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329

The Portfolio Assessment to Teach Writing
of Opinion Essay

Anjar Setiawan1

anjar17@unimus.ac.id

Dodi Mulyadi2

dodi@unimus.ac.id
1,2Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang, Indonesia

Abstract

An opinion essay is a written text to deliver arguments and present supporting evidence to readers.
Therefore, this writing activity applies portfolio assessment since it is a cumulative collection of
students’ work from beginning to the end. This study aims at describing the implementation of the
portfolio to teach the writing of opinion essays at the non-English department in Universitas
Muhammadiyah Semarang. The data were collected through observation, tests, and questionnaires.
The results showed that the implementation of portfolio assessment could help students write opinion
essays by considering its structure and writing components. They were able to state their viewpoint
and give supporting data to back up the arguments clearly.

Keywords: portfolio assessment, writing, opinion essay

INTRODUCTION

Writing is a language skill. It requires a thinking
process (Brown, 2001 as cited in Meiranti, R., 2012).
In writing, students need to be able to present their
ideas and feelings in a written form. It is in
accordance with Harmer (2001) as cited in Trong
(2010) writing is the process of expressing ideas,
opinions, thoughts, or feelings. Therefore, writing
should not be considered a natural gift since this
skill can be trained.

As one of English productive skills,
experience in the writing process is an effective
strategy to produce a piece of writing. This
practice will reveal the students’ level of spelling,
punctuation, word selection, grammar usage, etc.
(Pourverdi et al., 2016).

Thus, in the writing process, there are
several contexts that represent literacy perspective,
knowledge, the technical aspect of writing,
characteristics of language, and the difference of
linguistic and cultural background (Murshidi, 2014,
in Arifatul and Budiman, 2017). The observation
and interview results with college students in
Semarang showed that they got some difficulties in
formulating ideas, conveying opinions, and

structuring the thoughts and data into an opinion
essay.

In line with the results of the observation
above, Suparno (2006) in Wangid (2014) stated
writing of opinion essay is a communication
activity in the form of delivering written messages
to other parties. It means that an opinion essay
involves the author as the conveyor of the message
or content writing to readers. Further, this kind of
writing is an activity that is productive and
expressive. Productive and expressive contain the
meaning of these two characteristics serves as a
conveyor of information. Said to be productive
because writing is an activity which is to produce a
written work in the form of results from the
expression of ideas one's mind. While expressive
means the right (able) to provide (expression)
images, intentions, ideas, and feelings (Kamal,
2015).

In writing, students are required to be
capable apply a number of skills at once. Before
writing, students need to make a plan for selecting
topics, organizing, and organizing ideas (Abdulai,
2014). At the time of pouring ideas, he stated there
are several things that need attention. For example,

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linguistic aspects such as formation words, diction,
and sentences need to be arranged effectively.
Spelling and punctuation are necessarily done
appropriately and functionally. A number of these
skills prove how the complexity of writing skills.
The explanation above concludes that students
should have understanding and Writing skills, a
proper and well-planned writing learning plan
with appropriate learning strategies is needed
effective and utilizing suitable media with the
conditions of students. Therefore, a teacher or
lecturer must understand the learning approach to
writing and how to develop students’ writing
skills.

Thus, this current study is intended to apply
portfolio assessment in teaching writing of opinion
essays. The portfolio assessment encourages
students to reflect on the pieces of ideas, opinions,
thoughts, etc. in the writing process. As part of the
authentic assessment, portfolio assessment can be
used as a tool to assess the students’ writing.
Further, Johnson (1996) in Nezakatgoo (2011)
defined a portfolio is as a cumulative collection of
students’ work. In other words, this assessment
shows a student's work from beginning to end.

Barton and Collins (1992) as cited in Birin
and Baki (2007), stated that portfolios should be
authentic, forms of dynamic assessment, and
explicit to establish a correspondence between
activities and life experiences. This means that
portfolios show the students’ efforts, progress, and
achievement over time, increasing their learning
motivation and giving them a sense of
autonomous learning. Dealing with the positive
effect of portfolio assessment on students’ writing
ability, it directs them to comprehend the writing
aspects such as purpose, content, organization,
vocabulary, sentence structure, and mechanics in
specific (Boumediene et al., 2016). Based on the
definitions mentioned above, the portfolio
assessment can be used to encourage students’
involvement and improvement since it contains a
record of concrete examples of students’ work
overtime.

Related to the assessment, the following
studies show the implementation of portfolio

assessment in the teaching and learning process.
Abdul (2019); Efendy (2017); Puverdi (2016);
Boumediene (2016); and Nezakatgoo, T. (2011)
conducted similar studies to investigate the
problems and challenges of the university students
in writing for an international journal and to
investigate the implementation of portfolio
assessment to improve students’ writing skills and
responses. They applied experimental design in
their research study. The results showed that the
implementation of portfolio assessment could
improve the students’ writing skills and also give
their positive responses by using portfolio
assessment. Moreover, another significant aspect
of the portfolio assessment is student self-
reflection. It can be seen that portfolio assessment
can successfully encourage the students to become
more active and help them to understand the
writing processes. In addition, students are able to
improve their writing skills and make their words
much worthy as well.

Those researches contributed to this present
study by knowing the implementation of portfolio
assessment in teaching writing skills. Considering
the process of writing and using a portfolio as a
method of assessment, this study is aimed to
implement portfolio assessment to teach the
writing of opinion essays. Setyowati (2016) stated
opinion essay helps students to sharpen their
critical thinking and logical thinking skills.
Therefore, writing an opinion essay is expected to
build the students' critical thinking by writing
logical opinions, stating the evidence, and drawing
the conclusion.

Writing Process

A writer is the center of attention, and the process
of writing needs the students to develop a
cognitive structure in presenting ideas. Seow (2002)
in Azizah (2017) classified the various activities
that occur during the writing and identified six
major writing processes, including planning,
drafting, responding, revising, editing, and
evaluating.

Firstly, planning involves generating and
organizing ideas in mind, and the goal of writing.
Secondly, the drafting stage encourages the writer

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to focus on the fluency of writing and ignore the
draft's grammatical accuracy or neatness. Thirdly,
responding intervenes between drafting and
revising. It is the teacher's job to give a reaction to
student's drafts. Fourthly, revising is not only to
check the language errors but also to improve
global content and the organization of ideas in
order to make the writer's intention clearer to the
reader. Fifth, the editing stage gives chance
students the chance to edit their grammatical,
accuracy, dictation, punctuation, spelling, and add
supportive textual material such as quotation
marks, etc. Last, evaluating is the time to show
students an analytical score based on specific
aspects of their writing. Thus, they need to be
aware of the criteria for evaluation that should
include an overall interpretation of the task (Majid
et al., 2012).

Meanwhile, as the components of writing,
Jacob et al. (1981) in Anamaryanti (2014) stated 5
components include content, organization,
vocabulary, language use, and
mechanics. Content is the relevant information
about the subject of writing. Organization relates to
the generic structure and the sequences of the
sentences. Vocabulary is the use of word choices,
phrases, or idioms. Language use considers the
complex construction, tense, number, article,
pronoun, and preposition. Mechanics is the way of
using spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Portfolio Assessment of Writing

In the writing process, a portfolio can be a set of
activities taken on overtime in the development of
written products. The main concern of a portfolio
in writing an opinion essay is the complexity
involved in collections of writing. Therefore, the
writing collections need to serve the appropriate
grading guidelines, maintain consistency, and
avoid subjectivity.

Furthermore, Yancey (1992) in Park (2004)
set four principles for implementing the portfolio
in writing. 1) Collection; a portfolio is a collection
of work, and it is the whole of a student’s work. 2)
Process; the subset process is one of selection,
which is the second principle of portfolios. 3)
Reflection; the process by which students explain

their learning. 4) Communication; in a sense, a
writing portfolio will communicate something
about the writer, values, and context in which the
writer has worked.

In addition, O’Malley and Pierce (1996) in
Rukmini (2017) mentioned the steps in assessing
students’ writing by using authentic assessment as
follows.
(1) Selecting a topic that is appropriate for the

students.
(2) Selecting rubrics that students can use.
(3) Sharing rubrics with the students.
(4) Identifying benchmark papers.
(5) Reviewing how students write not just what

they write.
(6) Having a conference with the students on

their writing results.

Writing of Opinion Essay

Writing an opinion essay requires students to give
various arguments or viewpoints on a topic that
will defend the thesis statement. Every single point
of argument or viewpoint must be supported by
evidence or data in the form of research, academic
paper, or other trustworthy sources.

Norquist 2015 in Setyowati (2016) defined
that an opinion essay contains the writer’s
opinions or attitudes to influence the readers.
Meanwhile, the stated evidence and data are to
convince the readers. Thus, the writer needs to
present a logical and valid opinion that is
supported by facts to support the main idea.
Therefore, to write an interesting opinion essay,
writers should determine a topic that is related to
daily life or things that have been widely known
through the mass media such as newspapers,
research, TV, online news, etc.

METHODOLOGY

The present study used descriptive qualitative
since this study concerned with the processes of a
portfolio assessment implementation. The subjects
of the study were 75 non-English department
students of the third semester in Universitas
Muhammadiyah Semarang.

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The data were collected through observation,
questionnaires, and tests. The observation was
conducted to know the students’ learning
problems in writing an opinion essay to express
their ideas and feelings. Meanwhile, the data from
the test of writing opinion essays measured the
students’ writing skills, and the questionnaire was
administered to know the students’ responses after
implementing portfolio assessment in the learning
process. The collected data from observation were
analyzed and interpreted qualitatively. Moreover,
the results of the test and questionnaire were
analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics
based on specific rubrics.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In the implementation of portfolio assessment, the
English lecturer has arranged the guidance on how
to embed portfolio assessment into instructional
programs (Gomez, 1999, in Afrianto, 2017).
Therefore, the following instructions were used as
the teaching strategies that lead students to take
responsibility for and reflect on their learning,
particularly in the writing of an opinion essay.

Designing the Process of Portfolio Assessment
Implementation

The design of this learning process was the
combination steps of the writing process and
portfolio assessment. In addition, this design was
also considered the results of observation. The
observation checklist showed that the students got
difficulties formulating ideas and conveying
opinions in a written form. Other results indicated
that the students did not know how to structure
their thoughts and data into writing opinion essays.

Furthermore, based on observation data, in
every single meeting, students show their progress
as the collections of the writing process. The
collections of writing process must be in
accordance with the structure of the opinion essay.
Thus, the lecturer's main role is to check, evaluate,
and give feedback to students’ writing process.

Before formulating ideas, students need to
read some reading topics or articles that are being
discussed by most people. They also might do
observations or even watch videos that contained
controversial issues. Those activities build their
critical thinking to formulate ideas by analyzing
the problems that existed there. After that, they try
to write their opinions into written form. Write
several interesting points got from the sources.

Table 1
Structure of Opinion Essay

Structure Information
Title Ask yourself whether you agree or disagree with the topic. Title contains one

complete sentence or a question.
Introduction Introduce your essay by giving a brief definition the topic and stating your thesis

statement.
Opinions/
arguments/ ideas

 State your reasons why you agree or disagree with the topic.
 Use phrases such as I think…, in my opinion…, the first thing to consider is…, as far as
I’m concerned…, etc.

Evidence/data/
example

Give the supporting evidence/ data/ example to back up your opinions.

Conclusion  Conclude the essay by restating your opinions with different words and give the
summary for two or three arguments.

 Use phrases such as to sum up…, in conclusion…, in spite of…, in order to…., etc.

In addition, to convey the opinions into written form, students should consider the components
of writing skill as follows.

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Table 2
Components for Assessing Writing Skill

Components Information
Content Content must be very in accordance with the title and it states the relevant

information about the subject of writing.
Organization The harmony of text must be very precise since it relates to the generic structure

and the sequences of the sentences.
Vocabulary The selection of vocabularies must be very appropriate by considering the use of

word choices, phrase, or idiom.
Language use The use of language considers the complex construction, tense, number, article,

pronoun, and preposition.
Mechanics The neat and easily readable are prioritized, and it considers the way of using

spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

After the structure of the opinion essay and
the rubric of the writing process were well
prepared, then the next was implementing

The Implementation of the Portfolio Assessment
in Writing Opinion Essay

In implementing portfolio assessment, the steps of
writing an opinion essay were obtained from
observation results. Therefore, implementing
portfolio assessment as a cumulative collection of
students’ work showed their work from beginning
to the end. It was also to encourage them to reflect
on their ideas, opinions, and thoughts and present
the supporting data in an opinion essay.

Formulating the title and Stating the
Introduction

After gathering information from some
sources, the students formulated a title as the topic
in their opinion essay. The title consisted of one
simple sentence that contained agree or disagree
point about the topic. Moreover, the title might be
a question form since it referred to a controversial
issue that fully attracted readers’ attention to read
the opinion thoroughly.

Meanwhile, to state the introduction,
students define the main idea that would be being
discussed. This part was a roadmap that gave a
hook to engage the readers with the topic. After
that, they stated one or two thesis statements to
emphasize the topic stated in the title. The thesis
statements were to prepare the readers to dip into

the essay. Further, the lecturer checked and gave
suggestions to every student.

Generating Ideas/Opinions

In generating ideas or opinions, the students
write several points from some sources of research
articles, newspapers, or videos of controversial
issues. The opinions should be objectives since the
problems had existed there.

The ideas stated their reasons why they
agree or disagree with the topic. Thus, they not
only write the information but also convey their
expressions to mind. The opinions consisted of
three to five points that were related to each other.
In other words, the students were allowed to give
criticism or praise to the topic. To make sure that
all students had clearly expressed their thoughts in
a precise manner to provide opinions to the issue
with reasonable logic, the lecturer gave comments
to their writing and all students collected these
opinions as to the process of writing.

Stating Evidence and Data

To support the opinions stated in the
generating ideas part, students gave a logical
explanation and showed relevant evidence or
examples and data. The logical explanation
contained facts taken from some sources.
Meanwhile, the data might be from the result of
analysis by experts or research articles. This part
was really fundamental since evidence and data
could be used as the validity of the opinion essay.

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Therefore, the lecturer controlled the students’
writing in terms of content and language use for
this part.

Drawing Conclusion

In the last part, students draw a conclusion
that wraps up their essay. This summary covered
all the opinions and data to easily understand the
arguments. In addition, the students restated their
opinions using different words. Further, the
lecturer checked all students’ work and made sure

that they had completed the writing according to
the structure of the opinion essay and the
components of writing.

Presenting the Opinion Essay

This phase asked students to present their
opinion essay on online social media as the
submission of portfolio assessment. Hence, the
lecturer did an evaluation and gave scores to the
students’ work.

Table 3
Students’ Score of Writing Opinion Essay

Components Mean Score
Content 83.12
Organization 83.33
Vocabulary 77.56
Language use 79.42
Mechanics 80.81

The table above showed that in terms of
content the students got 83.12, which was meant
they were able to formulate the title clearly and
state the relevant information about the topic of
the opinion essay. The term of organization,
students got 83.33. They could arrange the opinion
essay based on generic structure and the sequences
of the sentences cohesively. Further, they got 77.56
in terms of vocabulary. Most students used
appropriate word choices and phrases related to
their opinions in their essays. In terms of language
use, the students’ mean score was 79.42 and it was
meant that they were able to use tense, article,
pronoun, and preposition properly to state the
opinions and present the supporting data. The last,
the students got 80.81 in terms of mechanics. It was
meant that their opinion essay was neat and easy
to understand since it showed good spelling,
punctuation, and capitalization. The findings were
relevant to the study conducted by Setyowati (2016)
that opinion writing can improve a person's
thinking ability. Through writing, someone can
express the feelings and arguments that are
desired by the public. An opinion essay may also
contain someone's peeling opinion to resolve a
particular issue of an actual nature or controversy
with the aim to inform the readers.

Students’ Reflection towards the Implementation
of Portfolio Assessment

The process of implementing portfolio assessment
to teach the writing of opinion essay run
effectively. It was seen in the results of the
questionnaire. The students were enthusiastic to
write an opinion essay using portfolio assessment.
They showed their efforts, progress, and
achievement over a period of time during writing
an opinion essay. This learning activity could
increase their learning motivation and also give
them a sense of autonomous learning. It is relevant
to the previous study of portfolio assessment
conducted by Efendy et al. (2017) that this
assessment serves various collections of
information or documentation of students’ work
taken during the learning process within a certain
period of time and stored in a bundle
systematically.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the authentic assessment of portfolio
has been successfully implemented to teach the
writing of opinion essays. Its implementation
could help students to write opinion essays by
considering its structure and the components of

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335

writing. They could write an interesting opinion
essay by determining a topic that is related to daily
life or things that have been widely known
through the research article, mass media such as
newspaper and online news, and YouTube video
contained controversial issues. Further, they were
able to state their viewpoint and give supporting
data to back up the arguments clearly.

In other words, the portfolios can be easily
used to document students’ writing progress. It
shows a collection of the work of a student, as a
result, implementation of performance tasks to
achieve learning goals, or achieve competencies
specified in the curriculum. Thus, realizing the
writing process is very important to develop their
critical thinking, attitude skills, and their
expression towards something.

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