PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN ESL ACADEMIC WRITING: EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF REFLECTION IN THE WRITING PROCESS BY

ii Writing is done through a process of drafting and editing. Traditional writing assessment techniques, such as large-scale standardized tests and multiple-choice tests, are not compatible with the process-oriented curricula. Researchers and educators have started to explore other types of student assessment. Portfolio assessment has been suggested as an alternative to traditional writing assessment because it can integrate instruction and evaluation, which can be a way of providing for validity. In this study, I examined students ’ perceptions of the portfolio assessment in an advanced academic writing course for ESL graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Students in the course wrote four major assignments, each in a different genre, and they were required to provide drafts of the assignments. Students were also asked to write reflective journals where they kept records of their writing and revision processes and could set goals for future development. Students ’ reflective journals were analyzed to understand students’ revision processes. Students were also asked to complete a questionnaire that investigated thei