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ABSTRACT
Electronic portfolios, also known as ePortfolios, are generally defined as a digital learning platform, which documents students' language learning development. In educational assessment, there has been a large body of research on ePortfolios in diverse professional disciplines. Nonetheless, not much has been done to understand how ePortfolios could support teaching and learning of writing in school settings. To fill this gap, this article examines how ePortfolios are applied in EFL writing classrooms by fulfilling its assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning purposes. First, the article starts with an introduction to define ePortfolios and describe multiple assessment purposes. Second, ePortfolios scholarship is critically reviewed according to their multifaceted roles. Third, tensions in assessment purposes are explained. Fourth, the way the assessment of, for and as learning goals are achieved via ePortfolios is discussed. Then, authentic classroom examples that emphasise a positive synergy among the three assessment purposes are reported. Lastly, the article ends with pedagogical implications of and recommendations on how to develop school-based ePortfolio programmes to meet multiple demands.
KEYWORDS
Electronic portfolios, assessment for learning, assessment as learning, writing pedagogies.
1.INTRODUCTION
Electronic portfolios (hereafter, ePortfolios) are broadly defined as a digital container, allowing teachers or students to create, connect, evidence, and reflect upon multimodal artefacts, such as audios, videos, texts and graphics (Yancey, 2009). The ePortfolio processes entail the creation of a digital portfolio, through which students connect various artefacts to document evidence of learning for critical reflection. These compilation procedures enable students to take stock of efforts, achievements and language learning in a virtual environment, for instance, blogging sites, wikis, customised software tools, or learning management systems (Aygün & Aydin, 2016). Since the mid-1990s, print portfolios have been gradually converted to ePortfolios because of the following reasons: (1) easy access to WiFi connection; (2) reduced costs of electronic gadgets like affordable laptops, 4G mobile phones, and tablets; and (3) global reforms on educational technologies like flipped classrooms or ePortfolios (Yancey, 2004). The widespread use of digital media and computer software tools has become part of everyday teaching and learning practices (Hockly & Dudeney, 2018).
In ELT, ePortfolios chiefly serve the teaching and learning purposes more than their assessment purpose. When used as a pedagogical tool, ePortfolios are likely...