Date of Award
8-2010
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Dively, Ronda
Abstract
The benefits of using a portfolio system in a writing classroom, according to studies of in-class use starting over a decade ago include the following: allowing students to reflect upon their prior work, to revise their papers so as to demonstrate their improvements over the course of a semester, and also to organize their papers to create a sense of their writing ability. Since there has been little research conducted into the student experience as it relates to the use of portfolio systems, this document seeks to analyze that student experience, at least in the context of Southern Illinois University Carbondale's English 101 courses. Based on student observations from a questionnaire distributed to forty-three students from three separate English 101 classes in the Fall 2009, it appears that the portfolio system at SIUC is providing its intended benefits (as listed above), though there are a few minor issues that still bear consideration so as to better tailor SIUC's English 101 portfolio system to the needs of the local student body.
Access
This thesis is Open Access and may be downloaded by anyone.