UNIVERSIDAD TCNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA

Learning Portfolio

Name: Cristian Jos Arvalo Ruiz

Language Testing

Professor: Vanessa Toro, Mgtr.

Date: May 27th, 2017

Pag. 1 de 24
 Introduction.

During this first term, the subject of Teaching Techniques has provided students of cycle

eight of English major, many kinds of assess students. They have been working on

many activities that helped them to improve the way they teach. One of the activities

that were proposed to do is Portfolios.

According to Clarke University (n.d) Portfolio is a compilation of material such as:

written works, homework, notes, tests, all the information that students had been doing

during a period of class that is useful for students and for teachers. For students because

it helps them to reflect on all the activities done in class and outside the class, and

perform well on whatever activity the teacher proposes. For example: mid-term test of

final test. It is also useful for teachers because it provides them to assess students and to

know how they worked during a semester or a year. Another utility is that, teachers can

observe which tasks were effective of students and which not, in this way, teachers can

change totally or modify the activities in order to improve their teaching.

As mentioned before, portfolios are very important in our experiences as students and as

teachers. Thus, the following portfolio is going to reflect all the activities done during

this first term of classes.

1. Objective

Analyze each one of the artifacts in order to reflect on it.

Describe which are the acquired competences on each one of the artifacts.
Evaluate the artifacts according to the teachers suggestions.
Conclude the artifacts with opinions in order to make better artifacts.

2. Importance.

Pag. 2 de 24
This portfolio is of great importance because I as student of the Teaching techniques

subject can improve my weaknesses by looking at the mistakes that I made in the

artifacts.

Another importance of this portfolio is that through the artifacts I can remember all the

topics we treated in class. So, for example, in a test I can look for the artifacts in this

portfolio and study and comprehend better.

This portfolio is very useful because it reflects our experiences either theoretical or

practical, because the artifacts show our thoughts, and we can compare with another

artifact in order to demonstrate how our opinions have changed during the semester.

Pag. 3 de 24
3. Table of contents

Cover page
Page 1
Objective, importance
Page 2, 3
Table of contents
Page 4
Artefact N1
FORO: Practicality, Reliability, Validity.Page 5

Artefact N2
PPT presentations.. Page 5, 6

Artefact N3
Designing classroom Language tests (OBJECTIVES)..... Page 6

Artefact N4
Curriculum 2016 2017....Page 7, 8

Artefact N5
National English Curriculum.. Page 8

Artefact N6

How can the use of learning portfolios improve English learning?.Page 8, 9

Artefact N7
Observation Self - Assessment checklists ...Page 9

Artefact N8
Test Specifications .. ..Page 9

Artefact N9
Performance based assessment....Page 10

Artefact N10

The task about scenarios 1, 2, 3... Page 10

Pag. 4 de 24
Appendix
Annexes....Page 10

Pag. 5 de 24
4. Artifacts

Artifact N1: FORO: Practicality, Reliability, Validity

This task was a group work and the time that spend was about two hours for

looking for information, brainstorm ideas and write the report in the forum. The

task was about to look for information about practicality, reliability and validity

and compare and contrast with our own experience as teachers (See Annex 1).

And we had to discuss about how we apply these principles in assessing. So, we

developed the generic competences.

Furthermore, another competence that we developed was the specific

competence because as mentioned before, the goal of the task was to compare

with our experiences when teaching, so we could apply scientific and

pedagogical knowledge from our previous subjects and experiences.

Finally, this artifact, helped me personally to remember topics that I had

forgotten, but though this I could remember in order to apply when assessing

students.
(See Annex 1)

Artifact N2: PPT presentations.

The generic competences were developed in these activities because it was a

group work. Also, the organization and the time spent in order to do the power

point presentations were considered.

Specific competences were considered because we had to apply scientific and

pedagogical knowledge in order to explain practicality and standardize testing.

Finally, the most important competence for this artifact is the academic

competence for the subject, because through explaining the topics with our

classmates we had to make instruments and apply techniques in order to talk

about the topics we had assigned.

(See Annex 2)
Artifact N3: Designing classroom Language tests (OBJECTIVES).

Pag. 6 de 24
 This artifact consists on explaining about a type of language test, in this case I

wrote about the diagnostic test.

In this activity, I developed some competences which are the generic and

specific competences because this task was asked to work with a partner, so

cooperation is a fundamental part of this assignment. We had to apply some

previous and new knowledge about diagnostic tests. Furthermore, we had to

deify solutions for the task through our own teaching experience.
This artifact helped me a lot in the sense that I can apply many kinds of language

assessment in order to improve my skills in teaching English to people.

(See Annex 3)
Artifact N4 Curriculum 2016 2017
This artifact was about to analyze the main characteristics, strengths and

weaknesses of the curriculum (See Annex 4).

It can be said that the generic competences were developed here because this

was a group work activity, and I had to organize my time with my partner in

order to send the task on time.

The academic competences of the subjects were developed because once I had

the enough knowledge to the topic to treat, I could apply that knowledge into the

analyzis of the curriculum.

This artifact was very useful because it shows how the curriculum is nowadays,

so interpret it helped me to know more about the competences that students from

high school have to develop and also, there are some things that can be change

according to our experience in the class.

(See Annex 4)
Artifact N5: National English Curriculum.
The aim of this artifact was to analyze the National Curriculum Guidelines of

second and third year of bachillerato, and write about the influence that those

assessment indicators have on the teaching and learning process.

The generic competences were developed here because it was a group work

activity, organization with my partner was important too because the time is

essential in order to do the task correctly.

Pag. 7 de 24
 Competences of the subject has to be considered in this task because we had to

apply knowledge of this subject in order to analyze each one of the assessment

indicators that the National English curriculum offers to teacher to apply on

students. Also, some methods were applied in order to comprehend the whole

text.
This artifact is very useful because it makes me think that I have to improve my

way of teaching for students to learn better and apply those success indicators in

my teaching practice.
(See Annex 5)
Artifact N6: How can the use of learning portfolios improve English

learning?
The aim of this artifact was to analyze information about the use of portfolios,

and prepare a written report about how can the use of learning portfolios

improve English learning?

In this case, the generic competences were developed because it was a group

work activity so we had to work cooperatively. Time management was

implicated here because we had a certain time to do the task so we divided our

time in order to research information and write the written report.

One of the specific competences that I have developed here was: to apply

scientific and pedagogical knowledge because as I am studying English as a

foreign language, I have to be aware of all the possibilities that can be done in a

portfolio so it will improve my learning.

This artifact helped me a lot, specially to make this portfolio.
(See Annex 6)
Artifact N7 Observation Self - Assessment checklists
This artifact was to design checklists for the observation for teacher and for

students to self-assess themselves.

In this task, the generic competences were developed because I had to work with

a partner, and we had to organize themselves in order to finish the task on time.
I had developed the competences of the subject because we had to construct

instruments applying the knowledge we have for our task, also we apply mane

Pag. 8 de 24
 methods for the instruments for example that the items do not be confused and

not understandable.
This artifact was very helpful because now I know how to make checklist for me

and for my students.

(See Annex 7)
Artifact N8 Test Specifications.
The instruction for this task was to make a test specification about any topic in

order to develop the listening and speaking skills.

In this case the generic competences were developed because It was a pair work

task, so we had to organize in the correct way to make the task correctly. Time is

considered to because we had specific time to do the task.

Specific competences were applied in this task because I had to discuss with my

partner about the things to put in our report. Although we could obtain the

maximum score, we put our effort to do that.

(See Annex 8)
Artifact N 9: Performance based assessment.
The aim of this artifact was to write a written report about the influence of

performance based assessment on the English language teaching -learning

process.
The generic competences were developed here since it was a group work

activity, we had to work cooperatively, and the time we spent for the activity was

also considered because it was limited.

I developed the specific competences because as mentioned before discussion

with the partner (applying our knowledge of English as a foreign language) was

important in order to get in an agreement. After that, we can write our written

report.
(See Annex 9)
Artifact 10 The task about scenarios 1, 2, 3.
We had to loot the discussion of objectives in the textbook and we had to

change the objectives of the scenarios 1, 2 and 3.

The generic competences were applied here because it was a group work we had

to manage the time also in order to send the homework on time.

Pag. 9 de 24
 Competences of the subject were applied because we put or knowledge in the

objectives to fix them.

This was very useful for me because I can rewrite any objective that can be out

of context or not related to the contents to teach

References:
Drive, C. (n.d). What is a Portfolio? Clarke University. Retrieved from

https://www.clarke.edu/academics/careers-internships/student-checklist/resume-

writing-and-portfolios/what-is-a-portfolio/

Pag. 10 de 24
 Appendix

ANNEX 1

FORO: Practicality, Reliability, Validity

ANNEX 2

Pag. 11 de 24
PPT presentations: Practicality, Standardize tests.

ANNEX 3

Pag. 12 de 24
Designing Classroom Language Tests (OBJECTIVES)

ANNEX 4

Curriculum 2016 - 2017

Pag. 13 de 24
Pag. 14 de 24
ANNEX 5

National English Curriculum

Pag. 15 de 24
ANNEX 6

How can the use of learning portfolios improve English Learning?

Pag. 16 de 24
Pag. 17 de 24
ANNEX 7

Pag. 18 de 24
Observation - Self assessment checklists

Pag. 19 de 24
ANNEX 8

Test Specifications

Pag. 20 de 24
Pag. 21 de 24
ANNEX 9

Pag. 22 de 24
Performance-based assessment

ANNEX 10

Report on diagnostic test.

Pag. 23 de 24
Pag. 24 de 24