REIMAGINING ASSESSMENT: LEARNERS’ VOICES ON PORTFOLIO-BASED PRACTICE IN AN INTENSIVE TOEFL CLASSROOM

Abstract

Assessment in language education is gradually moving away from single, end-of-course measurements toward approaches that value process, reflection, and learner agency. Portfolio-based assessment is among the instruments most frequently associated with this shift, yet empirical accounts of how learners themselves make sense of the practice remain comparatively scarce, particularly within high-stakes, test-oriented programs such as intensive TOEFL preparation. This article reports a qualitative case study that examined how seven undergraduate students enrolled in an Intensive TOEFL course at a private Islamic university in Aceh, Indonesia, experienced a semester-long portfolio assignment. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and supporting documentary evidence, then interpreted using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis procedure. Across the accounts, portfolio work was largely described as a worthwhile, if demanding, companion to test preparation: participants associated it with sharper awareness of their own progress, gains in writing and speaking performance, and a steadier sense of confidence and motivation as the course advanced. At the same time, informants voiced recurring frustrations connected to time pressure, uneven or delayed feedback from instructors, and the emotional weight of continuous self-monitoring. Rather than treating these two sets of findings as contradictory, the discussion frames them as complementary evidence that portfolio pedagogy is not a self-executing intervention; its value is realised only when paired with deliberate scaffolding, timely guidance, and manageable pacing. The article closes by considering what these findings imply for instructors who design reflective, long-term assessment tasks within compressed, examination-driven curricula.