A Review of Portfolio-based Assessment in ChangingEducation Methodology

丁鹏 DING Peng

Abstract：Portfolio as a tool of assessment in various fields has been proved practical and effective. As a tool for education assessment，it targets both students and teachers for better results. This article looks at some overseas studies and their results to form a framework for education practice. Thus portfolio is considered as a product of the changing education policy and teaching methodology.

Key Words：Portfolio;assessment;student engagement;traditional test

Introduction

The idea of portfolio emanates from the discontent among academics and educators about the limitations of traditional form of evaluation，through which students are asked to perform within limited time to produce end-results according to the expectations of the examiner but have only one opportunity to do so. Tests are designed separately from curriculum in the traditional model，while portfolio assessment has many strengths as it integrats curriculum and assessment and provids rich information about students’ ability（Weigle，2002）.

In traditional tests，structured testing only evaluates knowledge of facts and overlook all-important meta-cognitive knowledge，the processes by which students produce work are ignored and that such testing fails to show students’ true ability. Moreover，the physical setting of traditional exams highlighted the solitary nature of assessment，while it is believed that a sense of community helps students learn better and with more pleasure. Belanoff & Elbow（1994）shows in their research that portfolio is useful in this respect as claimed.

Teaching methodology is constantly being reviewed and modified to meet the demand of a changing society which values meta-cognitive skills and individual thought and expression more than just the ability to perform well in a timed pencil-and-paper test. However，testing methodology has remained surprisingly consistent and seems to rely much on a sharp memory than intellect and sound judgment.“Even advocates of high-stakes testing acknowledge that standardized tests do not cover the full range of important instructional objectives”（Shepard，1989）. There does seem discrepancy between the innovative teaching methods and traditional testing techniques and it is the discrepancy that portfolios attempt to address.

Recent changes in education policy，which emphasize greater teacher involvement in designing curriculum and assessing students，have also been an impetus to increased portfolio use（Berryman & Russel，2001;Klenowski，2000;Weinbaum，1994）. Portfolios are valued as an assessment tool because，as representations of classroom-based performance，they can be fully integrated into the curriculum. And unlike separate tests，they supplement rather than take time away from instruction.

Portfolios can make a conversation between the student and teacher or the student and himself，which is regarded as a principle in developing portfolio（Boud，2013）. Adam and Hamm（1992）believe that students can construct meaning and build knowledge of themselves and the world. Regarding portfolio as an assessment tool，they thinkbelieve that portfolio assessment is more meaningful and allows students to collect，select and reflect on their own learning and gives them chance to develop critical thinking. The authors elaborate the notion of portfolio mentioned above and imply that it must be more than a folder of work and must represent a specific，purposeful collection of a student’ accomplishments. Besides，they consider portfolios to be useful tool to assist teachers in diagnosing and understanding students’ learning difficulties，which regards teaching and learning as indispensable to each other so as to facilitate teaching ultimately by considering learning.

Conclusion

Education requires communication effort and meaningful assessment of these efforts of both students and teachers. Students can actively get involved in the whole process with portfolio as an useful and highly instructional tool for researchers to make reliable assessment of students work. What teachers need to consider is that although the potentials are encouraging，certain conditions must be fulfilled before the potentials can be reached in order to achieve the validity of portfolio assessment.

References

[1]  Boud，D.（2013）. Introduction：Making the move to peer learning，in Boud，D.，Cohen，R. and Sampson，J.（eds.）. Peer Learning in Higher Education. Abingdon：Routledge.

[2]  Gibbs，G.（2010）. Using Assessment to Support Student Learning. Leeds Metropolitan University.

[3]  Seitz，H.& Bartholomew，C.（2008）. Powerful Portfolios for Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal.

[4]  Ward，C.，& Moser，C.（2008）. E-portfolios as a hiring tool：Do employers really care？ EDUCAUSE Quarterly，31（4）.

（作者單位：山东理工大学外国语学院School of Foreign Languages，Shandong University of Technology）