The goal of this study is to find out what students think about using a portfolio as a motivator tool in studying English as a foreign language. As they include both students' and teachers' viewpoints on the learning process, portfolios are viewed as potential assessment tools. This study made use of qualitative methods of research. We have used interviews, which was conducted with 70 students, in four high schools in Durres, Albania. Students' perceptions of utilizing portfolios as an assessment tool revealed that portfolios help students be more autonomous, promote critical thinking, and increase motivation. Portfolio is an effective assessment approach since it encourages students to improve in maturity and independence rather of simply exposing their flaws. Portfolio helps them to be critical thinkers and independent consequently motivating them in learning English as a foreign language. This study will assist teachers in using portfolios as an assessment tool to encourage students to learn English as a foreign language.   Received: 5 June 2021 / Accepted: 13 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

This study aimed at exploring the impact of formative assessment practices on student motivation for learning the English language. As Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, and Wiliam (2005) stated, education needs to change its function from collecting the results of right or wrong, and to encourage teachers in gathering information that will affect the educational decisions. This study is a non-experimental, correlational study, to describe the relationship between formative assessment practices and motivation for leaning. The instrument used was a questionnaire on high school students from public and private schools, who were selected randomly by stratified sampling. They belonged to three major high schools of Durres, Albania. The findings of this study showed that factors like strategic questions used by the teacher during formative assessment, student’s portfolio, self-assessment, and peer assessment affected positively the motivation for learning the English language. The results of the regression equation revealed that from four independent variables, the factor that had the greatest impact on motivation for learning were strategic questions used by the teacher during formative assessment, followed by self-assessment, peer assessment and student’s portfolio. This study identified ways of intervention to promote motivation for learning the English language. The study will contribute in the Albanian context showing how assessment practices made an impact on student motivation. It will help educational institutions and policy makers, foreign language teachers in improving the assessment practices to promote student motivation in learning the English language.

This study aims to identify the importance of sharing the learning targets and assessment criteria with students to foster their motivation. Firstly, we have chosen to deal with learning targets and assessment criteria as concepts, highlighting their importance in the learning and assessment process. The literature review will help us to identify the theoretical background of this study, which will identify the relevant variables of learning targets, assessment criteria and motivation to learn. Secondly, the methodology which consists in quantitative methods of research will try to answer the research questions of this study: 1) How does sharing the learning targets with students influence their motivation to learn? 2) How does sharing the assessment criteria with students influence their motivation to learn? 3) How to foster student motivation to learn? Finally, the last part will give recommendations regarding the results of this study, which will help second language teachers in their teaching process.

Abstract.This study aims at analyzing the components of motivation, which influence the learning process from a psychological perspective.

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