THE USE OF ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIOS IN THE EFL WRITING CLASS : EFFECTS AND STUDENT ATTITUDES

Abstract

The objectives of the study were 1) to investigate the effect of the use of electronic portfolios on the students’ writing achievement, 2) to compare the effect of levels of general English proficiency (high, moderate, and low) in the use of electronic portfolios on the students’ writing achievement, and 3) to survey the students’ attitudes toward the use of electronic portfolios in the writing class. The study was conducted by using a single group, pretestposttest design. The use of electronic portfolios and levels of general English proficiency were the independent variables, whereas the students’ writing achievement score was the dependent variable. In total, 30 second-year engineering students at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) were randomly selected and assigned. Google’s free weblog website (located at www.blogger.com) was used as a tool for creating and developing the students’ personal electronic portfolios. The concept of electronic portfolios, the purposes, the contents, and the criteria used for assessment were discussed with the students at the beginning of the course. A writing achievement test and a close-ended questionnaire were used for the quantitative data collection, while the qualitative data were gathered from the open-ended questions and interview. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA were employed for the data analysis. The findings were as follows: 1) on average, the students’ writing score after the use of electronic portfolios was significantly higher than their pre-test score (p=0.05); 2) on average, the levels of general English proficiency had a significant effect on the students’ writing achievement; and 3) the students had highly positive attitudes toward the use of electronic portfolios in the writing course.