The Effect of Group Work and Portfolio in Writing Activities on Developing the Linguistic and Discourse Competences of the EFL Students at Al Al-Bayt University

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effect of group work and portfolio on developing the linguistic and discourse competence of the EFL students at Al-al-Bayt university in Mafraq city in Jordan. The researcher, who is simultaneously an instructor in the department of English language and literature at Al al-Bayt university, conducted her study on the purposeful sample of the obligatory writing 2 course students who are all English major students from 2^nd, 3^rd, and fourth years. The participants of the study were distributed in the only two writing 2 sections in the first semester of the academic year 2013/2014. They were randomly distributed into two sections, each of 30 male and female EFL students. The experimental group was taught writing the essay through group work and using portfolio whereas the control group was taught writing the essay through the conventional way. At the beginning of the semester, both groups were pre-tested in writing an essay about a chosen topic, and similarly, at the end of the semester, they were post- tested by being asked to write an essay about the same topic of the pre-test. The researcher analyzed and counted the linguistic various errors in their writings in both tests of the two groups; she also quantitatively measured the frequencies of using discourse elements in both tests of both groups. She then calculated the means and standard deviations of both groups' frequencies in order to find any significant differences due to the treatments used. The findings of the study showed that both groups performed better in their discourse competences; on the other hand, both groups showed some progress in some areas of their linguistic competences. According to the interviews with the participants of the experimental group, all students appreciated using portfolio and assured that it improved their linguistic and discourse competences. However, most students valuated group or peer work and their positive impact on their linguistic and discourse competences.

Keywords: Portfolio, Group Work, Linguistic Competence, Discourse Competence.