Use of portfolios to develop formative assessment in an EFL class

Resumen

Assessment is part of instruction and the importance of this element has been analyzed and discussed in different investigations conducted in many settings. Also, literature review has demonstrated that assessment will always guide teachers'´ instruction to make decisions and check student’s progress. The two types of assessment formative and summative are very important tools for teachers in order to get a better and complete evaluation of their students. However, this article will be focused on portfolios assessment, which can be considered as formative assessment. Dell´Olio and Donk (2007) state that formative assessment is an ongoing process that directs instruction, which can be immediate or future. That is to say that a portfolio as a type of formative assessment is meaningful for teachers and students. Teachers can check students’ progress, while students are aware of their growth and identify their strengths. Also, it provides better self-esteem and motivation for students, who can understand better their own learning process including causes and consequences of each task they are developing. This article provides useful information that will help to understand how portfolios can be adapted in an EFL setting to evaluate language skills and make out the process of implementing this strategy in classes. As a new way of adapting mentioned assessment tool, it is shown how technology and new ways of making classes more interactive, try to introduce electronic portfolios, which represents the nowadays modern approach to formative assessments.