PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN TEACHING WRITING

Miskiah*

ABSTRAK:

This study reports on the implementation of portfolio an

implementation of Portfolio Assessment in teaching writing. It specially tried
to investigate how the English teacher implemented portfolio assessment in
teaching writing skill and what the English teacher’s understanding toward
portfolio assessment in teaching writing was. The implementation of
portfolio assessment was adopted from Kemp and Toperoff (1998) and other
relevant theories to this study.

1. Introduction

Writing plays an important role not only in the success of learning

process but also in the daily life. This also realized by the decision maker of
education in Indonesia. Therefore, the government of Indonesia, the
department of education in particular, nowadays pays more special attention
in the development of writing skill than they used to. It is indicated in the
School Based Curriculum which puts a great emphasis on productive skill,
that is writing skill.

There are a number of crucial issues concerning the teaching of

writing in Indonesia. One of them is that writing is neglected in our school
(Alwasilah, 2007). Another issue is that writing, compared to other three
skill, is regarded as the most difficult language skill to achieve by the
students and to teach by the teachers (Alwasilah, 2004: 108). Those who are
able to produce a good writing are considered to have mastered other three
skills. It seems very difficult to be able to produce a good writing in the first
touch since there should be several stages to be applied to achieve a good
writing. In general, those stages include pre-writing, writing and re-writing
and they are interrelated. The last issue is that the assessment in writing
class seems not to support to the development of the writing skill
(Alwasilah: 2007). Practice of writing does take place in the class, yet it
contributes almost nothing to the development of writing skill. The
predominant technique is the teachers have students write a composition,
grade it, but never return it to them. Students never know what is wrong or
right with their composition.

Concerning to the above phenomena, the new curriculum, the

School Based Curriculum, is directed to improve the quality of national
education. To do so, in line with the teaching of English in Indonesia, the
English teachers are expected to be able to construct autonomously the
management of their classroom in order to be more creative and innovative.
The students in this case are also expected to be more engaged in the
learning process. Furthermore, students are supposed to be more active,
creative, and have more self esteem (BSNP, 2006). This new curriculum
also gives much attention to the engagement of the student in all teaching
and learning activities including the assessment activity since it has a
working relationship with teaching and learning process (Supranata &
Hatta: 2007). Those may be achieved by implementing the classroom-based
assessments (Mulyasa: 2006). One of them is portfolio assessment which
becomes the focus of this study since this assessment is intended to know
the students’ learning progress, to diagnose their difficulties in learning, and
also to give feedback for the better learning process.

Portfolio assessment measures individual learners’ progress rather

than the product. There are a number of positive effects mentioned by some
experts (Genesee & Upshur, 1998, Elbow, 1991; White, 1994; Apple &
Shimo, 2002). One of those effect is that portfolio can afford students to
become actively involved in assessment and learning (Genesee & Upshur,
1998: 99). Elbow (1991), in his foreword for Portfolio: Process and
 Product, stresses that portfolio assessment is ideal for inviting students
work than do other method of assessment (White, 1994: 31). Besides,
portfolio contains a record of concrete examples of students’ work over
time. It can accurately demonstrate students’ progress in the target
language, give students the opportunity to reflect on their own progress and
work collaboratively with peers even after the actual assessment has been
given, and help students take the responsibility for their own progress
toward both class oriented and personal learning goals (Apple & Shimo:
2002). In other words, it can encourage students to become active and
reflexive students.

Regarding those phenomena, the study is interested in conducting

research on the implementation of portfolio assessment in teaching writing
to get more description of this assessment in the real teaching and learning
process.

2. Assessment

Assessment is frequently used as a euphemism for test. But assessment

differs from what was defined as a test (Brown: 2001). Sometimes a test is
justified on the basis of accountability: are the students learning what they
are supposed to learn. Whereas, in an instructional program, assessment is
usually an ongoing strategy through which students’ learning is not only
monitored, but by which students are involved in making decisions about
the degree to which their performances match their ability (Hancock:
19949). Furthermore, Brown (2001) elaborates a test as an instrument or
procedure designed to elicit performance from learners with the purpose of
measuring their attainment of specified criteria. A test is almost always
conducted at identifiable time periods. It is more formal and product
oriented. The other hand, assessment encompasses a much wider domain
than test. Whenever students respond to a question, offer a comment, try
out a new word or structure, the teacher makes an assessment of the
 students’ performance. Assessment is carried out at unidentifiable time or
more informal and it focuses on the process-oriented. However, this study
focuses on the assessment rather than the test since assessment pays more
attention to the process of learning and is able to be conducted at anytime.

3. Classroom-based Assessment

Assessment, which is used to evaluate the students’ achievement, is

one of the most important components of teaching and learning process.
There are a number of assessments suggested by School Based Curriculum
Development (KTSP). One of the is classroom-based evaluation. This
assessment is intended to find out the students’ learning process (Mulyasa:
2006). Classroom-based assessment also involves students and teacher in
the continuous monitoring of students learning process. Furthermore, it is
able to understand and promote learning, increase students ability to help
them become more effective, self-assessing, self-directed learning (Angelo
& Cross: 2000).

4. Portfolio Assessment

In the teaching of writing, alternative assessment is in direct contrasts

to what is known as traditional assessment, standardized assessment, etc.
students, teacher, and sometimes parents are involved in this assessment.
Portfolio assessment is used to encourage students’ involvement and
improvement in their learning process (Weinbaum, 1991). It also leads to
students monitoring their own progress. Beside, portfolio contains a record
of concrete examples of students’ work over time, they can accurately
demonstrate students’ progress in the target language, give students the
opportunity to reflect on their own progress and work collaboratively with
peers even after the actual assessment has been given, and help students
take the responsibility for their own progress toward both class oriented and
personal learning goals (Apple & Shimo: 2002).
 The definition of portfolio is given by Paulson, Paulson and Mayer
(!((!) cited in Niekerk (1998),

A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that

exhibits students’ efforts, progress, and achievements in one or
more areas. The collection must include student participation
in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for
judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection.
A portfolio … provides a complex and comprehensive view of
student performance in context. It is a portfolio when the
student is a participant in, rather than the object of assessment
… it provides a forum that encourages students to develop the
abilities needed to become independent, self-directed learners.
In addition, Hancock (1994) defines portfolio assessment as an
ongoing process involving students and teacher in selecting samples of
students’ work for inclusion a collection, the main purpose of which is to
show the students’ progress. The use of this procedure is increasing in the
language field, particularly with respect to the writing skill.

Those above definitions are relevant to this study since they consist
of the concept of portfolio which include purposeful collection; students’
work; showing efforts, progress and achievement; participation; evidence of
self-reflection; comprehensive view of performance; and a forum for
independent, self-directed learners. Some of those aspects are also relevant
to the assessment that is suggested in School Based Curriculum (BSNP,
2006).

5. Narrative Genre

The narrative deals with events that are problematic and which lead
to a crisis or turning point of some kind. The complicating events are
usually resolved by a main character of some kind. Furthermore, in the final
part of the narrative there is some kind of resolution stage where the
problem of complicating event which were set up in the earlier part of the
text are resolved for better of worst. In addition, narrative act as a form of
entertainment and as a way of exploring issues in our society (Feez &
Joyce: 2000).

The purpose of narrative is to amuse, entertain and instructs via

reflection on experience (Johns:2002, Derewianka: 2004). But narrative
may also seek to teach or inform, to embody the writer’s reflections on
experience, and to nourish and extend the reader’s imagination
(Derewianka: 2004).

 
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