Teaching and assessing academic writing via the portfolio: benefits for learners of English as an additional language

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Title: Teaching and assessing academic writing via the portfolio: benefits for learners of English as an additional language
Author(s): Romova, Zina; Andrew, Martin
Abstract: This paper examines the use of portfolios as pedagogical tools for developing academic writing. In particular, it considers the value of multi-drafting, where learners reflect on the learning of a text type as well as focusing on micro and macro aspects. The paper outlines a situated pedagogical approach, where students come to understand their improvement across three portfolio drafts and evaluate their learning reflectively. A multicultural group of 41 learners enrolled in the degree-level course ‘Academic Writing’ at a tertiary institution in New Zealand participated in a study evaluating the portfolio approach to building awareness of their own writing. Focus group interviews provided qualitative data, analysed using a grounded theory approach. Triangulating data came from student reflective memoranda written in response to each drafting process. We conclude that a multi-draft portfolio is an effective assessment tool, not only because it provides a feedback loop but also because it enhances learners’ understanding of writing as a recursive process. This provides them with aspects of academic writing literacy such as self-editing and the insight to reorganise academic texts by applying target genre and discourse knowledge.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Higher Education, Lilydale
Source: Assessing Writing, Vol. 16, no. 2 (April 2011), pp. 112-122
Publication year: 2011
FOR Code(s): 1303 Specialist Studies in Education
Keyword(s): Discourse communities; Feedback; Multi-drafting; Portfolio assessment; Reflection
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 1075-2935
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2011.02.005
Peer reviewed