An Applied Research On Portfolio Assessment In Autonomous English Reading

This thesis reports an applied study on whether it is effective to promote English autonomous reading through portfolio assessment. Extra attention has also been given to the application of metacognitive strategies during their autonomous reading before and after treatment.The subjects were seventy non-English major freshmen in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics under the settings of autonomous learning. The experimental group, after three months'portfolio use, was compared with the control group in two reading tests and the application of metacognitive strategies. From a quantitative and qualitative analysis in this study, some fruits are borne after the comparison. Firstly, the portfolio, as one of the means of formative assessment, proves to be very useful in promoting students'English reading. It helps students assume more responsibility and make decisions on the basis of their personal needs.Secondly, portfolios do not obviously promote the application of the whole metacognitive strategies according to the data gained from the questionnaires. From the interviews, it can be concluded that students seldom get instructions on metacognitive strategies directly from their teachers.Thirdly, there is significant improvement in some aspects of metacognitive strategy use especially in self-monitoring during their autonomous learning. Portfolios can make students aware of their own situations and promote further thinking.Finally, the writing of the portfolio proves to be troublesome to the subjects in their stress-filled studies according to the interviewees, because the portfolio is time-consuming. This property may become a real barrier in utilizing portfolios.In light of the findings, some pedagogical implications are presented in guiding students'autonomous learning. The results of the study indicate that teachers should undertake responsibility for making students aware of the importance and effectiveness of the portfolio assessment in autonomous learning. Besides, teachers should give recommendations through conferences or communications on students'portfolios to promote their metacognitive strategy use. Last, it can be inferred that in using the portfolio, some improved forms such as a table may be adopted to make portfolios easy for students to carry out.