Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Programs: Taking Stock of Teachers' Experience

Abstract

This study examined seven Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) teachers’ accounts of current Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) practices, elicited through semi-structured interviews, in order to explore washback - the effects of PBLA on teaching and learning. Portfolios are primarily useful as formative assessment tools (i.e., informing teaching and learning) (Fox, 2014; Little, 2007); conversely, when used solely as summative tools (i.e., achievement measures), they can result in portfolio prisons, which undermine teaching and learning (Hargreaves et al., 2002). To investigate the washback effect of PBLA, data were qualitatively analyzed, synthesized, and merged in development of recurring themes (Charmaz, 2006). Findings suggest that PBLA may have had washback on both teaching and learning. However, teachers’ individual classroom situations determined the direction and intensity of reported PBLA washback. The study highlights leverage points (Fox, 2004) where interventions (e.g., additional support, resources) might address negative washback.

Filling an Instructional Gap in an English for Academic Purposes Course: Developing Speech Comprehensibility and Autonomous Learning with an Electronic Portfolio Learning Module

“…In accordance with this type of assessment, a work-in-progress portfolio allows for meaningful communication between the teacher and the student, or between the student and peers, with the goal of improving learning -and as such is assessment while learning (Black & William, 1998Fox, 2014). Although what is to be assessed and how it is assessed in both types of portfolios require judgement (Fox, 2014), teachers are generally more involved in the selection and assessment of artifacts in the showcase portfolio, whereas learners have more control over this process in the work-in progress portfolios (Abdulhamid & Fox, 2020).…”

“…The use of portfolios within the classroom signaled a pedagogical shift from teacher/assessment centered to learner/learning centered, a classroom that is "more learner centered, collaborative, and holistic" (Genesee & Upshur, 1996, p. 99). Research indicates that there is considerable benefit for students when the portfolio is used as a work-in-progress (Abdulhamid & Fox, 2020;Fox & Fraser, 2012;Fox & Hartwick, 2011;Little, 2007). The workin-progress portfolio encourages learner engagement (Little, 2005), improving self-reflection and an increased ability to set learning goals, both of which contribute to learner autonomy (Fox 2014) by enhancing "learner involvement and ownership of their own learning" (Genesee & Upshur, 1996, p. 99).…”

“…When the portfolio is used mainly for summative assessment, it risks becoming a static repository of graded items. As Abdulhamid and Fox (2020) With regard to the learning module that was the focus of this research, ePortfolios were used as a work-in-progress. The goal of the module was to promote reflective learning by providing a space where students could identify their own weaknesses and find ways to improve on them.…”

Between Waves: LINC Instructors’ Perspectives on Pandemic Teaching

“…These curricula specify topics, levels, and timelines for instructors to implement in relation to the outcomes agreed by SPOs in exchange for their funding. Since 2010, student progress in LINC courses has been measured by means of portfolio-based language assessment, or PBLA (Pettis, 2014), although instructors remain ambivalent about its usefulness (Abdulhamid & Fox, 2020;Desyatsova, 2020). Together, the CLBs and portfolio-based assessment constitute a top-down framework of accountability to the priorities and policies of funders, with recognizable similarities to those that structure adult basic literacy education in the United States and elsewhere (e.g., Condelli, 2007).…”