Investigating teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programme
department or school: Education, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Mohammadian Haghighi, Fatemeh
issued: 2017-01-21T04:00:12
issued: 2016
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The growing tendency towards student-centred communicative approach to language pedagogy has given rise to alternative modes of assessment such as Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA), which is compatible with student-centred SLA theories and pedagogical practices in ESL classrooms (e.g., Fox, 2014; Ripley, 2012). In Canada, since 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has allocated funding to different projects across the country to implement PBLA as an assessment tool in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programme. Since language assessment tools have a remarkable role in determining learners’ progress through the LINC programme, and due to the significant impact of assessment tools on newcomers’ professional and educational possibilities in Canada, this study investigated instructors’ perceptions of the usefulness, challenges and benefits of PBLA in the LINC programme. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten LINC instructors who have been using PBLA for at least three months. Data were analyzed drawing on Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) concept of test usefulness (validity, reliability, authenticity, interactiveness, impact and practicality) as a theoretical framework for the study. The findings showed that although PBLA has numerous benefits for language learners, when it comes to its implementation, it presents many challenges for LINC teachers. Some of these challenges include: Challenges in developing real-life, CLB-aligned instructional and assessment tasks, difficulties in assessing portfolios and providing feedback, etc. According to the participants, PBLA is better to be used for formative assessment rather than summative assessment. In terms of test usefulness framework, according to the findings, validity and reliability of PBLA as a summative assessment tool is questionable. Regarding authenticity and interactiveness, except for teachers who were teaching lower CLB levels other teachers found PBLA…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/60190
note: Investigating Teachers’ Perceptions of the Usefulness of Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Programme by Fatemeh Mohammadian Haghighi M.Ed., The University of British Columbia, 2013 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Teaching English as a Second Language) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2016 © Fatemeh Mohammadian Haghighi, 2016 ii Abstract The growing tendency towards student-centred communicative approach to language pedagogy has given rise to alternative modes of assessment such as Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA), which is compatible with student-centred SLA theories and pedagogical practices in ESL classrooms (e.g., Fox, 2014; Ripley, 2012). In Canada, since 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has allocated funding to different projects across the country to implement PBLA as an assessment tool in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programme. Since language assessment tools have a remarkable role in determining learners’ progress through the LINC programme, and due to the significant impact of assessment tools on newcomers’ professional and educational possibilities in Canada, this study investigated instructors’ perceptions of the usefulness, challenges and benefits of PBLA in the LINC programme. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten LINC instructors who have been using PBLA for at least three months. Data were analyzed drawing on Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) concept of test usefulness (validity, reliability, authenticity, interactiveness, impact and practicality) as a theoretical framework for the study. The findings showed that although PBLA has numerous benefits for language learners, when it comes to its implementation, it presents many challenges for LINC teachers. Some of these challenges incl…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2017-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0340525
language: eng
degree discipline: Teaching English as a Second Language
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/60190