INVESTIGATING THE USE OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS.

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INVESTIGATING THE USE OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS

(A Case Study in One Private Senior High School in Bandung)

A THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master’s Degree in English Education

By: Rahmi Safitri

1201323

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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INVESTIGATING THE USE OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN

ENGLISH CLASSROOMS

(A Case Study in One Private Senior High School in Bandung)

Oleh

Rahmi Safitri

S.Pd UPI Bandung, 2005

Sebuah Tesis yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Magister Pendidikan (M.Pd.) pada Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

November 2014

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhya atau sebagian,

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APPROVAL SHEET

Thesis Title:

INVESTIGATING THE USE OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS

(A Case Study in One of the Private Senior High Schools in Bandung)

By Rahmi Safitri

1201323

Approved by Supervisor,

Prof. Dr. Hj. Nenden Sri Lengkanawati, M.Pd

The Head of English Education Department School of Graduate Studies

Indonesia University of Education

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Investigating The Use Of Portfolio Assessment In English Classrooms Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the use of portfolio in the classroom in one private senior high school in Bandung, and to identify the obstacles faced by the teacher and students in implementing the portfolio assessment. This study employed a case study research design. The data were obtained through observation in which the researcher acted as a non- participant observer, a set of open and close questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative data were used to analyze the result of

questionnaire through percentage in order to find out students’ respond in

implementing portfolio. Qualitative data were used to describe the result of classroom observations and interviews to answer question related with the implementation of portfolio assessment in the classroom and to find out the obstacles faced by the teacher and students. The result from observation revealed that teacher had implemented some stages in implementing portfolio. The stages were deciding a purpose or theme, introducing and showing the example of portfolio, specifying portfolio content, developing and appropriate scoring system, assessing and giving feedback to students. Data from observation also showed that teacher had implemented self-assessment which was one of important aspects in portfolio and this was supported by data from interview that said self-assessment was used to gain students’ understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, data from questionnaire indicated that students had positive responses through the implementation of portfolio and it was supported by data from interview which showed that creating portfolio made them realize their strengths and weaknesses in learning English and made their skill specifically in writing and speaking increased. However, there were some limitations in this study, the limitations were seen from the obstacles faced by both students and

teacher. Students’ obstacles happened when they had to finish the self -assessment, some important documents lost thus they couldn’t create their portfolio as their expectation, and cost problem which they had to spend some expenses for making their portfolio looked better than others and to make it as complete as possible. Meanwhile, the obstacles faced by the teacher were the limitation of time in checking and giving feedback to

students’ tasks and the missing stages indicated that teacher didn’t fully

understand about the implementation of portfolio due to his knowledge of portfolio has not been adequate. Therefore, teacher should read some sources related with portfolio and when government hold a training teacher doesn’t come with an empty head.

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ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini ditujukan untuk menginvestigasi penggunaan portfolio di dalam kelas di salah satu sekolah menengah atas di Bandung, dan untuk mengidentifikasi kesulitan yang dihadapi oleh guru dan siswa dalam menerapkan penilaian portfolio. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian studi kasus. Data didapatkan melalui observasi, kuesioner dan wawancara. Data dianalisis secara kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Kuantitatif data digunakan untuk menganalisis data kuesioner melalui persentase yang bertujuan untuk mengetahui respon siswa dalam penerapan portfolio. Kualitatif data digunakan untuk mendeskripsikan hasil dari observasi kelas dan hasil wawancara guna menjawab pertanyaan yang berkaitan dengan penerapan portfolio didalam kelas dan untuk menemukan hambatan yang dihadapi oleh guru dan siswa. Hasil dari observasi menunjukkan bahwa guru telah melaksanakan beberapa tahap dalam proses pelaksanaan portfolio. Tahap-tahap tersebut ialah menentukan tujuan atau tema, memperkenalkan dan menunjukkan contoh portfolio, menentukan isi portfolio, mengembangkan sistem penilaian yang sesuai, memberikan penilaian dan masukan kepada siswa. Data dari observasi menunjukkan bahwa guru melaksanakan self-assessment (penilaian diri) yang merupakan salah satu aspek penting dalam portfolio dan hal ini didukung oleh data dari wawancara yang menyatakan bahwa self-assessment digunakan untuk mendapatkan pemahaman siswa atas kekurangan dan kelebihan diri mereka sendiri. Data dari kuesioner mengindikasikan bahwa siswa memiliki respon yang positif terhadap penerapan portfolio. Sementara itu, masalah yang dihadapi oleh siswa terjadi saat mereka harus menyelesaikan self-assessment, hilangnya beberapa dokumen yang harus dikumpulkan dan biaya yang harus dikeluarkan untuk membuat portfolio secara baik. Dilain pihak, masalah yang dihadapi guru ialah terbatasnya waktu untuk memeriksa tugas siswa satu per satu dan hilangnya beberapa tahap dalam proses penerapan portfolio mengindikasikan bahwa guru tidak memahami sepenuhnya bagaimana menerapkan portfolio didalam kelas. Hal ini dikarenakan kurangnya pengetahuan mereka atas portfolio. Oleh karena itu, guru seharusnya membaca beberapa sumber yang berkaitan dengan portfolio sehingga saat pemerintah mengadakan pelatihan, guru tidak datang dengan kepala kosong.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background of the problems ... 1

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 8

2.1 Definitions of Portfolio and Portfolio Assessment ... 8

2.2 Basic Principles of Portfolio ... 9

2.3 Purposes of Portfolio Assessment ... 12

2.4 Types of Portfolio ... 14

2.5 The Processes of Developing Portfolio Assessment ... 17

2.6 Advantages of Using Portfolio ... 28

2.7 Related Research Findings ... 30

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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 33

3.1 Research Design ... 33

3.4.1 Quantitative Data ... 51

3.4.2 Qualitative Data ... 55

3.4.2.1 Observation ... 57

3.4.2.2 Questionnaire ... 57

3.4.2.3 Interview ... 57

3.5 Concluding Remark ... 58

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 59

4.1 The Implementation of Portfolio Assessment in the Classroom .... 59

4.1.1 Data from Observation and Interview ... 60

4.2 The Obstacles Faced by Teacher ... 76

4.3 Students’ Problem during Completing Portfolio ... 78

4.3.1 Students’ point of view about portfolio assessment ... 78

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4.4 Concluding Remark ... 91

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ... 92

5.1 Conclusion of the findings ... 92

5.2 Suggestions ... 94

5.2.1 For teacher who are interested in portfolio assessment ... 95

5.2.2 For Next Further Study ... 96

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents an overview of the research. This chapter consists of

seven sections; background of the problems, research questions, purpose of the

research, significance of the research, research methodology, clarification of terms, and

organization of paper.

1.1 Background of the Problem

The implementation of National Examination (NE) in Indonesia in principle

has good purposes, as stated in Law No. 20 of 2003 on National Education System

Article 58 paragraph (2) which states that with UN, the government is able to do

standardization and mapping: which area or which school that still needs attention,

needs improvement, and treatment/ support. The results of the test as stated in the

law no 20, 2013 are also used for gaining feedback, looking back whether the

learning activities is successful or not, evaluating whether the intended purpose is

achieved, measuring how big the achievements are, finding what constraints are

seeing in the field, and defining the purpose which has not been achieved yet. The

analyses of the test results are used as a consideration to determine future policy, such

as curriculum, learning tools, teaching staff, even learning paradigm (Ministry of

Education, 2013).

However the NE made the education system in Indonesia tends to be product

oriented rather than process oriented (Sutarsyah, 2011). This can be seen from the

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order to pass and get a diploma instead of focusing on how to gain the competencies

or skills that are needed in students’ lives.

Questions in the NE that are in the form of an objective test are not able to

measure all the competencies that require skills such processes mindset, creativity,

and argumentative reason (Sutarsyah, 2011). Therefore alternative assessment is

needed to ensure that the assessment should be professional, open, educational,

effective and in accordance with socio-cultural context. The report of assessment also

should be objective, accountable and informative (The Ministry of Education, 2013).

The regulation no 66, 2013 sees assessment as a process of collecting and processing

information to measure student achievement of learning outcomes which one of them

is portfolio-based assessment.

Portfolio-based assessment is an assessment conducted to assess the overall

learning process entities including assignment of individual learners and/or groups

within and/ or outside the classroom. Another definition states that Portfolio

assessment is an assessment that is done by assessing the entire collection of

students’ work in a particular field that is reflective - integrative to know the interests, growth, achievement, and/or creativity of learners in a given period of time (The

Ministry of Education, 2013). If the focus of the assessment is to display students’

best work then it will become student portfolio.

A student portfolio is a systematic collection of student work and related

material that depicts a student's activities, accomplishments, and achievements in one

or more school subjects. The collection should include evidence of student reflection

and self-evaluation, guidelines for selecting the portfolio contents, and criteria for

judging the quality of the work. The goal of this portfolio is to help students assemble

their tasks which illustrate their talents, represent their writing capabilities, and tell

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portfolio assessment is not only a kind of students’ collection of work but also consist of reflective writing. Reflective writing shows students’ self-assessment. The use of self-assessment promotes the learners to get involved in learning process (O’Malley

and Pierce, 1996; Kohonen, 1999). By reflecting their own learning (self-assessment),

students begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their work and it will lead

students to improve their critical thinking ability in learning process.

The previous research has been done by some researchers such as Soewandi

(2007) who states that portfolio assessment is a collection of student work that is

determined by the teacher and students as part of an effort to achieve the learning

objectives or achieve specified competencies in the curriculum.

Damiani (2004) who did her research among senior high school students

found that portfolio assessment empowered students in three domains; cognitive,

social and psychological factors. It also said that portfolio assessment would reach its

goal if it was carried out effectively.

Other research on portfolio assessment proposed by Davis & Ponnamperuma

(2005) and Bryant & Timmins (2002) showed the effect of implementing portfolio in

classroom. They stated that portfolio was good to be applied in classroom setting

since the portfolio assessment led the learners to be active participants, it directed

student learning toward the curriculum outcomes. Students also knew their strengths

and weaknesses in learning the subject. Meanwhile there were some challenges that

should be faced by teachers and students if that was their first time in implementing

portfolio in their classroom. The challenges were writing reflection and

self-assessment.

Based on the previous research, it shows that portfolio assessment gives

positive effects in learning process and plays significant role in assessment system.

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assessment in the classroom, what the obstacles faced by both students and teacher in

implementing portfolio assessment.

1.2 Research Question

In line with the focus of the study, this study attempts to address the following

questions:

1. How does teacher implement portfolio in the classroom?

2. What are the obstacles faced by teacher in implementing portfolio

assessment?

3. What are the obstacles faced by students while completing portfolio

assessment?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

Based on the research question above, the purposes of this study are as

follows:

1. To investigate the use of portfolio assessment in the classroom.

2. To identify the obstacles faced by the teacher in implementing portfolio

assessment in classrooms.

3. To identify the obstacles faced by students in completing portfolio

assessment.

1.4 Significance of the Study

There are significances that this study may offer. Theoretically, the result of

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implementation of portfolio assessment related with the Regulation of Ministry of

Education and Culture number 66, 2013 and the way to assess it.

Practically, the result of this study will be useful for teacher to gain more

information about portfolio assessment. This study gives information of good

portfolio assessment that fulfills the principles of assessing students’ learning

outcomes. This study also shows how portfolio should be implemented in the

classroom and what the steps are to implement the portfolio assessment.

The information about obstacles faced by both students and teacher can be a

guide for those who are interested in portfolio in order to minimalize the obstacles or

to find out the solution in order to resolve those obstacles.

This study can also be used as a guide for school stakeholder or even government

to analyze the effectiveness of using portfolio as an assessment. Therefore

government can develop new method to assess students’ learning outcome if the

result of the study is not really satisfying.

1.5 Clarification of the Terms

The following terms are provided in order to understand the case presented in

this paper.

1.5.1 Portfolio

The term of portfolio refers to the collection or document of students’ works or

products (Arter, 1992). Portfolio is a collection of evidence of students’ progress or

group progress, the achievement evidence, the skills, and students’ behavior.

Portfolio can show the previous work and the current work of students that the data of

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Portfolio in this study refers to how the collection of students’ best work is

collected in order to show their progress in learning process and also to record what

the students have learned and achieved.

1.5.2 Assessment

Assessment in this study refers to how assessment is used to evaluate students’

progress through specific assessment, which is portfolio. The assessment in this study

concerns about students’ performance and ability, and the degree of their knowledge or skill.

1.5.3 Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment has been defined by Kemp & Toperoff (1998) as a form

of assessment consisting purposeful collection of student’s work that exhibits the students’ efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas.

Portfolio assessment in this study refers to the type of assessment used by

teacher in assessing and evaluating students’ progress of learning.

1.6 Thesis Organization

The organization of the thesis will be in five chapters. Chapter one contains

the background of the study, followed by research questions, purpose, and its

significance to the research. In addition, the chapter also presents some clarification

of the terms and thesis organization.

Chapter two highlights the detailed theories and frameworks of portfolio

assessment including some views of the experts, the purpose of portfolio assessment,

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also reveals how to establish an effective portfolio assessment, and some related

research findings.

Chapter three emphasizes on the methodology of the research elaborating data

collection, research design, the procedure of the research, research sites, research

participants, the phases of gathering data collection and some instruments used in the

research, and how to analyze the data collection.

Chapter four deals with the discussion of data analysis obtained from the

research site, exploration of questionnaire, interviews, and observation used in the

investigation and some findings which come up in the process of investigation.

The last chapter, chapter five, conveys the overview of the findings

consisting some conclusions, suggestions and recommendations for the improvement

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the discussion of steps taken by the researcher in

conducting the research. There are four sections in this chapter. The first section is

research design. It presents the methodology used and illustrates how the study is

carried out. The second section relates to research site and participants involved in the

study. The data collection including the instrument employed and the procedure are

discussed in the third section. The fourth section elaborates on how the data gathered

is analyzed and interpreted

3.1 Research Design

Research Design stated by Yin (1984) says that it is a plan that guide

researcher in the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. Furthermore,

he said that one of the factors determined research design is the research question.

Therefore, in line with the research questions and purposes of the research which

investigate the implementation of portfolio assessment and try to find out the

obstacles faced by teacher and students in constructing portfolio assessment, this

study employs qualitative design which emphasizes on observing, describing,

interpreting and understanding the status of a group, a set of condition or how events

take place in the real world or in the present (Nazir, 2003) and descriptive study

which explains and describes the situation of an object completely and entirely, that is

appropriate with the condition and the situation in the time of the research happened

(Nazir, 2003).

Whitney (1960) cited in Nazir (2003) states that descriptive method is the

finding of fact with correct interpretation. In other words, it can be said that

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describing them explicitly. Another definition comes from Hadari (1990) cited in

(Defianty, 2007) says that descriptive study is concerned with condition or

relationship that exist, opinion that are held, and process that are going on.

Meanwhile, the data of the study may be originated from various sources among

other documents and data processing which elaborate the finding into textual form

(Alwasilah, Pokoknya Kualitatif, 2002) in its natural setting (Denzin & Lincoln,

1994). Moreover, Fraenkel & Wallen (2008) describe that qualitative research is a

study that investigates the quality of relationship, activities, situations or materials. In

relationship with this study, it investigates the implementation of portfolio assessment

in the classroom. Fraenkel & Wallen (2003) present five distinctive characteristics of

qualitative research (p.431-433).

1. Qualitative research employs the natural setting as the source of data.

The researchers attempt to observe, describe and interpret settings as they are, while

maintaining what Patton (2001, p. 55) calls as an “emphatic neutrality”. The

researchers go directly to the particular settings of interest in which they observe and

collect their data, as Bogdan & Biklen (1992) point out that the researchers feel that

human behaviors can be nest understood in the actual settings in which they occur.

Du to that reason, this study employs classroom as the natural setting where

researcher observes, describes and interprets the setting without changing anything.

2. Qualitative data are collected in the form of words or pictures rather

than numbers. Therefore, the data collected can include field notes, interview

transcripts, official records, personal comments, and anything else that reflect the

actual behaviors of subjects. The data in this study are in the form of filed notes of

classroom observation, and interview transcripts.

3. Qualitative researchers are interested in process as well as product.

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attitudes are translated into certain actions or how something is implemented

particular setting. This study, in line with the research questions, which focuses on

the implementation of portfolio is interested in analyzing the process of portfolio

implemented in classroom and this study also tries to find out the obstacles faced by

teacher and students in the process of completing portfolio.

4. Qualitative researchers tend to analyze their data inductively. They do

not usually search out or reject the hypotheses formulated beforehand, as quantitative

researchers normally do. In other words, qualitative researchers are not putting

together a puzzle whose picture they already know. They are constructing a picture

that takes shape, as they collect and examine the parts (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003, p.

432). The data collected through classroom observation and interview are analyzed

inductively and described as detail as possible in order to give clear picture of what is

happened to the participants in their natural setting.

5. Qualitative researcher’s major concern is how people make sense out

of their lives. They want to know the assumptions, motives, goals, and value that the

participants in a study have or share. This study tries to figure out the obstacle faced

by teacher while implementing portfolio assessment in the classroom and by students

in completing portfolio.

There are some varieties of approaches to qualitative research. Case study is

one form of qualitative research, and thus case study is often discussed within the

context of qualitative research and this study employs a case study. A case study is

employed in this study to gain in-depth understanding of the implementation of

portfolio assessment in the classroom. As stated by Merriam (1998) case study is an

examination of a specific phenomenon such as program, an event, a person, a

process, an institution or a social group which presents a detailed account of

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1992) . In addition, (Shuttlerworth, 2008) states that case-study focuses on specific

and interesting case.

An explanatory case study used when little is known about the case being

investigated since it was aimed to seek the wholeness and integrity of the case

(Punch) cited in Silverman (2005). It can also be considered as a case study dealing

with a single case or a small case (Merriam, 1998), and typically emphasizing

features that make one person or organization different from others which takes place

in a natural setting, such as a classroom, neighborhood, or private home (Fraenkel &

Wallen, 2003).

By the explanation above, it can be said that case study aims to describes the

context and population of the study, to discover the extent to which program has been

implemented, to provide feedback of a formative type, and to confirm the process by

which the program has the effect to the event or the participants.

The strengths of case study are, as Merriam (1998) explains, that it offers a

mean of investigating complex social units consisting of multiple variables of

potential importance in understanding the phenomenon (p. 40). Case study are

typically done in real-life situations, resulting in a rich and holistic account of a

phenomenon, a process that offers insights and illuminates meanings that expand its readers’ experiences. Accordingly, case study is the preferred method when the researcher seeks as comprehensive an understanding of an event or situation as

possible. Due to that reason, case study is used in this study to describe the

implementation of portfolio assessment in the classroom.

In order to establish trustworthiness, several data collection techniques are

employed as a form of methodological triangulation (Mason, 1996 in Silverman,

2005). The techniques comprising the information were gained through observation,

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with analyzing the implementation of portfolio assessment from two classes and one

teacher in a private senior high school in north Bandung. The result, then were not

used to generalize the general condition of the whole senior high school in north

Bandung.

3.2 Research Site and Participants 3.2.1 Research Site

The site of this study was one of the private schools in North Bandung. The

school was chosen because the researcher used to be a teacher in that school therefore

it would be easy to get the access to conduct the research. Furthermore, this school

had already implemented the portfolio as an assessment since the KTSP curriculum.

3.2.2 Participants

Two categories of participants were involved in this study. The first participant

was one English teacher in the second grade of senior high school. The teacher was

chosen because he had agreed to be the participant in the study and because only one

teacher who applied portfolio assessment in that school, there was only one teacher

whose the class would be observed.

The second participants in this study were students in two classes in the second

grade. These classes were selected based on some reasons: the teachers taught in

these two classes, the teacher chose the classes for the researcher. Each class consists

of 30 to 32 students. The classes were one social class and one science class. The students’ conditions in these classes were quite different. The social class tends to be more active students rather than in science class however in completing the given

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Investigating The Use Of Portfolio Assessment In English Classrooms Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 3.3 Data Collection

Broadly speaking, there are some techniques used in collecting qualitative

data, such as observation, interview, document review, and document analysis (Best

& Kahan, Research in Education, 2005). Gray (1990) says a study which is designed

as qualitative and descriptive study usually collecting the data through observation,

interview, document analysis and questionnaire.

3.3.1 Instrumentation

In this study, the observation and interview techniques were employed to collect the data with additional of questionnaire to figure out the students’ point of view about the implementation of portfolio assessment and the obstacles faced by

them. The data collection method will be described as follow:

a. _Observation

Observation used in collecting the data aimed to accommodate the whole

information needed in the research. Observation was taken in natural situation, as

Gay, Mills, & Airasian (2009) say that it is important to take study in its natural

environment as lived by participants without altering or manipulating it. By observing

the class, more objective information will be obtained (Gay, Mills and Airasian,

2009).

Observation is commonly used in qualitative research because of its

advantages. They are: (1) making a better understanding of the context (the particular

setting in the classroom of applying portfolio), (2) offering an opportunity to gain

information on sensitive topics, such as students’ reaction of tasks given by teacher in

the classroom, (3) providing the resources otherwise unattainable – observer’s

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meaningful data to allow for understanding and interpreting the events and behaviors

with a holistic perspective.

In collecting and gaining accurate data, filed notes were used during the

observation. Any events or activities happened in classroom was reconstructed into

field notes (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2008). Field notes used to give description about

condition in the classroom as accurately and as comprehensively as possible. Dealing

with that matter, Creswell (2008) pictures field notes into two basic types of

information: descriptive field notes: it records a description of events, activities and

people. Descriptive information is also about what the researcher see or hear on site.

It provides the data necessary to address the research questions, such as specific

actions undertaken by participants in implementing portfolio assessment in his

classroom. The other type of information is reflective field notes: it records personal thoughts of the researcher’s insights, hunches or board ideas or themes that emerge during the observation. Reflective filed notes is a type of filed notes that helped not

only to clarify patterns that might be present or connections between pieces of data,

but also to keep on track and remain self-conscious of the development of this

research (Glaser & Strauss, 1967)

During observation, it is hardly to capture everything happening in the

classroom. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on certain kinds of activities and events

that provide the particular information and insights helpful for answering the research

questions of the study (Cha, 2006). Therefore, some strategies are needed not only to

help sensitize the observer to certain kinds of events, activities and behaviors relevant

to the purpose of the study, but also make the observation work manageable (Patton,

1987). Merriam (1998) suggests some elements to be the focus on observation (what

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1. The physical setting: A close observation on physical environment (e.g., classroom) is indispensable in this study, since it can affect students’ feelings and behaviors. For instance, a particular classroom setting facilitating group

work can promote a higher level of student-to-student interactions during

class.

2. The participants: Participants is one of important element in observation. The

participants in this study were not only the teacher but also the students. Researchers observed teacher’s behavior as well as students to find out whether the implementation of portfolio assessment in that classroom was

conducted like what it should be or there was still misunderstanding about the

concept of portfolio.

3. Activities and interaction: The observation was made on specific activities

and behaviors of all participants relevant to the implementation of portfolio

assessment. For example, the activities observed were related with the

process stage of portfolio in the classroom. It included how teacher

introduced portfolio to the students, how they considered the sample put in

the portfolio.

4. Researcher’s own behaviors: Merriam (1998) points out that the thoughts,

comments, roles of the observer are as important as those of participants.

Since the observation is not merely a close look on the scene with perfect

neutrality, but involves a cognitive process that cannot totally exclude

subjectivity of the observer (Fraenkel & Wallen). It is necessary to note what

the observer is thinking about what is going on in observation.

To ensure the validity of the data, there are some strategies which can be used to

meet the research validity in qualitative research such as triangulation, member

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modes of research and researcher’s biases, thick description and multisite design (Meriam, 1998) cited in Alwasilah (2000).

To validate the data, the study employed a thick description by which attempts to

provide detail description of where the study conducted, who were involved in the

study and how the study conducted. Hence, the readers might be able to see how far

the findings can be applied in their own situations (Merriam, 1998: p. 211).

The example of observation filed notes is presented below:

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Observational Field Notes (adapted from Creswell & Merriam, 1998) b. Questionnaire

Questionnaire is the most common instrument used in descriptive method. It

is extensively used to collect the data about phenomena that are not directly

observable such as inner experience, opinions, perception, values, interest and the

like (Alwasilah, 2002) or when factual information is desired (Best, 1950, p. 167).

Questionnaire is a short of statements written in a paper and delivered to the

respondent to get their opinion about the problem that is researched by the researcher.

The advantage in using questionnaire in the research is the respondent free to express

their feeling without any pressure from anyone (Alwasilah, 2002: 152). The questionnaire was designed in this study as one of the instruments to reveal students’

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opinion about the implementation of portfolio assessment and to find out the

obstacles faced by the students during designing and completing portfolio. The

questionnaire was divided into two forms.

Form A was closed-questionnaire. The closed form questionnaire is the check

responses that provide for marking a yes/no, a short response, or checking an item

from a list of suggested responses (Best, 1950: 168). Form A was consisted of thirty

statements with five optional answers: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Uncertain

(UC), Disagree (DA), and Strongly Disagree (SDA). This form was arranged with the

scale of attitude because attitude scale was used when opinions rather than facts were desired. The technique in giving score towards students’ responses used Likert Scale and each statement in the questionnaire consisted of values from 1 to 5. Likert Scale

was very easy constructed and scored for measuring perception or attitudes (Linn &

Gronlund, 1995, p. 285). Based on the Likert scale, each statement in the

questionnaire consisted of values from 1 – 5 which 5 is the most positive one.

Table 3.2

The Scoring System of the questionnaire Statements Strongly

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experience. The complete framework can be seen in Appendix 1. The table below

shows the framework of the statements.

Table 3.3

The Framework of Students’ Questionnaire

No Categories Indicator Item number Total

1 Students’

personal feelings,

attitude, drive and

goals

Students personal feeling toward

the English subject and the

The implementation of portfolio assessment in improving students’ English competence

16 - 20 5

3 The background

or setting of the

stimulus

Students’ learning process 21 4

Teachers’ role in implementing portfolio

22

Process of assessing the portfolio 23 - 24

4 Students’ learning

experience

The advantages of implementing

portfolio assessment in learning

25-28 4

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Form B of the questionnaire was an open-questionnaire. It is a type of questionnaire calls for a free response in the respondent’s own words (Best, 1950: 169). This form was consisted of four questions. The data gathered were used to

support the data in form A. The questionnaire was written in Bahasa Indonesia to

ensure complete understanding of the items by participants.

c. Interview

Interview or personal interview is the oldest and best known method of

obtaining information directly from an individual. Interview is used to get the data that could not find through the observation and to figure out participants’ point of view about the issues that was being researched. Interview is a process in collecting

information to achieve the research purpose by doing a conversation between the

interviewer and the person being interviewed face to face (Nazir, 2003). It means that

interview is a process of conversation in form of asking and answering question

between two people face to face.

Interview is a powerful technique that helps researchers produce very rich and

valuable data (Wang, 2002) with deeper meaning and elaboration (Cha, 2006).

Interview found the additional information that appears during observation in the

classroom. Interview also can clarify questions, pursue promising lines of inquiry,

give the interviewees an opportunity to qualify or expand on their answers (Linn and Gronlund, 1995), facilitates access to people’s experiences and their conceptions of experiences (Wang, 2002) and examine attitudes, interest, feelings, concerns and

values more easily (Gay, Mills and Peter Airasian, 2009).

Furthermore, the researcher used semi-structured interview to develop

interview questions easily. As stated by Stainback & Stainback (1998, p. 52) that

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perceptions of participants. It has a fairly open framework, thereby allowing a great

deal of flexibility in the kind of information that interviewees choose to give (Patton,

1990) and the questions are more flexible worded (Merriam, 1998: 73). Therefore,

researcher only uses general guidelines (Sugiyono, 2010) in asking the questions. In

brief, general questions function as the key words which lead the questions became

wider and enables both the interviewer and the interviewee discuss the issues in a

flexible way. This flexibility during the interview is important in qualitative research

because it allows the researcher to respond to the situation at hand while bringing up

information that the researcher might not anticipate, potentially shedding a whole

new insight onto a problem (Merriam, 1998; Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003).

Nunan (1992) expounds that semi-structures interview provides three

advantages for researcher. First it provides the interviewee a degree of power and

control over the course of the interview. Second, it gives the interviewer a great deal of flexibility and the last one is it gives one privileged access to other people’s lives.

There are no definite numbers in choosing the number of participants in

interview; the most important thing is the nominal of participants is based on how

important the participant for the research. The participant is chosen until the

researcher gets the redundancy (Alwasilah, 2002).

On the process of interviewing, audio-taping was done during the

conversation. Audio-tapes are convenient and reliable and they ensure that the

original data is available at any time. Then, taped data collection was transcribed. The

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Table 3.4

Teacher’s Interview Guideline

No Point

1. The understanding of portfolio and portfolio assessment

2. Deciding a purpose or theme.

3. Specifying portfolio content.

4. Deciding the form and organization of portfolio

5. Deciding the audience

6. Deciding and constructing rubric scoring system for each skill

7. The training of portfolio assessment

8. The implementation of portfolio assessment

9. The advantages of portfolio assessment

10. The disadvantages of portfolio assessment

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Interview with students was aimed to gain further information related with the

statements in the questionnaire. Questionnaire which provided only statements without reason therefore, it needs further information to find out students’ reasons why they choose that column. The guidelines of interviews for students stated below:

Table 3.5

Students’ Interview Guidelines

No Point

1. Students’ feeling toward English lesson

2. Student’s knowledge of portfolio

3. Various tasks in portfolio

4. Students’ opinion about the implementation of portfolio

5. Teacher instruction and explanation about the aims and way to do the task

6. The choice of portfolio content

7. Providing example before giving students assignments

8. The advantages of using portfolio assessment

9. Obstacles faced by students in doing and finishing portfolio

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11. Teacher’s feedback

12. Students’ preferences in finishing the tasks and students’ role in learning

process

3.3.2 Procedure a. Observation

The observation of this study was made in natural settings in the classroom of the

participants with the data were collected twice a week in two classes on Monday and

Friday for two months with 90 minutes per meeting. The purposes of observation

enabled researcher to describe in detail the process of implementation of portfolio

assessment in the classroom, the activities that took place in the setting, and the

meaning of the activities as perceived. Then the researcher observed how portfolio

assessment was implemented in the classroom including all the activities done by the

teacher and the students during the English classroom subject.

The observation was conducted four times: 23 of April, 16, 20, and 23 of May

2014. It was based on how many times teacher taught one topic. The first visiting of

the researcher into the classroom on 23 of April was regarded as pre-observation and

introducing the researcher to the students. At that that time, researcher intended to

know the situation and the condition of teaching and learning activities in the

classroom. It was also aimed to recognize the students in order to build closer

relationship with the students. In this first meeting, the researcher only attended in the

classroom and observed the teaching and learning process without taking a note and

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the main observation (see Table 3.6). The long gap happened between the first

visiting and the last three visiting due to the National Examination.

Table 3.6

Table of Observation Visit

No Date Phase of Study Time Description

1. Wednesday,

April 23, 2014

Pre – Observation 14.30 – 15.50 Introducing the

situation and

condition of the class

2. Friday,

May 16 2014

Main Observation 08.00 – 09.20 The beginning of new

topic

3. Tuesday,

May 20 2014

Main Observation 11.00 – 1.30 Peer assessment and

discussion of the topic

4. Friday,

March 23, 2014

Main Observation 08.00 – 09.20 The evaluation from

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During the observation, researcher took a field notes. In this case, the

researcher wrote account of what she heard, saw and experienced during the teaching

and learning process. The example of observational field notes is served in Table 3.1

b. Questionnaire

The questionnaire was distributed on 23 of May 2014 into sixty students in

two classrooms. The questionnaire consists of 28 statements in closed-questionnaire

and four open-questionnaires.

In closed-questionnaire students were asked to put a thick in one of the

columns written SA (strongly agree), A (agree), U (Uncertain), DA (Disagree), SDA

(strongly disagree) which each number has a particular statement. In open

questionnaire, students were able to answer the questions based on their perception

without any limitation of the answers. The questions in open-questionnaire were

aimed to answer the third question in research questions. Therefore, the questions

related with the obstacles faced by students, how students overcome the problems and

what the advantages of completing portfolio assessment are for them.

In distributing questionnaire, firstly researcher explained the purpose of

asking students to participate in filling the questionnaire. Then, the specific term such

as portfolio were explained since the teacher told before that he didn’t tell that term to

the students. After that, in one day the questionnaire was distributed in two classes.

During the activity, students seemed quite understand about the statement and there

was no further questions related with the statements or questions in the questionnaire.

Finish with distributing and collecting the questionnaire, it was then the time

to analyze the data using specific formula which would be explained further in data

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Investigating The Use Of Portfolio Assessment In English Classrooms Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu c. Interview

In this study, interview was important because the research was interested in

the past events that were impossible to observe and also mapping the process of the

portfolio implementation in the classroom under investigation.

The interviews, for teachers, were intended to seek teacher’s perception on the

implementation of portfolio assessment and the obstacles faced by teachers. The

interview with teacher was conducted after classes on 26th May 2014. During the interview, the researcher asked sixteen questions related with teacher’s understanding of portfolio and portfolio assessment; the way teacher decides a purpose; how teacher

specifying portfolio content and deciding the form, organization and the audience;

how teacher decide and construct rubric scoring system, the advantages and

disadvantages; and the problems faced by teacher. Along with this, the researcher

found out the process of implementation of portfolio assessment through observation

in the classroom.

Student interviews were used to seek further information from the student’s responses in the questionnaire especially in finding the obstacles faced by students.

The interview was conducted to three students in one classroom on 23rd May 2014.

There were around fourteen until nineteen questions. The interviewed were done in

order to gain further explanation and information related with the statements in the

questionnaire.

3.4 Data Analysis

Data analysis is the process of systematically searching and arranging the

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understanding of them and to enable to present what have been discovered to the

other (Boarden and Biklen cited in Alwasilah (2002:153)). The data gained were

analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Quantitative research talks about quantity and some data of analysis were

presented in the forms of percentages. The quantitative data were obtained from the

closed-questionnaire and the open-questionnaire and the interview were analyzed

using qualitative method. Qualitative method explained the data investigated and the

analysis that was mostly presented interpretatively.

3.4.1 Quantitative Data

In quantitative data, the questionnaire that had been made must do the validity

and reliability test. Validity and reliability are important in research because if both of

them do not recognize it will be fatal in giving the conclusion or giving reasons of the

relationship between the variable (Nazir, 2003). Validity refers to the adequacy and

appropriateness of the interpretations made from assessment, with regard to a

particular use (Linn and Gronlund, 1995: 147). Therefore, validity is concerned with

the specific use of assessment results and the soundness of the interpretation of those

results. Reliability refers to the consistency of assessment results (Linn and Gronlund,

1995). Reliability is needed to obtain valid result, statement that reliable does not

mean valid, yet statement that valid must be reliable.

To obtain the data for validity and reliability testing, the questionnaire was

conducted to the population but not the sample to find out the result. After that, the

result was calculated to find out the statement in the questionnaire was valid and

reliable or not before conducted to the sample. For measuring validity and reliability

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formula. The calculation of questionnaire was technically done by

Alpha-formula through SPSS 21 for Windows program. The total items of questionnaire

tried out are 28 questions. The score of validity for each item is r count, which can be

seen from the corrected item-total correlation table from SPSS data output (see

appendix). Each item was valid if its r count > r table. The questionnaire was conducted

toward 45 respondents with the level of significant 5 % and the degree of freedom (dƒ) n-2 or (45-2=43), so r table was 0.301. The result of computation of validity for each item could be seen on appendix. The result of computation, showed there were 7

questions which are not valid since r count < r table. Thus, there are only 23 questions

used.

Moreover, the calculation of Alpha Cronbach can also be used to analyze the

reliability of instrument. Table 3.7 show the computation result of reliability for

questionnaire.

Table 3.7

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items

.885 .883 28

As Nugroho (2005) cited in Resmiati (2004) says that a research instrument is

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3.7 above, it can be seen that the coefficient of Alpha Cronbach is 0.885, which was

higher than 0.60 (0.885 ≥ 0.60). Concisely, the construction of questionnaire was

reliable.

After the validity and reliability testing finished, the data gathered from the

questionnaire were tabulating and presenting through some stages were employed as

follows:

1. Examining the data obtained from the questionnaire.

2. Selecting and classifying the data derived from the questionnaire into groups of

factors two simplify the tabulation and interpretation based on percentages

statistics. To ease the interpretation of the data the respondents’ answers were

classified into five classifications. The formula used to classify is

Interval range = range

Total level (Sudjana, 1997)

For students’ questionnaire, the highest total score expected was 140 while the

lowest total score expected was 28, so the interval range was:

Interval range = 140-28 = 22.4

5

So based on the calculation, the classification is depicted as follow:

Table 3.8

Classification of Students’ Perception Questionnaire

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1 28 – 50.3 Extremely negative

2 50.4 – 72.8 Negative

3 72.9 – 95.3 Fair

4 95.4 – 117.8 Positive

5 117.9 - 140 Extremely positive

3. Calculating the frequency (fo) of the respondents who answer each of items or

statements. Then, it is calculating the percentage (%) of each total frequency of the respondents’ answers to the item by using the formula below:

Percentage (%) = Total respondent who answer an item (fo) x 100%

Total respondents (n) (Sudjana, 1997)

Interpreting the result of percentage (%) calculation based on the total frequency

(fo) of each item.

4. Classifying the data to be interpreted, therefore it is using reference according to

Sudjana (1997) as follows:

Table 3.9

Percentage Classification

No Percentage Classification

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2 00,01 – 24,99% a few of

3 25,00 – 49,99% nearly half of

4 50% half of

5 50,01 – 74,00% best part of

6 75,00 – 99,99% nearly all of

7 100% all of

3.4.2 Qualitative Data

In data analysis, the data analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s framework: data reduction, data display and conclusion or verification.

1) Data reduction

On the research process, lots of complex information was gained by the

researcher. Thus, the data gathered was selectively analyzed based on the importance

point related to the research and the unimportant data were eliminated. It is in line

with Miles and Huberman (1984) cited in Sugiyono (2010) that summarizing,

selecting and focusing in the important data should be done as part of the data

reduction process.

The data were collected through several methods, such as observation,

interview, and questionnaire. The observation was used to gain the process done by

the teacher related with the implementation of portfolio assessment. The processes

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classroom, how teacher consider the content of student’s portfolio, how teacher give clear and detailed explanation about the portfolio includes the example of each task,

how teacher give students some times to finish the portfolio, and how teacher share and respond student’s questions related with scoring rubric.

The interview limited only to one teacher and three students in the classroom

since the focus of the study was the implementation of portfolio assessment specific

in the classroom. The three students were chosen based on their capability in English

lesson; the low leaner, middle learner and fast leaner in order to get as accurate data as possible from all students’ level.

The questionnaire was used in order to get the opinion from all the

participants related with the implementation of portfolio. The limitation of time to

interview all the participants encouraged researcher to develop questionnaire and the interview was used for asking clarification of students’ answer in questionnaire.

2) Data display

Next step is describing the data in narrative text and displayed it into a

summary table. A table was aimed to organize and arrange in a clear pattern,

therefore the data can be understood easily (Miles and Huberman, 1984 cited in

Sugiyono, 2010). In this step, data from interview and observation were transcribed,

coded, classified, interpreted (Alwasilah, 2002) and re-read to make sure that the

transcription had matched the data. Data from observation also analyzed as soon as

the observation carried out, otherwise researcher might lose visual detail that might

be important and might be forgotten if it is postponed to be analyzed (Maxwell,

1996).

The analysis of each research instrument was presented in a form of

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checked by using triangulation to enhance research reliability and validity. The

argument is supported by Denzin (1978) and Patton (1990) who say that triangulation

is useful to overcome the intrinsic bias that comes from methods,

single-observer, and single-theory-studies. The explanation of each method will be

described below:

3.4.2.1 Observation

In analyzing the data, observation sheet and field notes were used to get

deeper comprehension of the class activity. The result of analysis will be described

comprehensively with the literature in chapter 4.

3.4.2.2 Questionnaire

The data from questionnaire used to find out students’ perception around the

implementation of portfolio to their interest of learning English, the effect of portfolio

to their score, the advantages and disadvantages of portfolio, the problems faced by

students during completing portfolio and the way students overcome those problems.

3.4.2.3 Interview

The data gained from teacher and some students were recorded by using

voice-recorder. To analyze the data, the researcher transcribed the interview first,

translated them to English and then interpreted the data into the some main issues

based on the research questions: the implementation of portfolio assessment and the

obstacles faced by both teacher and students. The final step was by linking those data

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3) Conclusion drawing or verifying

The final step is answering and elaborating the research question through the

conclusion from the data display. All the explanation related with finding will be

described and explained in the next chapter with appropriate literature as a reference.

3.5 Concluding Remark

This chapter has presented the research method of study which covers:

research design, site and participants, data collection which was divided into

instrumentations and procedure, and data analysis. This study attempted to find out

the process of implementation of portfolio in the classroom and to discover the