Humanising Language Teaching
Year 2; Issue 3; May 2000

by Pirjo Pollari
Teacher Training School, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Prologue

In 1994 we - three teachers and I as a teacher/researcher - introduced portfolios into our teaching of English as a foreign language in two Finnish upper secondary schools. Portfolios were tried out as a new vehicle for teaching, learning and assessment as well as a means for students to negotiate their own syllabuses within the given framework. Hence, student empowerment, learner- centeredness and self-directed learning were the key concepts of this experiment. The topic area of the portfolio course was culture.

First, this article discusses the concept of the portfolio, then describes the portfolio process in the classroom and, finally, presents some authentic portfolio profiles and portraits of the participating students with their own, unedited comments.

The portfolio

In a school context, a portfolio is a selection of student work, usually collected and selected by the student him/herself for a particular purpose. The portfolio exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements over a period of time. Usually, the work also exhibits the student's own choice and interests. The portfolio should include a description of its purpose and goals as well as of the criteria for selection and assessment. Preferably, it should also contain the student's own reflection on and evaluation of both the selected work and the process of studying and learning. (See e.g. De Fina, 1992; Paulson et al., 1991)

Accordingly, the portfolio is an individual and learner-centered tool for learning and assessment. Its purpose and function may vary, and so may its form and contents as well as the process of producing and compiling it. At first, however, a portfolio is often a working portfolio, also called a process portfolio, which contains a variety of pieces of work with all their versions. The working portfolio thus documents the whole process of studying and learning.

Normally, students select some of their pieces of work at the end of a course or a term, for example. Students also assess the selected pieces and state their criteria for selection. The final showcase portfolio thus usually represents the students' best work showing their strengths. Naturally, the criteria for selection depend on the purpose of the portfolio.

The basic ideas of the portfolio approach fit into the constructive and socio-constructive views of learning. According to these views, teaching should be flexible and it should emphasize the learners' capacities. Students should be active agents of their learning, not merely passive receivers of information. Learning is a product of the learner's own actions and it is based on the learner's prior skills and knowledge but also on his or her experiences and interests. Effective, meaningful learning is usually goal-oriented and self-regulated: the student is committed to the goals and, therefore, takes control over his or her learning in order to reach those goals. If the learner has a say in defining the goals and deciding the content and methods, learning is usually more relevant to the learner and, thus, more effective. (See e.g. De Corte, 1993.)

The process

The approximately hundred students who participated in the experiment were all in the second grade of the upper secondary school - aged 17 or 18 - and they had been studying English for almost nine years, 2 - 3 lessons a week. During the three years of the upper secondary school, the students have 6 - 8 thematically based English courses, each consisting of approximately 35 lessons. For the portfolio experiment we chose the "culture course" - culture meaning here mainly literature, music, arts, film and theatre, for instance.

In addition to studying English and some forms of culture, a central idea of the portfolio experiment was to promote learner-centered and self-directed learning. We wanted the students to take greater responsibility for their own work but also to have the freedom and power to make decisions concerning their studying. We also wanted them to learn to set their own goals as well as to assess their work and learning and state their criteria. And, most importantly, we wanted our students to feel ownership of their learning and of their abilities to communicate in English. In other words, we wanted to empower our students as learners of English.

Getting started

At the very beginning of the course, we discussed the basic requirements of the portfolio course with the students. First of all, each student was expected to produce at least four pieces of work dealing with different aspects of culture for their working portfolios. The pieces were to be diverse both in their content and form. Moreover, both oral and written language - listening, speaking, reading and writing - were to be used either in the products or in the working process. The students were also told that they should assess and select themselves some of their work for their final showcase portfolios at the end of the course. The final portfolios would then be used as the basis of their course grades.

We also discussed the criteria for assessing portfolios: the work should exhibit a variety of topics and modes, it should display the student's involvement in and responsibility for his/her work, and use of English should be fairly clear and fluent. Self-assessment was also considered important. Accordingly, the main emphasis being on effort, content and fluency, grammatical correctness and a good command of vocabulary alone were not the most important criteria for outstanding work.

Next, the students were asked to make a preliminary plan for their work and start working on their first project. Even though the students were also offered some ideas and background materials, and the teacher and other students were there to help, setting one's own goals and planning one's work was not easy for everybody.

Work in progress: self-directed work and class conferences

Out of the usual 35 lessons, the students had about 15 classroom lessons. Some of them were class conferences which were held once a week and there the students were asked to go through each other's work and comment on it in small groups in order to improve it. To make peer-assessment easier, we gave students some basic questions that they might use as a starting point:

What was the best or the most interesting thing in this piece of work?
Was there something you would like to know more of, or something you did not quite understand?
How would you improve the work?
What did you learn from it?

In general, the students considered giving and getting feedback very difficult, yet also helpful. The teachers also tried to monitor and comment on the students' work while it was in progress and thus provide immediate feedback as well as support and help.

Otherwise, the students were free to study when and where they preferred. The students were asked to write down notes about their studying in their working logs so that both the students themselves and we teachers could monitor their working processes. Inside and outside the classroom, the students worked both on their own and in pairs or small groups. In case of any problems, they were encouraged to come and ask the teacher for help.

During the course each student produced four or five different pieces of work. Book, film or TV reviews were, as expected, very popular, as were portraits of artists and their art. There were also various posters and essays. However, a considerable number of students had wanted to express themselves and create something of their own. There were poems, short stories, fairytales, cartoons, and even songs, radio plays or short films. All in all, even though a few students defined culture in a very narrow way as only consisting of literature or fine arts, the diversity of student work really showed that no standard text book could possibly define and deal with culture as creatively as the students themselves could!

Showcase portfolios

At the end of the course the students were asked to choose two or three of their pieces of work for their final showcase portfolios. The showcase portfolio also included a prologue introducing the portfolio and the student to the reader:

This is my Portfolio, which includes four works. I have chosen two of them for my final grading. Music is very important to me but in this project I have tried to expand my perspective by making my works of the visual arts, music, literature and theatre. - -

I have tried to make my language ability better and I believe that I have been successful in this aim. However I hope that my mistakes in my works don't prevent you from understanding the contents.

The students were also asked to assess the pieces they had selected. The students often emphasized the amount of work and effort, the working process, and learning outcomes as well as the personal relevance of the piece.

Second work I've chosen is my Picasso - work. It's my best work, it's most comprehensive. I've used several sources and did lots of work. It may not seen in this work, but I for example learned hugely new words. I also invested in works looks.

Amadeus has been a truly influential film in my life and I simply wanted to share my passion with others.

The last piece in the final portfolio was an epilogue summing up the student's reflections on his/her learning and on the course in general. Most students - regardless of their prior success in English - considered the course a positive and encouraging, even empowering, experience. However, some students were more cautious. Naturally, there were a few students who did not like the course at all.

I'm glad we decided to do something new instead of doing the same things year after another. This was absolutely worth doing.

I think portfolio is, at the end, good thing. But only when it's given as a special project. If every school subject begins to use it, the idea loses it's charm.

I didn't like this system at all. Too much work all at once.

Finally, the showcase portfolio as a whole was assessed by the teacher according to the criteria discussed at the beginning of the course: the main emphasis was thus on the effort and involvement of the student as well as on the comprehensibility and content of the work.

The evaluation was not always easy. Grading the portfolios proved particularly difficult and even frustrating - how to transform all that work, effort, and creativity into a single grade? Therefore, in addition to the actual grade, the teacher gave a more comprehensive verbal assessment of the portfolio focusing on its strengths but also pointing out possible areas of improvement. The narrative assessment, even though it took a lot of the teacher's time, was considered very important both by the teachers and students.

Portfolio profiles and portraits

Some time after the experiment all the portfolios were analysed qualitatively in terms of learner empowerment and students' own reactions towards the portfolio approach (see Pollari, 1998). A vast majority - c. 80 % - of the students had liked the portfolio approach at least to some extent. Approximately an equal majority were also considered to have taken charge of their new learner role actively and responsibly. However, there were also different reactions to the portfolio approach. The following four profiles or portraits try to illuminate the wide range of these reactions from the most positive and empowered to the other extremes. Naturally, the majority of the students fell between these extremes.

Absolutely Fabulous

Among the students who both liked the portfolio approach and also took charge of their work actively, there were several students who experienced moments of flow, feelings of total absorption and involvement in their work (see Csikszentmihalyi 1990), during their portfolio processes. This student, however, is one of the two exceptional cases whose working processes appeared to be constant flow from start to finish:

Fabulous! Just a perfect course for me. I could design my timetable myself, choose my topics. The best course in English so far!!

The student's whole working process seemed smooth and absorbing. She had several ideas and was very keen to start working immediately. She went to the library to gather information about possible topics and then started processing those about which she could find enough information. She proceeded systematically: she made a plan for her portfolio and allotted some time for portfolio work after most school days. Nevertheless, she also worked when she got inspiration. She processed several pieces simultaneously and did not suffer from hurry or stress at any point during the course. The student herself considered the learner-centered freedom and responsibility of the portfolio approach the reasons for her effort and enthusiasm; otherwise, she did not regard herself as a particularly diligent student. The following extract from her prologue sums up both her portfolio process and products:

First I started to do the portrait of Emily Dickinson. I read her poems and searched information about her. Although it took a lot of time to do this portrait, I think that it was very interesting and meaningful.

After getting the first version of the portrait of Dickinson ready, I started to search information Isadora Duncan. It was quite easy to make the portrait of her, because there were lots of books, which tell about her, in library. I think that Duncan is very interesting person to become familiar with. She has had so unusual life.

The third part of my workfile is the poem / the song which I wrote myself. As a starting point I had a postcard, which has Albert Edefelt's painting on it.

At last I wrote an essay about my own hobby, dancing. It came quite easily, because I didn't have to search any information.

In addition to the contents and language, the student had also invested a lot of time in the visual design of her work. All her pieces were handwritten in different printing styles which illustrated either the era or the personality of the topic, or of the student herself. For example, the portrait of Emily Dickinson was a booklet written and ornamented in the 19th century style on watercoloured paper, and the poem/song the Harbour of Life was painted to look like an old message in a bottle recovered from sea.

For me mean the appearances of my works a lot. It's important for me, that they look carefully-finished. I have tried to get something from my own personality in those works. Perhaps I waste a lot of time, when I did them, but the main thing is that I'm contented with them.

The student considered all her pieces good and important for herself and, thus, leaving two out of four pieces proved somewhat difficult. Finally, she chose three for the final assessment: the portraits of Emily Dickinson and Isadora Duncan and the poem/song. She introduced and assessed the pieces separately describing also the working process in detail. For her, the whole portfolio process was full of experiences of personal relevance, flow and empowerment:

Monday 18th time 19.00 - 22.00
- - I just finished this poem, which name is "The Harbour of Life". I can't describe in words what kind of feelings I had when I wrote it. I think that I never have succeeded better in writing my thoughts to words, to poem. Perhaps for everybody else this poem sounds strange, but for me it means a lot!

Misery