Abstract
The present paper reports on EFL teachers’ and students’ attitudes, challenges, and suggestions regarding portfolio assessment in language classes at a higher academic institution in Oman. The sample of the study includes six teachers and 108 students. Data was collected through two questionnaires. Analysis of the results reveals that teachers have low attitude levels, compared to students who have moderate attitude levels, towards using portfolios as an assessment tool for students’ learning. Also, both teachers and students met various challenges in using portfolios and suggested different changes to the practice. These findings have several implications for language teachers, as well as language institutions, who should consider including all language skills in assessment portfolios. There should be periodic reviews of portfolio completion by the teacher and students. In addition, the findings of this paper suggest considerations for using e-portfolios.
Highlights
Language assessment is a very important part of any teaching situation, based upon which many decisions are made
Analysis of the results reveals that teachers have low attitude levels, compared to students who have moderate attitude levels, towards using portfolios as an assessment tool for students’ learning
Thirty-one Likert scale items were used to measure the attitudes of teachers towards using portfolios as an assessment tool
Summary
Language assessment is a very important part of any teaching situation, based upon which many decisions are made. Many argued that traditional forms of assessment, including achievement and standardized tests, have misjudged students’ actual abilities and skills (Brown & Hudson, 2007; Cumming & Maxwell, 1999; Leon & Elias, 2016; Wiggins, 1990). Wiggins (1990) argued that traditional assessments are “not faithful” to the context of higher order thinking levels. Genese and Upshur (1996) defined the portfolio as, “the purposeful collection of students’ work that demonstrates their efforts, progress and achievements in given areas”. According to Wolf (1989), the purpose of the portfolio in language teaching is to include samples of oral and written work to demonstrate students’ communicative competence in the target language (as cited in Shaaban, 2005)
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