfolio: Principles for practice, theory, and research Cresskill: Hampton Press 15 Hampton, Roberta S (1989) Community Involvement in Alphabet and Material Development Notes on Literacy 60 S.I s.n pp 11-14 16 Hancock, C.R (1994) Alternative assessment and second language study: What and why? Retrieved February 27, 2015 from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/ hancoc0l htm1 17 Jane, A (1999) Affect in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University 18.Johns, A.M (1995) An excellent match: literacy portfolios and ESP English Teaching Forum, 33(4), pp 16-27 19 Julie, E Using portfolio in the classroom Department of Chemical Engineering Vanderbilt University 20 Lepper,M (1988) Motivational considerations in the study of instruction Cognition and Instruction 5, 4.1 Motivation Retrieved on February 25th 2015 from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/motivation 21 Mueller, J (2006a) Authentic assessment toolbox: Portfolios Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/index.htm 22 Mueller, J (2006b) Authentic assessment toolbox: Mueller's glossary of authentic assessment terms Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http: // jonathan mueller faculty noctrl edu/ toolbox/glossary.htm 44 23 Narayanan, R.(2006) Motivation variables and second language Retrieved on 26th, June, 2014 from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsisues/motivationvariables 24 National Capital Language Resource Center (2015) What is Portfolio Assessment Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.nclrc.org/portfolio/2-1.html 25.National Center for Technology Innovation (2015) Quasi-experimental study Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/index.php/products/at-researchmatters/quasi-experimental-study/ 26 O'Malley, J M., & Pierce, V L (1996) Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley 27 Puhl, C.A (1997) Develop not judge: Continuous assessment in the ESL classroom English Teaching Forum, 35 (2), pp 2-12 28 Richards, J.C., Platt, J., & Platt, H (1992) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics ( 2nd ed.) London: Longman 29 Saskatchewan Education (1998).English language arts 20: A curriculum guide for the secondary level Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www sasked gov.sk ca/ docs/ ela 20 / teach4.html 30.Seow, A (2005) The writing process and process writing In J C Richards, & W.A Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (5th ed., pp.315-320) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 31.Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., Williams, M., 2005.The teaching knowledge test course UK: Cambridge university press 32.Sweet, D (1993, November) Student portfolios: Classroom uses Consumer Guide, 8, 1-5 Terwilliger, J S (1997) Portfolios and classroom assessment: Some claims and questions (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 419 000) 33 Torres, S (2009) Promoting critical thinking through the use of portfolios 45 and self - assessment How: a Colombia Journal for English Teachers, 16, pp 25- 54 34 Ur, P (1996) A course in Language Teaching Great Britain: Cambridge universities Press 35 Venn, J J (2000) Assessing students with special needs (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill 36 Viafara, J & Lopez, M (2011) Portfolios across the EFL Curriculum: Methodological Perspectives of their use in university settings Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 13(2), pp 114-120 37 Weir, C (1988) Communicative Language Testing With Special English as A Foreign Language Exeter: University of Exeter Press 38.Weiser, I (1992) Portfolio practice and assessment for collegiate basic writers In K.B Yancey (Ed.), Portfolios in the writing classroom: An introduction (pp.89-101) Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English 39 Yang,N.D (2003) Integrating portfolios into learning strategy-base instruction for EFL college students Education Full Text (Wilson) IRAL, 41(4), pp 293 - 317 40.Yves, L Using Reflective Electronic Portfolios to Enhance Student Learning:Theory and Practice University Studies Portland State University 46 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Self-reporting Questionnaire Name of Student Class School Please put a tick (V) in the box that indicates your opinion Item No Process Statement Planning I prepare an outline before I write I identify what I write I consider whom I am writing for I generate Why-questions about the topic I make a list of ideas on the topic I freely write down words and phrases about the topic 10 11 12 13 I collect information about the topic Drafting selected before writing I write a draft after planning I write the first draft, leave it for a while, and then write a series of drafts While writing drafts, I focus on the development of meaning and ideas I not worry about grammar mistakes while writing drafts I not focus on mechanics (punctuation, capitalization, and spelling) when I write drafts I emphasize on content when making a draft I Always Sometimes Never Item No Process 14 Revising Statement I reread the draft to see if it makes sense 15 I revise the content of the draft 16 I revise the organization of ideas in the draft 17 I exchange the drafts with peers for suggestions and improvements 18 I review the draft based on the teacher’s feedback 19 Editing I rewrite the draft after its revision 20 21 22 23 24 25 I exchange papers with peers for editing I self-editing I proofread the draft for spelling I proofread the draft for grammar I edit for punctuation I edit for capitalization II Always Sometimes Never Appendix 2: Self-assessment Name of Student Class School What differences did you find between the final draft and the two other ones? What improvements and news features were included I the second and the third draft? What new elements did you learn? What improvements did you include after correcting the mistakes from the first and second drafts? What did you think about your final writing work? III Apendix 3: Portfolio Holistic Scoring Rubric ( PHSR) Instructions to the Rater This scoring rubric will be used for grading the students' portfolios It has ten criteria and six quality levels of performance Thus, when assessing portfolios, you have to consider all the criteria together or holistically Note that each level of performance reflects student performance across all the criteria Within each level of the rubric, descriptors are included to be considered during the grading process Remember that these descriptors can make each score level distinct from the others The total possible score is sixty Some guidelines are provided for reviewing the portfolios Score level 60-51 Thank you so much for your effort and cooperation Criteria • The portfolio is quite complete (all required items are included) • The portfolio exhibits a wide variety of writing pieces Excellent • The contents of the portfolio have a very clear focus • The writing assignments show the student strong sense of audience and purpose • The portfolio contents perfectly reflect use of the different stages of the writing process • Reflective forms effectively show clear evidence of personal reflection and awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses • Drafts display significant change and development in the student use of the writing processes • Final writing products are virtually free of errors and well edited • The contents of the portfolio are well organized and well presented •• The shows improvement in required writing items are included) The portfolio portfolio highly is almost complete (nearly all • The portfolio exhibits a variety of writing pieces 50- 41 • The contents of the portfolio have a clear focus • The writing assignments show the student sense of audience and purpose Very • The portfolio contents adequately reflect use of the different stages of the writing process good • Reflective forms show evidence of personal reflection and awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses • Drafts show acceptable degree of change and development in the student use of the writing processes • Final writing products effectively communicate to the reader but contain few writing errors • The contents are generally well presented with only occasional lapses and are organized in appropriate format • The portfolio moderately shows improvement in writing IV • The portfolio is somewhat complete (one or two missing items) • The portfolio exhibits a collection of writing pieces • The contents of the portfolio have a focus Good • The writing assignments show the student satisfactory sense of audience and purpose • The portfolio contents somewhat reflect use of the different stages of the writing process • Reflective forms fairly show evidence of personal reflection and awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses • Drafts display some change and development in the student use of the writing processes • Final writing products contain occasional writing errors but not necessarily distract the reader • The components of the portfolio are organized in a satisfactory format but suffer from 30-21 • The portfolio is generally complete (three or more missing items) some lapsesexhibits in presentation • The portfolio a limited collection of writing pieces • The portfolio adequately shows some improvement in writing • The contents of the portfolio have a confused focus Average • The writing assignments show the student confused sense of audience and purpose • The portfolio contents poorly reflect use of the different stages of the writing process • Reflective forms are insufficient to show evidence of personal reflection and awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses • Drafts are insufficient to display change and development in the student use of the writing processes • Final writing products contain some writing errors that interfere with understanding • The components of the portfolio are, to some extent, organized and suffer from problems in presentation • The portfolio shows less improvement in writing 40-31 20 - 11 Fair 10 - Poor • Some of the required items are presented • The portfolio exhibits a random collection of writing pieces • The contents of the portfolio have an unclear focus • The writing assignments show the student unsatisfactory sense of audience and purpose • The portfolio contents are insufficient to reflect use of the different stages of the writing process • Reflective forms are incomplete • Drafts are random and not display change and development in the student use of the writing processes • The portfolio is totally incomplete •• Final writing contain many writing errors that inhibit effective The portfolio products exhibits unrelated writing pieces communication • The contents of the portfolio have no focus •• The Contents of the poorly organized and as presented student has portfolio no sense are of audience and purpose the writing •assignments The portfolio hardly shows improvement in writing show • The portfolio contents not reflect use of the different stages of the writing process • Reflective forms are missing • Drafts are not present • Final writing products contain numerous errors in writing that impede comprehension • No organization or presentation of the contents of the portfolio • The portfolio shows no improvement in writing V Appendix 4: Samples of students’ writing drafts Student A Draft VI Draft VII Draft VIII Student B IX X Student H XI XII ... 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... 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