The Application Of Portfolio Assessment In English Writing Instruction In Senior High School

English writing instruction plays an important role in English teaching activitiesin senior high school and how to improve writing instruction quality andeffectiveness has been a hot topic in recent years in the field of English education. Atpresent, in normal senior high schools, English teachers still adopt traditionalteaching and evaluating method in writing instruction. They pay much attention tostudents’ writing products but neglect their writing process. Traditional writinginstruction mainly depends on teacher evaluation while students are seldomrequired to do self-assessment and self-reflection. Besides, the effects of traditionalwriting instruction on stimulating students’ writing interest, motivating theirinitiative, increasing their confidence and improving their writing habits are not thatsatisfying. Therefore, the reform of the teaching and assessing methods in seniorhigh school is of great significance. The New English Curriculum Standard advocatesthe combination of formative assessment and summative assessment and points outthat portfolio assessment should be used in English teaching. As an importantapproach of formative assessment, portfolio assessment receives much attention inthe recent years. This thesis focuses on the feasibility and effectiveness of portfolioassessment on English writing instruction in senior high school with the purpose ofoffering a new effective tool to promote the teaching of English writing.At first, the author describes the research background and puts forward thesignificance of the research. In the literature review, theoretical background,characteristics and advantages of portfolio assessment are clarified. Then the authordescribes the research design and presents the results. The teaching experiment wasconducted in two parallel class of the Red Star High School in Maanshan and theresults were collected from questionnaires and writing tests. The authorimplemented portfolio assessment in the EC while the CC received traditionalevaluating methods in writing instruction. According to the results analysis, thestudents in the EC made greater progress in writing proficiency and their interest,initiatives, confidence, self-reflection in writing have also improved obviously with the aid of portfolio assessment.At last, the author concludes the positive effects of portfolio assessment onwriting instruction and some problems in the implementation of portfolioassessment. Based on the major findings, the author summarizes several implicationsfor the teaching of English writing. With limitations of the research analyzed, somesuggestions for further research are offered.