The effect of portfolio assessment on the English writing performance of Jordanian first secondary school students and their attitudes towards writing

Other Title(s)

أثر التقييم الملفي في الاداء الكتابي باللغة الإنجليزية لطلبة الصف الأول الثانوي الأردنيين و اتجاهاتهم نحو الكتابة

Dissertant

Sulayman, Muhammad Salim

Thesis advisor

al-Abd al-Haqq, Fawwaz

Comitee Members

Abu Suaylik, Ali Farhan
al-Jadri, Adnan Husayn
al-Qarallah, Ayman

University

Amman Arab University

Faculty

Faculty of Educational Sciences and psychological

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

University Country

Jordan

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Date

2012

English Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of portfolio assessment on the English writing performance of Jordanian first secondary school students and their attitudes towards writing.

Sixty first secondary students participated in the study that lasted for one full semester (10 weeks).

These students were selected from Abdel Malek Ben Marwan Secondary School for boys, a public school that belongs to Amman Forth Directorate of Education. These students were divided into two groups: Thirty students in the experimental group, who were taught using portfolio assessment strategy and thirty in the control group, who were taught using the ordinary method.

The study attempted to answer the following questions: 1.

What is the effect of portfolio assessment on the Jordanian first secondary school students' writing performance? 2.

What is the effect of portfolio assessment on the Jordanian first secondary school students' attitudes towards writing? The study aimed at testing the following hypotheses: (1) There is no statistically significant difference at (α = 0.05) in the Jordanian first secondary school students ' writing performance between the experimental group and the control group. (2) There is no statistically significant difference at (α = 0.05) in the Jordanian first secondary school students ' attitudes towards writing between the experimental group and the control group.

For the purpose of this study, the researcher developed a writing test and an attitude questionnaire for the experimental group and the control one to assess the students’ writing abilities and their attitudes towards writing before and after conducting the experiment.

The validity and reliability of the writing test and the questionnaire were established.

The researcher used portfolio assessment to instruct and assess the experimental group students.

The experiment lasted for one semester (ten weeks).

Students’ scores on the writing test were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The findings of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group on the writing test in favour of the experimental group which was taught by using the portfolio assessment strategy.

The findings also revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the attitudes towards writing in favour of the experimental group which was taught by using the portfolio assessment strategy. In light of these results, the researcher suggested that the portfolio assessment method was more effective in teaching writing skills to the first secondary EFL Jordanian students than the ordinary method.

Also it was proved that the students’ attitudes towards writing changed positively.

The researcher proposed recommendations to the Ministry of Education, EFL teachers and for future researchers who are interested in the portfolio assessment method.

Main Subjects

Educational Sciences
Languages & Comparative Literature

Topics

• Education
• Learning
• Secondary education
• Second language learning
• Writing
• Jordan
• Amman
• English language

No. of Pages

178

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-435245