A Collaborative Action Research on Creating English as a Foreign ...

2004 International Conference on English Instruction and Assessment
3. Portfolio content: Students must include multiple products in the portfolio to show
what they have learned and mastered.
4. Schedule: Teachers should set a timeline for students to develop portfolios effectively.
Therefore, in this study we set specific procedures and timelines in every class so
students can finish a portfolio in time. Contents include students’ diaries, speaking records,
Mother’s Day cards, favorite things to do, and EFL learning. The English teacher instructed
students in how and what to incorporate in terms of portfolio contents; the computer teacher
briefed them on how to build a website.
What is a Teaching Portfolio?
A teaching portfolio, according to Seldin (1993), is a factual description of a professor’s
teaching strengths and accomplishments - i.e., documents and materials which collectively
suggest the scope and quality of a professor’s teaching performance.
What should be put in the teaching portfolio? Wolf (1996) organized a table as follows:
Table 1. How to Organize a Teaching Portfolio
I. Background Information
• Resume
• Background information on teacher and teaching context
• Educational philosophy and teaching goals
II. Teaching Artifacts and Reflections - Documentation of Extended Teaching Activity
• Overview of unit goals and instructional plan
• List of resources used in unit
• Two consecutive lesson plans
• Videotape of teaching
• Student work samples
• Evaluation of student work
• Reflective commentary by the teacher
• Additional units/lessons/ student work as appropriate
III. Professional Information
• List of professional activities
• Letters of recommendation
• Formal evaluations
What is a Digital Portfolio?
The concept of the digital portfolio stemmed from the exhibitions project, an effort at
the Coalition that examined how schools began using authentic assessments in the early
1990s (McDonald, 1996). When the paper portfolios proved ineffective ways to present
video and audiotapes, teachers sought a better alternative to deal with these concerns.
Digital portfolio includes use of electronic technologies that allow the portfolio
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