Portfolio Assessment and Process Writing: Its Effect on EFL Students’ L2 Writing

Abstract

The current study aimed at investigating the effect of portfolio assessment on Iranian EFL learners’ L2 writing proficiency. This study followed a quasi-experimental design. First, a total number of 30 female EFL learners who were learning English at a language institute in Rasht, Iran served as sampling. Oxford Placement Test (2004) was used to ensure the homogeneity of the participants. Then they were randomly divided into two groups: one experimental group (N=15) and one control group (N=15). Portfolio assessment was used to check the students' writing in the experimental group while the control group followed a traditional assessment. After 22 sessions of treatment, two IELTS writing tasks adapted from samples of IELTS writing tests as pre- and post- tests were given to the both groups. The mean scores were compared by running both independent and paired samples t-tests to investigate the possible differences between the two groups in terms of their writing proficiency. The results indicated that while the two groups were homogeneous in terms of their writing proficiency before the treatment phase, the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-writing test.