Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Students' Perceptions Toward the Implementation of Portfolio-Based Assessment in the Academic Reading Course

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PORTFOLIO-BASED ASSESSMENT
IN THE ACADEMIC READING COURSE
Wahyu Bangkit Prastowo

Abstract
Portfolio-based assessment, is now increasingly and widely implemented in the higher
education level, such as, in the university level. As it is strongly argued by Michelson &
Mandell (2004) that portfolio actively engage learners in understanding the relationship
between the culture of academic knowledge in higher education and that is required in the
workplace. The purpose of this study was to find out the students’ perceptions toward the
implementation of portfolio-based assessment in the academic reading course. The
participants of the study were 100 intermediate level EFL students at the Faculty of
Language and Literature (FLL) of Satya Wacana Christian University (SWCU) Salatiga,
who have already taken Academic Reading course. A portfolio attitude questionnaire was
mainly used as the main and the only instrument to collect the data in this study. The
results of the study indicated that the participants of this study generally prefer to be
evaluated by portfolio-based assessment rather than be assessed by traditional paperpencil tests, and also most of the participants believed that portfolio-based assessment
also contributes to their English learning processes. It was also found out that a number
of the participants have positive attitudes towards portfolio assessment in their academic
reading course.

Key words: Portfolio assessment, portfolio, students’ perceptions