© 2011 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Portfolio as a Viable Alternative in Writing Assessment

Abstract—This study represents a quantitative attempt specifically addressing the development of EFL students ' mechanics of writing in portfolio-based assessment. To carry out the study, 40 university students were selected and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The students in the sample were tested with the following instruments at the beginning and the end of the study: Trinity's ISE (Integrated Skills in English) Writing Test and Error Detection in Mechanics of Writing, English Language Test (CELT) was administered as pre-test to homogenize the experimental and control groups Comprehensive. The results of the study confirmed that students whose work was evaluated by a portfolio system (portfolio-based assessment) had a significant reduction in their errors in mechanics of writing when compared to those students whose work was evaluated by the more traditional evaluation system (non-portfolio-based assessment).The findings also revealed that there was a positive correlation between the dependent scorer of final examination and the independent scorer of portfolio assessment. Index Terms—alternative assessment, portfolio, mechanics of writing, portfolio assessment I