The e-portfolio & the European Languages Portfolio

Inma Álvarez and Tita Beaven, Department of Languages,

The Open University

with María Luisa Pérez Cavana

Aims and functions of European Language PortfolioAims• to motivate learners;• to provide a record of the linguistic and cultural skills.

Functions• Pedagogic:

– Enhance the motivation of the learners– Incite and help learners to: reflect, plan, learn autonomously– Encourage learners to enhance their plurilingual and intercultural

experience• Documentation and reporting:

– plurilingual language proficiency and experiences in other languages

– to enable them to inform others in a detailed and internationally comparable manner

Overview of the ELP

The portfolio contains three parts.

1 Language Passport• The Language Passport is a record of students’

language skills, qualifications and experiences (in one or more languages, including their own). For the passport, the learner records their profile of language skills in relation to the Common European Framework, a résumé of language learning and intercultural experiences, and a record of certificates and diplomas.

Overview of the ELP

2 Language Biography• The Language Biography facilitates

planning, reflection and self-assessment of progress in a number of languages.

Overview of the ELP

3 Dossier• The Dossier offers the learner the

opportunity to document evidence and illustrate their achievements and experiences recorded in the Passport.

Why use it?

Particularly useful for:• Enabling learners to describe

their level of proficiency• Reflecting on partial

competence, and on plurilingualism

• Thinking about goals, and how long it will take to achieve them…

Why use it?Particularly useful for:• Reflecting on and sharing learning strategies

The e-portfolio for languages on My StuffWhat is it?

• An electronic version of the European Language Portfolio currently being developed as part of the e-portfolio project of the OU VLE.

• Will be available to all OU students and staff• Piloted in the Autumn 2007

• Plans for courses based around the production of the e-portfolio for languages

The e-portfolio project for the VLE

You can:•Create, store and organise your own learning content and artefacts • Reuse what is stored in different ways• Share with others

Slide form a presentation by Rachel Hawkins

My Stuff will include a series of templates for the completion of the Portfolio

Use Cases

The proposed e-Portfolio will be stand alone and have the following uses:

• Accreditation towards external standard (Council of Europe)

• Personal Development Planning / Continuing Professional Development (support personal and professional development)

• Programme based (linked to current Certificate and Diploma outcomes for languages)

ePortfolio for languages courses?

DIPLOMA

CERTIFICATE

Materials

Assessment

Tutor feedback

Portfolio System

Other

CommentsCommunications

ExperiencesImages

Activities Success

with Languages

Store

Materials

Assessment

Tutor feedback

Store

Create PassportBiography

Dossier

Store

Select Publish

10 pts ACCREDITATION

10 pts

Assess

Assess

Publish

CourseGuide

E-portfolio for languages course: AimsThe general aims of this portfolio course are to encourage

language learners:• to assess their proficiency in languages within the

Common European Framework of Reference and to produce their own Language Portfolio,

• to reflect and learn autonomously,• to enhance their intercultural experiences and carry out

reflective and developmental independent work, • to collect evidence of their levels of linguistic and

intercultural competence for themselves and others.• to improve their efficiency in language learning

E-portfolio for languages courseMaterials • The material will comprise the electronic ELP (currently under

development) and an electronic Course Guide. Students will use My Stuff, the VLE portfolio tool to build their portfolio, where they may post text, audio, photo, video files –as there will be some space limitation, there will also be the facility to put in links to relevant postings e.g. for photos and video clips.

Assessment• At the end of the course, specialist assessors will check the

completion and adequacy of evidence in the ELP, and there will be one TMA. There is no examination.

• By the end of the course, students will need to show ability:• to reflect on their language learning• to analyse own performance• devise action plan to achieve objectives• provide relevant evidence to show achievement

More information

• On the European Language Portfolio, the e-portfolio for languages, and other resources related to e-porfolios:

http://h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/105650

• OU VLE e-portfolio Design Blog:

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/guycarberry/?p=101

• Contact us: i.alvarez@open.ac.uk

m.c.beaven@open.ac.uk