W R I T I N G
In praise of
the portfolio
Yan Xiaoyun uses
I
n traditional English writing
classes in China, teachers provide
learner profiles to students with information on
writing skills, which they are
promote autonomy. supposed to memorise, and then assign
writing homework of around 100–150
words. After the students hand in their
compositions, the teacher will read them
and write comments on each, which
takes at least six hours if, as is common,
the total number of students is over 40.
However, the students usually just glance
at their marks without reading the
comments carefully and then say they
learn little from English writing classes.
Teachers find this really upsetting.
Encouraging autonomy
The problem may lie in the fact that
this is a very teacher-centred way of
teaching. So how can we change to a
more student-centred mode and develop
students into autonomous learners? I
wondered whether learner portfolios
might be the answer, and so I conducted
an experiment using them, in the hope
of finding answers to the following
questions:
1 Can learner portfolios encourage
students to develop a sense of
responsibility for their own
learning?
2 Can learner portfolios help students
learn to reflect on what they have
done, improve their compositions
and then set improvement goals?
3 Can learner portfolios help students
learn to perform self-assessment
and peer assessment?
12 • Issue 55 March 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
What is a learner
portfolio?
A learner portfolio (also called a learner
profile) is, according to David Gardner
and Lindsay Miller, ‘a collection of
information relating to an individual
learner. Its purpose is to provide a picture
of the learner’s current development and
future potential in terms which relate to
self-access learning’. It generally consists
of a collection of pieces of work
completed by the learner, which are
considered to be representative of that
learner’s level of achievement at various
stages of a course. The role of the
portfolio is not only to establish the
needs and wants of the learner, but also
to monitor the learner’s progress.
Students usually
just glance at their
marks without reading
the comments and
then say they learn
little from English
writing classes
A first experiment
In order to find out if I could persuade
students to take responsibility for their
own learning and develop autonomous
learning skills, I carried out the
experiment with an English writing class.
The class consisted of 45 students in
their first year at a state university in
Shanghai, China. There were 26 girls and
19 boys. They came from different parts
of China and had never heard of learner
portfolios before. Before being asked to
construct their learner portfolios, they
had finished six compositions of
200–600 words on a variety of topics.
Contents
The students were asked to choose their
best pieces of work and describe in
writing the process by which these pieces
had been planned and executed. Their
portfolios were, therefore, to include
pieces of work which they themselves
judged to be good. They were also
instructed to do further work on two of
their compositions, work which would
involve peer assessment. Three drafts of
each piece would be required.
In addition, the students were asked
to reflect on their work and set
improvement goals for future learning
based on this reflection. The teacher
was on hand to help during the
production of the portfolios.
Assembling
Firstly, a set of principles was given to
the students so that they would
understand what a good composition
was and what good writers do. The
following is a sample:
Good writers ...
● plan before they write.
● write about real things.
● write stories with a beginning,
a middle and an end.
● ask others to read their work.
● write in complete sentences.
● leave spaces between words.
● put full stops at the end of
sentences.
● make their handwriting easy to
read.
(Adapted from O’Malley and Pierce)
Secondly, students were encouraged
to read their own finished compositions
in the light of these principles. After
choosing the best compositions, they
were asked to perform a self-assessment.
Above is a sample self-assessment form
given to the students.
Thirdly, the students were told to
select two pieces of work and give them
to at least two classmates to read and
comment on. The students were then
Self-assessment form
Student name: ...................................
Date: ................................
The attached portfolio item is
(eg first draft, describing a picture):
............................................................
This piece of work shows that I can:
__ take risks.
__ support ideas with evidence or
reasons.
__ collaborate.
__ organise related ideas using a
variety of sentence structures.
__ participate in discussion.
__ use effective spelling strategies.
__ self-edit.
__ other: ............................................
Please notice:
Now I am planning to:
............................................................
............................................................
Student signature:
............................................................
expected to improve their compositions
in the light of any suggestions from
their classmates. They were told to
present at least three drafts, together
with written accounts of what they were
thinking about when they wrote and
revised the compositions. In this way,
the writing process could be suitably
demonstrated and analysed.
Fourthly, the students were asked to
set goals for improvement. This was done
by encouraging them to analyse their
needs and wants and reflect on the work
they had already done. Again, a form was
used to facilitate this. Here is an example:
Setting improvement goals
Your name: ........................................
Date: ................................
Look at your writing sample.
● What does this sample show that
you can do?
● Write about what you did well.
● Think about realistic goals.
● Write one thing you need to do
better. Be specific.
(Adapted from O’Malley and Pierce)
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 55 March 2008 •
Finally, the students were asked to
produce a cover for their portfolios.
They were allowed to design and
decorate their own covers, but were told
that the following information must be
included: name, school year, grade,
required contents, any optional contents
and comments.
Updating
Once the learner portfolios had been
produced, the students were told to
monitor whether or not they had achieved
their goals for improvement at the end of
the next teaching period. They were told
to keep collecting their written work and
assessing it in order to put more good
examples into their portfolios. They
were told that they could add to their
portfolios whenever they liked – portfolios
are living records and need constant
updating if they are to be effective.
A first analysis
Motivation
Although at first they found producing
their portfolios a little difficult, all 45
students succeeded in completing the
task. After analysing their portfolios
carefully, I found they were beginning
to pay more attention to the process of
writing their compositions, were alert to
their own improvement and were keener
to write.
Responsibility
I discovered that learner portfolios could
encourage students to develop a sense of
responsibility for their own learning. In
the past, the job of writing a composition
ended when they handed in their exercise
books; now it was just the beginning.
They learnt to do further work on their
compositions in order to improve them.
They now realised that after getting their
work back from me, they needed to
correct any language mistakes and polish
their work at least twice. Moreover, they
were required to write down how they
planned their work, how they improved it
and what they were thinking when they
did this. They came to understand how to
construct a good piece of writing, and
everyone had the chance to develop their
compositions into excellent pieces of
work with peer and teacher help.
From their portfolios, I could see
that the students’ way of thinking had
changed from ‘whether I can learn how
to write a good composition or not
depends on the teacher’ to ‘whether I can
be a good writer depends on the work 
13
 In praise of
the portfolio
 that I do’, which shows they had come to
believe that they should be responsible
for their learning, not the teacher.
An example
One student, when asked to write an
ironical essay on something unreasonable
she experienced in daily life, produced a
contract between college students and
the canteen staff. Her first draft was an
essay about the problems she had
encountered, written in conversational
English and containing many mistakes.
It was then suggested that she rewrite it
in the style of a trade contract. As a
result, she researched a real contract and,
in her second draft, altered hers to match
the style. In her third and fourth drafts,
When it came
to setting goals for
improvement, I was
a little surprised
by the results
she deleted the introduction and the
conclusion, leaving a complete contract
with few errors, informing people about
the bad service offered by the canteen.
In her portfolio she wrote:
‘I have never written a formal contract
before. It was interesting. And this is the
first work I have paid much attention to.’
Although her last draft still
contained some mistakes, it was much
better than her first one and it was clear
how much progress she had made.
Goals
When it came to setting goals for
improvement, I was a little surprised by
the results. To my mind, if the students
were able to identify their weaknesses
and recognise where they had made
improvements, they should be able to
develop specific goals for learning.
However, the portfolios were full of
vague comments like ‘I should read more
books’ or ‘I should practise more’. It
seems they wanted to make rough plans
rather than set specific goals. It was
clear that they needed help from the
teacher in setting goals.
14 • Issue 55 March 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Assessment
The learner portfolios did help students
learn to make use of self-assessment ENGLISH
and peer assessment, although their first
attempts at this were rather shaky. They
found that working in groups to give
Tprofessional
EACHING
their opinions worked best, and they
were allowed to conduct this discussion This is your magazine.
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Moreover, most students became
sensitive to their own progress after they
had read other students’ compositions 
and given comments on them. In the
past, only the teacher could read the IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
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they were gradually alerted to the
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progress they made in writing, something
they had neglected before. One student iwip@etprofessional.com
wrote in her portfolio: ‘I have made
progress in writing. Sometimes I can
write wonderful sentences.’
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However, there is no guarantee that Would you like to write for ETp? We are
this would work for everyone. My always interested in new writers and
experiment was limited to 45 students in
fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
an English writing class and I believe
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further research in this field is needed
for a more complete analysis. ETp editor@etprofessional.com
Gardner, D and Miller, L Establishing
Self-Access: from Theory to Practice Visit the
CUP 1999
O’Malley, J and Pierce, L Authentic
ETp website!
Assessment for English Language The ETp website is packed with practical
Learners: Practical Approaches for tips, advice, resources, information and
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YAN Xiaoyun is a or simply browse the features.
lecturer at Lida
Polytechnic Institute,
Shanghai, China. She is www.etprofessional.com
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