ESL Portfolio Assessment and Teaching
One of the great challenges of ESL teaching is linking comprehensive assessment to teaching. One method for achieving this is the creation of student portfolios. Portfolios are a means of demonstrating advancement and achievement of students that might not fit well into standardized proficiency levels measured in conventional English only curriculum testing.
Author ASarafan
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1Portfolio? What's a Portfolio?!
Before we can chuck conventional tests out the window, we first need to know what we're getting into. What exactly is a portfolio, in the general sense?
http://www.unm.edu/~devalenz/handouts/portfolio.html
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2Okay, but how can we make this relivant to ESL students?
Portfolio's are self explainable, if you run an art gallery or a hedge fund, but for ESL students, an explanation is in order. Portfolio's allow us to gauge a students current performance and improvement over time, whereas conventional testing only shows us test taking skills, and whether a student could understand the language in the question.
http://web1.hpu.edu/images/GraduateStudies/TESL_WPS/05Lau_Portfolio_a16709.pdf
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3Sounds great! But... How do I grade this thing?
Portfolio's can appear quiet daunting grade wise; each student's will be unique, and to different standards and requirements, however some simple rules can take the headache out of the actual assessing.
http://www.nclrc.org/portfolio/8-1.html
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4That doesn't sound to bad, but what should I actually INCLUDE into it?
The decision of what to include or exclude from a student portfolio can be challenging too, but a good rule is to be sure to include any reading logs, writing samples, and student self evaluations. These core elements form a "portfolio framework" that helps to standardize and lead to consistent interpretation.
http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/Us_Eu/conf/csun_97/csun97_065.html