VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THI ̣ HẠNH A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE 9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐÁNH GIÁ TUYỂN TẬP BÀI LÀM NHẰM TĂNG HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP 9 TRƯỜNG THCS NAM HẢI HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH) M. Minor Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HA NOI – 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HẠNH A STUDY ON USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT TO MOTIVATE 9TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM HAI LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TO LEAN ENGLISH (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐÁNH GIÁ TUYỂN TẬP BÀI LÀM NHẰM TĂNG HỨNG THÚ CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP 9 TRƯỜNG THCS NAM HẢI HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH) M. Minor Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, M. HÀ NỘI - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of figures, tables and abbreviations vi PART A.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Design of the study. DEVLOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………… 5 1. Theoretical background of motivation.2 Motivation in second language learning.
Strategies to motivate language learner.2 Theoretical background of portfolio assessment.2 Portfolios in Language education. Portfolios in ESL as Alternative Assessment. The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment. Portfolio Assessment Model.
14 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY………………………………………………. The setting of the study.The textbook and the current methods of testing and assessment. 17 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. The subject of the study.
Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures. Data analysis procedures. 26 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS… 27 3.
The effects of portfolio assessment on students' motivation and proficiency in learning English. The effect of portfolio assessment on students' motivation. The effect of portfolio assessment on students' proficiency in learning English. Students' difficulties in doing the portfolio assessment program.
Teacher and students' recommendations for the portfolio assessment program. Feasibility of motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment. Implications and suggestions for using portfolio assessment for 9th form students in learning English subject. Considerations when using the portfolio assessment program.
Limitations and recommendations for further study. 41 Appendixes v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Lists of FIGURES, tables and abbreviations Figure 1: Students’ needs and wants in the second semester Figure 2: Students’ preferences about activities in English subject Table 1: The criteria assessment for grade 9 students' portfolios Table 2: 45-minute test scores and portfolio scores Abbreviations: ESL: Second language learning L2: Second language S: Student vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the rationale, states the aims and research questions of the study. It also describes the significance, the scope, as well as the methods of the research.
In addition, it further provides an overview of the research design. Rationale of the study The reform of teaching methods is one of the spirits of innovations in education at all levels of our country. Nowadays people often mention about education initiative or active learning, which is the transfer of the central role of teachers in the classroom to the students. In this approach, students do not depend too much on the training process and the main keys for them are self-study, self- discovery, self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-assessment.
Therefore, in order to improve the quality of training, there must be not only focus on teachers, or innovative teaching methods but also need to enhance methods of testing and assessing students. Besides, evaluation must be organized systematically to see the whole learning process of students, and assessment tools must combine multiple and diverse forms. So far, in Viet Nam education system, when referring to evaluation and assessment, people often think about traditional tests, which involve the using of paper-and-pencil, standardized tests to assess students' performance under time pressure and the memorization of the knowledge. What is more, basing on the final scores, teachers and administrations assess each of individual students.
Actually, this is sometimes a bit one-sided factor as the scores do not show everything to evaluate students. Moreover, scores are only part of the assessment and teachers should not only base on scores to assess them. Additionally, currently there are many ways to examine students’ assessment in the world, and the utility of portfolio assessment as an alternative assessment is one of them. More obviously, research evidence suggests that portfolio assessment which expresses strongly one of the final aims of testing and assessing students’ achievement is “motivates students to learn” plays an important role in impacting 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com and motivating ESL students to study and improve their English level.
Thus, that is a great value to apply in context of ninth graders at Nam Hai lower secondary school since they are said to lose their motivation in learning English for some various reasons. From the above assumptions, the author is inspired to carry her thesis on the topic “A study on using portfolio assessment to motivate 9th form students at Nam Hai lower secondary school to learn English”. I hope that the ideas of the thesis will contribute meaningfully to improve the quality of teaching and learning English subject at my school in particular and other schools throughout the country in general. Aims of the study The purpose of the study is to investigate the feasibility of using portfolio assessment to motivate grade 9 students to learn English at Nam Hai lower secondary school.
It aims specifically at: - finding the attitudes of students and teacher towards the application of portfolio assessment program on the English subject. - exploring the effects of portfolio assessment method on students’ motivation and proficiency in learning English. - giving some recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment. Research questions The research questions of the study are as follows: 1.
What are the attitudes of students and teacher towards the application of portfolio assessment program on the English subject? 2. What is the effect of portfolio assessment method on students’ motivation? 3. What is the relation between portfolio scores and the 45-minute written test scores? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study The famous researcher Littlewood (1984) said, "In second language learning as well as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres".
Motivation can strongly help a language learner succeed with the language. Therefore, the understanding of its role and related theory is very necessary for all the teachers as well as learners of English. If portfolio assessment method can indeed enhance students' motivation, then using and applying it in teaching and learning English may have considerable improvements for English classroom. The outcomes of the study and some recommendations will supply with practical benefits to teaching and learning English.
Teachers and learners will come to know the useful role of portfolio assessment and make use of some portfolio assessment techniques powerfully. Scope of the study As it is stated in the title, the focus of this study is only on the grade nine students. Particularly, the subjects are limited to the thirty-eight students from a ninth grade class at Nam Hai lower secondary school. Furthermore, within a variety of alternative assessments, the researcher examines the effectiveness of only one type that is portfolio assessment.
Last but not least, due to limited time, the study targets specially at the advantage of portfolio assessment in the field of motivation, not the other advantages as a whole. Methods of the study The research was realized with regard to both quantitative and qualitative analysis. In order to achieve the main purpose of the study, an experimental research was conducted. To collect data, three main research instruments are made used of, namely questionnaires, students’ portfolios and interviews.
As for the first instrument, there are two questionnaires- the pre-treatment questionnaire and its post-questionnaire version. They were used to gather information to answer the 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com research questions. In addition, students’ portfolios with three main sources, i. students’ cover letters, scores of portfolios and scores of a 45-minute written test were utilized so as to seek the valid and reliable data for the analysis.
Besides, the interviews were also carried out to reveal the effectiveness and feasibility of the portfolio assessment. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development, and the conclusion Part A: Introduction –provides the rationale, the research questions, the aims, the significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the study. Part B: Development – consists of three chapters Chapter 1: Literature Review – introduces the literature related to the two main parts: theoretical background of motivation, and theoretical background of portfolio assessment. Chapter 2: The study – focuses on the methodology used in this research including the setting of the study such as the textbook and the current methods of testing and assessment, the subject of the study, and the researcher, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, as well as data analysis procedures.
Chapter 3: Findings, discussions, and recommendations – shows major findings, discussions and offers recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment. Part C: Conclusion – is a summary of the study in which the implications and recommendations for motivating students to learn English through portfolio assessment are discussed, and the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are presented. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. DEVLOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter studies a range of literature review related to the study.
The two main features presented are theoretical background of motivation and theoretical background of portfolio assessment. Theoretical background of motivation 1.1 Defining motivation “Motivation is a very complex phenomenon with many facets […]. Thus, it is not possible to give a simple definition”. These are the words of Gardner (2006, p.
From his point of views, it can be said that the term motivation is defined differently by different researchers. As for Woolfolk (2001), he argues that motivation is an internal state that arouses directs and maintained behavior. Sharing the same viewpoints, Harmer (2001, p.51) mentions that "at its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something". Dornyei (2001) gives an extensive explanation of motivation.
He shares the same viewpoints with these authors above, but he further suggests that apart from all the internal factors, there still exists the external ones. He states "motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities". Thus, it can be inferred from his outlooks that motivation and satisfaction of needs and desire have a mutual connection, and it is in either internal or external to the individual. In conclusion, motivation is a factor that exists in both intrinsic and extrinsic consciousness of a person; it shows and encourages human the ways to accomplish everything that he or she really wants in his/her life.
5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.2 Motivation in second language learning The issue of motivation related to classroom learning has caused more interest in the topic among language teachers and researchers of L2 learning. First, in the article "Second language learning motivation", Liuoliene and Metuniene (2006) presents various aspects of motivation and motivation in L2 learning.