Analyzing the Utility of Portfolios in English 101

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 unity and variety of 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, based on student observations from a questionnaire distributed to forty-three students from three separate classes in the Fall 2009 semester at SIUC.