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89STUDENT PORTFOLIO AS AN ASSESSMENT TOOL IN TEACHING PROCESS Ergasheva N.Sh.
Ergasheva Nozimakhon Shovkatovna - Teacher of English, SECONDARY SCHOOL № 16, FERGANA, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the article under discussion describes portfolio as one of an assessment tool which motivates learners to study a foreign language. The author of the article discusses the tips for teachers to evaluate student portfolios and depicts the main advantages of keeping them.
Keywords: portfolio, collection, activities, accomplishment, writing, capabilities, achievement, demonstrate, progressive, assessment.
Teachers and administrators have been making a move from traditional paper-and-pencil type tests to alternate forms of assessment. Teacher observation, projects, essays, and other more creative ways of evaluating student achievement have gained a larger following within the classroom. Although its use has declined, one type of assessment tool that can be used very effectively is the student portfolio.
A student portfolio is a systematic collection of student work and related material that depicts a student's activities, accomplishments, and achievements in one or more school subjects. The collection should include evidence of student reflection and self-evaluation, guidelines for selecting the portfolio contents, and criteria for judging the quality of the work. The goal is to help students assemble portfolios that illustrate their talents, represent their writing capabilities, and tell their stories of school achievement.
Portfolios remain quite popular in education coursework and with administrators evaluating senior teachers. Why, then, do so many classroom teachers forego the use of portfolios as assessment tools?
One reason might be that the portfolio is a very subjective form of assessment. For anyone uncomfortable without a grading key or answer sheet, subjective evaluation can be a scary task. Secondly, teachers often are unsure themselves of the purpose of a portfolio and its uses in the classroom. Third, there is a question of how the portfolio can be most effectively used to assess student learning [1, p.p. 60-63].
Portfolio assessment is an assessment form that learners do together with their teachers, and is an alternative to the classic classroom test. The portfolio contains samples of the learner's work and shows growth over time. An important keyword is reflection: By reflection on their own work, learners begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own work. The weaknesses then become improvement goals.
Different schools may create different forms of portfolios. Some schools create portfolios that are a representative sample of the learners' work, while other schools use the portfolios as an assessment tool that can be an alternative to classical classroom tests and standardized teacher evaluation.
Portfolio is not the easiest type of assessment to implement, but it can be a very effective tool. Portfolios show the cumulative efforts and learning of a particular student over time. They offer valuable data about student improvement and skill mastery. Along with student reflection, that data provides valuable information about how each student learns and what is important to him or her in the learning process.
When starting the portfolio process, remember to keep it simple. Start with a single unit. Determine your goals and purpose for the portfolio. Create a checklist. Explain the process to students and encourage them to take an active role in the development of their portfolios. What you might discover is a very valuable and meaningful evaluation tool that effectively assesses student learning.
The following suggestions will help you to evaluate portfolios of your students and the learning occurring in your classroom:
• Set a goal, or purpose, for the portfolio. Your goal should be tied to how you plan to use the portfolio. Do you want to see
student improvement over the long term or a mastery of a specific set of skills? Take some time to think about what kind of data you want to collect and how you plan to use it.
• Determine how you will grade the portfolios. If your purpose is merely to collect work samples to pass along to another teacher or parent, there is no need to actually grade the portfolios. If, however, you are looking for an overall mastery of skills, you will want to grade the work collected. The most efficient way to grade a portfolio is through a rating scale. If you're looking for specific skills, you might begin with a checklist. That checklist will ensure that all necessary pieces are included. I use the following guidelines: Is the work completed correctly (mechanics), completely (information), and comprehensively (depth)? Each area is marked on a scale of 2-5. My scale is 2 = not at all; 3 = somewhat; 4 = mostly; and 5 = entirely.
• It also is important especially if you plan to use the portfolio as a major grade for your course that you get another teacher to help with the evaluations. That ensures that your assessment is reliable. By asking a teacher who is unfamiliar with your students to read over the work and assess it using your rating scale, you are making a more authentic evaluation. The two scores then can be averaged to get a final grade. That will show you and the student a more accurate assessment of their work products.
• Finally, student involvement is very important in the portfolio process. It is vital that students also understand the purpose of the portfolio, how it will be used to evaluate their work, and how grades for it will be determined. Make sure students are given a checklist of what is expected in the portfolio before they begin submitting work. Take time at the beginning of the unit to explain the type of evaluation it is, so students clearly understand what is expected in terms of work product.
Advantages of portfolio assessment:
• Promoting student self-evaluation, reflection, and critical thinking.
• Measuring performance based on genuine samples of student work.
• Providing flexibility in measuring how students accomplish their learning goals.
• Enabling teachers and students to share the responsibility for setting learning goals and for evaluating progress toward meeting those goals.
• Giving students the opportunity to have extensive input into the learning process.
• Facilitating cooperative learning activities, including peer evaluation and tutoring, cooperative learning groups, and peer conferencing [2, p.p. 78-90].
In conclusion, the likely benefits include the opportunity for a lecturer/tutor to get a clear idea of individual contributions, an authentication of each student's experience, the reduction of plagiarism and increased student responsibility for their learning. However, assessing and grading portfolios can be very time-consuming for staff (or students where self- or peer-evaluation is used) and information from students is may be subjective and therefore compromise reliability.
References
1. Paulson F.L. Paulson P.R. and Meyer CA. "What Makes a
Portfolio a Portfolio?" Educational Leadership, 1991. P. 60-63.
2. Gaudart H. Reaching Out to Learners: Creative Ideas for
Teaching English. Shah Alam: Fajar Bakti, 1997. P. 78-90.
