Nalans (Dec 2017)
Rethinking Portfolio-Based Assessment in Writing Courses
Abstract
Compared to standard assessment, alternative assessment as a performance-based attempt to evaluate students’ performance has been regarded to have considerable relevance for English Language Teaching (ELT, hereafter), yet all scholars have not received it with equanimity due to its limitations regarding the need to design authentic tasks, time requirements, field-tested practices, to list but a few. These limitations necessitate more academic attempts to investigate the issue deeper, and of central relevance to this issue is the analysis of students’ perspectives as one of the most important education parties. Thus, the main rationale underlying the current study is to draw a holistic picture of portfolio-based writing assessment the current study was designed to investigate the perspectives of 50 prep class students enrolled in English Language and Literature Department of Karadeniz Technical University during spring semester in the 2016-2017 academic year with a mixed-method research design. A 19-item- questionnaire was followed by an in-depth individual interviews conducted with 5 participants. Results reveal that although most of the participants welcome alternative assessment in their writing classes, this application is not without blemish, as is detailed in through the text.
