The use of portfolios to introduce autonomy in a primary school setting

Abstract

The purpose of this action research was to determine the impact of portfolio use on learning autonomy in English as a Foreign Language or EFL class. Participants were nineteen students from second grade from a private primary school in Guayaquil. The effect was described comparing the level of student´s autonomy from the first, second and third data collection instances. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to report the level of autonomy improvement and to explain the reasons for its development. The intervention consisted of seven weeks of portfolio use in the language class in order to improve students‘ autonomy in the following areas of measurement: evaluation of learning, diagnosing learning need, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning and choosing and implementing learning strategies. Students were expected to use the portfolio in order to showcase evidence of these autonomy characteristics. Overall results indicated that through the use of the portfolio, second graders‘ autonomy increased more than twice its initial level. By the end of the intervention students could do most of the language tasks almost autonomously although the portfolio intervention time was not enough for all 2 DEVELOPING AUTONOMY THROUGH PORTFOLIOS the students to reach the expected autonomy level. Finally, conclusions are discussed in terms of what other factors contributed to and also impeded autonomy development.