7th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), Budapest, Macaristan, 27 - 29 Haziran 2013, ss.88
The aim of this study was to explore the views
of preparatory school instructors at a state university in Turkey regarding the
portfolio assessment system they were required to implement in the writing
courses and their error correction practices, namely giving feedback using
correction symbols. The participants of the study were 100 EFL instructors
teaching at different levels in prep-school. A portfolio attitude survey was
administered to 100 teachers, and semi-structured interviews were conducted
with 15 instructors regarding the use of portfolio assessment and corrective
feedback in their department and their views on the ways to address the
concerns regarding the error correction practices. The quantitative results
from the surveys revealed that the majority of the teachers had neither
positive nor negative views on portfolio use in the department, while the
interview results showed that the portfolio system was ineffective especially
with lower level students because these students could not understand the
feedback provided with symbols and make the necessary corrections.