The Portfolio - an Alternative Assessment Method in the Foreign Language Classroom

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,0, University of Education Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: 'Important decisions should not rest on simple test scores' Bailey 1998, 204 If important decisions should not rely on simple test scores, what else can we as language teachers do to underpin our impression about a student's language ability? HEATON (1979, 7-8) suggests in his text 'Writing English Language Tests' to take into account a number of other factors, preferably from alternative assessment. One very popular alternative assessment method is the portfolio. In this paper I will discuss the portfolio as a possible assessment method and its implementation in the foreign language classroom. Beginning with a brief introduction to the concept of alternative assessment and its positive features in contrast to traditional assessment methods, the portfolio shall then be introduced in detail. A summary of the advantages and disadvantages of using portfolios as an assessment tool are content of the next chapters, followed by an examination of the technical quality of portfolios. Finally I will have a closer look at marking strategies and tie up the paper with the conclusion.