ng implemented by a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. Eileen who is an ESL instructor at the university has developed a process called Portfolios. This process requires students to use portfolios to keep up with their achievements in class. Although there is little research on “speaking portfolios”, I was convinced that portfolios in which students document their progress in learning English via audio-and video tapes would prove valuable and practical for the conversation (level b) students(Master,1). These portfolios can be a showcase of a student’s best work, or everything a student has. Most portfolios contained an oral dialogue journal, tapes of a class discussion, a taped interview conducted outside of class, and video tapes of formal presentations(Master,1). One of the critical parts is the oral dialogue journal. Students talked into a tape on a topic of their choice (friends, work, plans for the future) and I listened to and responded to the tape(Master, 2). This was done so students could overcome the fear of not having anything to say or not having people being able to understand them. During the semester students were given class days to work on their portfolios in groups. This allowed other students to get help making theirs just right. Prior to the middle of the term , several members of the class modeled group discussion sessions and practiced providing feedback and support(Master, 2). This helped students understand the task in the portfolio, and helped students get feedback from others on their own portfolios. Students submitted a “draft” version of the portfolio at mid-semester and a final version at the end of the semester(Master, 2). At both times, we held Portfolio Showcases, in which the students told each other about the materials in the portfolios and about what the portfolios had shown them about their growth as learners and speakers of English(Master, 2-3). T...
