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The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of the use of paper-based and weblog-based electronic portfolios on the writing achievement of limited English proficiency students, to survey the students’ attitudes towards the use of the portfolio assessment, and to compare the viewpoints of the students in the control and experimental groups. The study was conducted with 60 second-year hotel and tourism students enrolled in the Writing for the Service Industry course. They had limited English proficiency, as their previous English grades were C or below in average. The simple random sampling technique was used for subject selection and group assignment. Google’s free weblog website (located at www.blogger.com) was used as a tool for creating and developing the students’ personal electronic portfolios. At the beginning of the course, the students in the control group and the experimental group were trained in the concept of portfolios, and the purposes, content, and criteria used for assessment were discussed with the students. A writing achievement test and a closed-ended questionnaire were used for the quantitative data collection, while the qualitative data were gathered from the open-ended questions, interviews, and reflection. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were employed for the data analysis. It was found that the effects of the use of paper-based portfolios and weblog-based electronic portfolios on the writing achievement were not significantly different, but some promising results of the use of weblog-based electronic portfoliosfor language learning and assessment are indisputable.

The purpose of this research was to compare the students’ writing achievement scores and attitudes toward the use of self-correction, paper-pencil peer feedback, and electronic peer feedback. The study was conducted with 90 engineering students having different levels of general English proficiency in a 3x3 factorial design. They were randomly selected and assigned into three groups: 1) self-correction, 2) paper-pencil peer feedback, and 3) electronic peer feedback. At the beginning of the course, the students in the first group were trained in how to do self-correction while the students in groups 2 and 3 were trained in how to provide comments to their classmates effectively via the medium assigned. The data were analyzed by using two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), descriptive statistics, and content analysis. The questionnaire, interview, and students’ writing journals were used to gain more in-depth data. The results revealed that the different types of feedback had a significantly different effect on the students’ writing achievement. The students in the electronic peer feedback group performed the best. The students in different ability groups all performed differently, while there was no interaction effect between types of feedback and levels of general English proficiency on the students’ writing achievement. The students in the three experimental groups had highly positive attitudes in most aspects explored. Qualitative findings also provided some useful information for pedagogical implications for EFL writing classes, especially opportunities and challenges regarding the use of this alternative assessment in a writing class. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n3p157

The objectives of the study were to investigate the needs of English communication skills at workplaces of engineers and to provide guidelines on how to develop the English course based on the Integration of Project-based Learning Approach and Blended Learning Module to enhance English communication skills at work of undergraduate engineering students. To develop the course, it is generally composed of three main phases: needs analysis, course development, and course implementation and the course evaluation. However, this research reports the results of the needs analysis and provides suggestions for the course development based on the Integration of Project-based Learning Approach and Blended Learning Module. The questionnaires were used to investigate the needs analysis of three main groups of subjects: 15 engineers, 98 engineering students, and 10 ESP teachers. The semi-structured interview was used to gain more in-depth data from the representatives of the three main groups. However, only the perspectives of the students will be presented in this paper. The results of the study theoretically and practically shed some new light to the area of English language instruction for engineers.

The purposes of this research were to 1) compare the effects of self-correction, paper-pencil peer feedback, and online peer feedback on the students’ writing achievement; 2) compare the effects of the students’ levels of general English proficiency (high, moderate and low) on writing achievement; 3) investigate the interaction effect between the types of feedback and levels of general English proficiency on the students’ writing achievement; and 4) survey the students’ attitudes toward the use of feedback activity they experienced in terms of its efficiency, affective and cognitive aspects, and Thai cultural dimensions. The study was conducted with 72 engineering students having different levels of general English proficiency. They were randomly selected and assigned into three groups. Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), descriptive statistics, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The questionnaire and interview were used to gain more in-depth data. The results revealed that the different types of feedback and levels of English proficiency had a significantly different effect on the students’ writing achievement, and the interaction effect was also found.