Literature Review of Portfolio-based Assessment in Education

DING Peng

Abstract：Many studies have been done on portfolio as a tool of assessment in different fields and proved effective and instructive.Portfolio is now being used in education assessment targeting not only students but teachers.This article reviews some major studies and their findings overseas so as to share lights on the contents，functions and benefits of using portfolio in education practice and views portfolio as a product of the changing education policy and teaching methodology.

Key Words：Portfolio;assessment;student engagement;interaction

Introduction

Portfolios，a borrowed concept in education，derived from the visual and performing arts tradition in which they serve to showcase artists' accomplishments and personal favorite work.“A portfolio is collaborative learning in a social process”（Lynch & Shaw，2005）.And a portfolio in classroom may include samples of students work and performance on specific tests to reflect different aspects of students’ development and achievement.There is a large amount of study investigating portfolio instruction and assessment，of which some show encouraging prospects for researchers interested in portfolio.

Portfolio is not only a tool for assessment but for interaction.Seitz & Bartholomew（2008）did research on the portfolio assessment of young children，in which some practical advice is given to the contents of the young child’s portfolio;Ward，& Moser（2008）depicts a unique picture in the field of assessing career development with portfolio，which widens the views on portfolio;and Farrel（2007）regards portfolio reflection as a basis for creating a dialogue between student and teacher so as to create new relationship and make teaching more learner-centered.

More teachers have recently begun using portfolios in all curricular areas.Portfolios are useful as a support to the new instructional approaches that emphasize the student's role in constructing understanding and the teacher's role in promoting understanding（Weigle，2002）.In addition，portfolios can be a record of the activities undertaken over time in the development of written products（Brady，2004）.They can also be used to support cooperative teaming by offering an opportunity for students to share and comment on each other's work.Many teacher educators are also using portfolios to assess pre-service teachers’ teaching competence and help them document and reflect on their teaching experiences（Shepherd，2011）.

The idea of portfolio emanates from the discontent among academics and educators about the limitations inherent in the traditional form of evaluation，by which students are asked to perform within a set time limit to finish specific questions，produce end-results according to the expectations of the examiner and have only one opportunity to do so（Daiker，Sommers，and Stygall，1996）.Tests are designed separately from curriculum in the traditional model（Camp & Levine，1992），while portfolio assessment has many strengths in terms of integrating curriculum and assessment and providing rich information about students’ ability.（Weigle，2002）.Limitations of traditional test also include the fact that structured testing can only evaluate 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（Mills-Courts & Amiran，1991）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.

And purpose is just one of the most emphasized factors in implementing portfolio in a lot of available literature.Cambridge（2010），regarding portfolio as an intersection of instruction and assessment，attempts to clarify the notion of portfolios and the guidelines fulfilling the potential of portfolios as an intersection of instruction and assessment.While achievement tests offer outcomes in units，portfolio assessment provides a more comprehensive view of student performance in a broader context on the basis of a clear purpose.

Compatible with the previous research，Arter，Spandel and Culham（1999）also investigate portfolios for it’s instructional and assessment uses.They are in the same opinion that purpose is the most important factor as being addressed above.Furthermore，they put the primary emphasis on assessment as many researchers claim that the primary purpose of portfolio system is assessment，and that the instructional use of portfolio tends to belong more to the students.They also stress the importance of student involvement in the portfolio process and the necessity to offer clear and complete performance criteria for the assessment purpose，which is very practical for teachers to implement research regarding assessment in a certain context.

Another similar investigation into portfolio assessment by Gibbs（2010）is in the field of social studies.They view portfolios as 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.Like the researchers mentioned previously，they examine portfolios as a tool of assessment and compare the validity of portfolios and traditional assessment where the performance and process measures are often ignored.Regarding portfolio as an assessment tool，they think much alike as the previous researchers 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

Learning requires communication effort and meaningful assessment of these efforts，and students should be actively involved in the whole process as well.Portfolios used for assessment and instruction are useful and highly instructional for researchers to make reliable assessment of students work by bearing it in mind that although the potentials are encouraging，certain conditions must be fulfilled before the potentials can be reached，otherwise the validity of portfolio assessment will be reduced.

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] Cambridge，D.（2010）.E-Portfolios for lifelong learning and assessment.San Francisco，CA：Jossey-Bass

[3] Farrell，T.S.C.（2007）.Reflective language teaching：From research to practice.London，England：Continuum.

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

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

[6] Shepherd，C.& Hannafin，M.（2011）.Supporting Pre-service Teacher Inquiry with Electronic Portfolios.Journal of Technology and Teacher Education.

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

（作者單位：School of Foreign Languages）