ACADEMIC PORTFOLIOS ANALYSIS

Academic Portfolios Analysis



Academic Portfolios Analysis

Academic Portfolios Selected for Review

Burt, Miriam & Keenan, Fran. (1995). Adult ESL Learner Assessment: Purposes and Tools. ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education Washington DC, ERIC Identifier ED386962, 1-5.

Gottlieb, Margo. (1995). Nurturing Student Learning Through Portfolios. TESOL Journal, Autumn 1995, 12-14.

Hamp-Lyons, Liz & Condon, William. (1999). Assessing the Portfolio: Principles for Practice, Theory, and Research. Cresskill, NJ. Hampton Press, 23-29, 60-62, 68-73.

Moya, Sharon & O'Malley, Michael. (1994). A Portfolio Assessment Model for ESL. The Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students, Spring 1994, 1-16.

Tannenbaum, Jo Ellen. (1996). Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessment for ESL Students. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics Washington DC, ERIC Identifier ED395500, 1-6.

Why Portfolios?

Throughout elementary school, I had the horrible privilege of taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills each April. We had to sit for hours and take long Reading, Math, and Social Studies tests. I always did OK on them, but knew that I could do better. I just got so nervous. While taking the tests, time just flew by and I would almost always run out of time before I finished taking the test-- and I am a native speaker of English! (Abrami and DeSimone 2006)

While beginning my career, I realized that many of the students that I would be teaching would still have to take the tests that are similar to the ones that I had to take as a child (and, in fact, through college), even though they do not have the same grasp of the language or test-taking strategies that I had when I took those tests. I learned that there are alternative forms of assessment besides tests, and now strive to implement these forms of assessment in the classes that I teach. One such form of alternative assessment is the portfolio. For this critique, I decided to review the current literature concerning portfolios as they pertain to teaching English as a Second Language.

The Search

The actual search for the literature was a learning experience in itself. Aside from collecting and reading articles and chapters from hard copy books etc., I was able to search the WEB for different articles pertaining to Portfolios. Many sites were un-refereed, if you will, and still others would provide the name of the article and an abstract, but I could not find the actual article in a publication. One such site/journal that I had problems with was Computer Assisted Language Learning (1999, Vol. 12, No. 3). I was given the abstract of an article by Saad Al Khatani, 1999, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but could not access the actual article. I believe that, for me, more education on the topic of searching through the WEB is warranted!

The site that I had the most success with was the Educational Resources Information Center, or, ERIC. The sub-site from which I was able to find information is the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington DC. I was able to access the information quickly, and ...