Why reinvent the wheel? E-portfolios are for learning

Abstract

‘Readers respond’ is a forum for individuals to contribute their own reactions, perspectives, or experiences in relation to a specific article published in a recent issue. These views are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Editorial Panel, or the Publisher. This article responds to Gan, Z. and C. Leung. 2020. ‘Illustrating formative assessment in task-based language teaching’. ELT Journal, 74/1: 10–19. E-portfolios are broadly defined as digital dossiers, where students create, connect, showcase, and reflect upon multimodal artefacts to enhance learning (Yancey 2009). In the past two decades, they have been widely applied in large-scale standardised testing and classroom-based assessments, particularly of L2 writing. E-portfolios have multifaceted advantages. They can improve students’ writing performances, motivation, and self-regulated learning (Aygün and Aydin 2016). They can promulgate process writing, self- and peer assessment, and self-reflection. They can also be used to evaluate higher-order thinking skills, namely creativity, problem-solving skills, or metacognition, which would not be easily measured by one-shot essay testing. Despite these, e-portfolios have limitations. They require students and teachers to possess high to moderate levels of computer literacy. Accessibility to infrastructures like Wi-Fi connection, electronic gadgets and portfolio software would be causes for concern, especially for those economically less advantaged students. The issue of whether assessing writing performances or assessing technological skills remains contentious, given that teachers are unsurprisingly distracted by flashy e-portfolio designs (Barrett 2007).