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 Portfolio
Aims
• 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 Stuff
What 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?
Activities Create
CERTIFICATE Success Passport
with Biography
Materials Languages Dossier

Assessment Store
Select Publish
Tutor feedback
Assess
Course Portfolio
Store
Guide System

DIPLOMA 10 pts
Store
ACCREDITATION
Materials 10 pts
Other
Assessment
Comments Assess
Tutor feedback Communications
Experiences
Images Publish
E-portfolio for languages
course: Aims
The 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
course
Materials
• 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