The Effects of Portfolio Keeping on Writing Anxiety of EFL Students

Abstract

There has been a growing body of research which documents the importance ofportfolios in foreign language teaching. The current study is an action research thatinvestigates the effects of portfolio keeping on the writing anxiety of students. Twoinstructors working collaboratively aimed to overcome the writing anxiety of theirstudents. They had a class of fifteen prospective teachers of English who were in theirpreparatory year in a foundation university, in Istanbul, Turkey. Data were gathered bymeans of the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) (Cheng, 2004), abackground questionnaire and two reflective sessions. Findings of the study revealedthat portfolio keeping is beneficial in terms of overcoming writing anxiety. The resultsalso indicated that the experience with portfolios may affect the participants’ futureteaching practices positively. Therefore; this study suggests that portfolio keepingdeserves to be taken into consideration in the programme of Foreign LanguageEducation Departments.