The effects of portfolio use in teaching report writing: EFL students' perspective

Abstract

Portfolio has widely been used in various areas including second language writing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the views of students in using portfolio in teaching technical report-writing. The participants are computer science students enrolled in a report writing course at a university in Yemen. For data collection, the study used three techniques; namely, group discussions, written reflections and a short questionnaire. The findings showed participants' positive views towards the use of portfolio in teaching writing in general and report writing in particular. The main views concerning the use of portfolio in teaching writing in general are: improving writing learning, making writing more fun and monitoring one's writing. The main findings regarding report writing were improving areas such as elements of writing, getting better feedback and report writing elements. The study concluded with a number of recommendations pertaining to both the practice of portfolio in EFL writing settings, as well as the future research.