The European Language Portfolio in the State EFL Classroom Developing learner awareness and responsibility in foreign language learning in school
Αικατερίνη Τσακατούρα (BA in English Language & Literature) Εκπαιδευτικός αγγλικής στο 5 ο Δημοτικό Σχολείο Ηλιούπολης Ευδοκία Ρόκα (MEd. in TESOL) Εκπαιδευτικός αγγλικής και γαλλικής γλώσσας
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No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form except for teaching purposes in Greek State Schools with prior acknowledgement of the author/s.
Απαγορεύεται η αναδημοσίευση και γενικά η αναπαραγωγή του παρόντος έργου με οποιονδήποτε τρόπο - εκτός από τη χρήση του για εκπαιδευτικούς λόγους στα Ελληνικά Δημόσια Σχολεία μετά από προηγούμενη αναφορά στον συγγραφέα ή τους συγγραφείς.
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Contents
Page
Introduction
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1. What is the European Language Portfolio (ELP)?
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2. Key reference documents
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3. Advantages of portfolio assessment
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4. Disadvantages of portfolio assessment
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5. Introducing the ELP in the Greek State EFL classroom
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6. Aims and goals of the ELP
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7. Implementing the ELP in Greek primary education: an
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example 7.1 The Language Passport
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7.2 The Language Biography
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7.3 The Dossier
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Conclusion
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YouTube tutorials
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ELP Resources
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Bibliography
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Introduction Portfolios have been for quite a long time a standard form of assessment in architecture, design, and photography.
In the British educational
system, instructors have used writing folders for first-language writing for over 50 years while individual instructors in the US began to use portfolios in their classes in the early 1970s (Weigle, 2002).
A student portfolio is a systematic collection of student work and related material that depicts a student’s activities, accomplishments, and achievements in one or more school subjects. It outlines personal growth and achievement.
The collection should include evidence of student
reflection and self-evaluation, guidelines for selecting the portfolio contents, and criteria for judging the quality of the work (Venn, 2000).
We can talk about two types of portfolios, process and product ones. A process portfolio documents the stages of learning and provides a progressive record of student growth. A product portfolio demonstrates mastery of a learning task or a set of learning objectives and contains only the best work.
Teachers use process portfolios to help learners
identify learning goals, document progress over time, and demonstrate learning mastery. In general, teachers prefer to use process portfolios because they are ideal for documenting the stages that learners go through as they progress (Venn, 2000: 533).
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1. What is the European Language Portfolio (ELP)? The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was developed by the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe in order to support the development of learner autonomy, plurilingualism and intercultural awareness and competence; to allow users to record their language learning achievements and their experience of learning and using languages.
It is a document in which those who are learning or have learned one or more languages - whether at school or outside school - can record and reflect on their language learning and intercultural experiences.
Its main aims are:
to help learners give shape and coherence to their experience of learning and using languages other than their first language;
to motivate learners by acknowledging their efforts to extend and diversify their language skills at all levels;
to provide a record of the linguistic and cultural skills they have acquired (to be consulted, for example, when they are moving to a higher learning level or seeking employment at home or abroad).
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In an ELP all competence is valued, whether it was gained inside or outside formal education.
In addition:
The ELP is the property of the learner.
It is linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (users assess themselves in relation to the CEFR’s proficiency levels).
It conforms to a common set of Principles and Guidelines that have been approved by the Committee of Ministers to Member States concerning Modern Languages.
2. Key reference documents All ELP models conform to a set of Principles and Guidelines that specify:
the ELP’s essential features, for example its three parts: Language Passport, Language Biography, Dossier;
its explicit aims, notably to foster linguistic and cultural diversity, to promote intercultural learning, to support lifelong plurilingual learning, to develop learner autonomy, to provide a transparent and coherent means to record communicative competence (relating to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), which is recognisably European.
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The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated as CEFR, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries. It was put together by the Council of Europe as the main part of the project “Language Learning for European Citizenship” between 1989 and 1996. Its main aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing which applies to all languages in Europe.
In November 2001 a European Union Council Resolution
recommended using the CEFR to set up systems of validation of language ability.
The 6 reference levels are becoming widely accepted as the
European standard for grading an individual’s language proficiency.
It
describes in a comprehensive manner i)
the competences necessary for communication,
ii)
the related knowledge and skills, and
iii)
the situations and domains of communication.
The CEFR defines levels of attainment in different aspects of its descriptive scheme with illustrative descriptors scale.
The illustrative
scales of the CEFR have been supplemented by further scales and sets of descriptors that have been linked to those of the CEFR.
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3. Advantages of portfolio assessment
Promoting learner self-evaluation, reflection, and critical thinking.
Measuring performance based on genuine samples of student work.
Enabling teachers and students to share the responsibility for setting learning goals and for evaluating progress toward meeting those goals.
Giving students the opportunity to have extensive input into the learning process.
Facilitating cooperative learning activities, including peer evaluation and tutoring, cooperative learning groups, and peer conferencing.
Providing a process for structuring learning in stages.
Providing opportunities for students and teachers to discuss learning goals and the progress toward those goals in structured and unstructured conferences.
The most important benefit of portfolio assessment is its increased validity and authenticity over timed classroom tests (Weigle, 2002).
Compared to timed classroom tests, portfolio assessment is clearly more interactive: collecting, selecting, and arranging the portfolio contents engages the learner more personally and this can be motivating (Weigle, 2002).
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4. Disadvantages of portfolio assessment
Requiring extra time to plan an assessment system and conduct the assessment.
Gathering all of the necessary data and work samples can make portfolios bulky and difficult to manage.
Developing a systematic and deliberate management system is difficult, but this step is necessary in order to make portfolios more than a random collection of student work.
Scoring portfolios involves the extensive use of subjective evaluation procedures such as rating scales and professional judgment, and this limits reliability.
“They are time and labor intensive for teachers and students alike” (Weigle, 2002: 210).
5. Introducing the ELP in the Greek State EFL classroom The European Language Portfolio is a personal document of a learner. In this document learners of all ages can record their language learning and cultural experiences at school or outside school.
There is not a single ELP portfolio; in fact, there is a huge variety of different portfolios made for different languages and different target
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and age groups. Between 2001 and 2010, 118 ELP models were validated and accredited by the Council of Europe.
In Greece, there are 2
validated models: the “European Language Portfolio for learners aged 12 to 15 in Greece” (accreditation number 43.2003) and the “Model for Primary Education (young learners aged 9 to 12) (accreditation number 110.2010) (Bompolou, 2012).
At this point, there is a reason why we should refer briefly to the two official policy documents defining the curriculum for the teaching and learning of English and other foreign languages within the compulsory nine-year education in Greece. These are a) the recently produced by the Research Centre for Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment (RCeL) ‘Integrated Curriculum for Foreign Languages’ (ΕΠΣ-ΞΓ) already piloted in 68 Junior High Schools all over Greece and b) the ‘CrossCurricular/Thematic Framework’ (ΔΕΠΠΣ-ΑΠΣ).
According to the
Cross-Curricular/Thematic Framework for Foreign Language Teaching from 4th grade primary to 3rd grade Junior High (Pedagogical Institute, 2003: 381-382), assessment in the EFL class should take into account the educational aims and objectives as well as learners’ performance. Apart from objective or subjective, free or guided testing techniques, teachers ought to assess learner progress alternatively through communicative activities, projects, learner portfolios, observation, self- and peerassessment, role-plays, drama, storytelling, and interaction between curriculum stakeholders.
The recommended steps in the implementation of the ELP are as follows:
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In the beginning, it is important that the teacher negotiates with learners how they will implement the portfolios in the classroom. Portfolios should be kept in an accessible place inside the classroom so that learners can review and update them easily.
The teacher should
explain that the European Language Portfolio is a personal document consisting of 3 parts: A language passport
A language biography
A dossier
Here the language
The biography helps
In this part of the ELP
learner can summarise
the learner to set
the learner can keep
his/her linguistic and
learning targets, to
samples of his/her
cultural identity,
record and reflect on
work in the language(s)
language qualifications, language learning and on he/she has learnt or is experience of using
intercultural
learning.
different languages and experiences and contacts with different regularly assess cultures.
progress.
If the purpose of the portfolio is to assess learner progress, the teacher should include learner work over time as evidence of learner growth; in this case, we talk about a ‘progress portfolio’ (Weigle, 2002: 214).
First, the teacher should introduce the learners to the ELP as an award or encouragement for their efforts in order to create positive expectations from the learners.
Learners start by filling in some
personal information and sticking their photographs. Then, they become
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exposed for the first time to the self-assessment grid referring to the 4 skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).
Secondly, EFL teachers should point out and connect parts of the curriculum or coursebook to the self-assessment grid as they move along the ELP: e.g. A1 learners in the Greek 4th grade primary have learned to talk about what there is in their neighbourhood using simple language (“My Language Biography”, p. 29 ~ Pupil’s book, Unit 3, pp. 38-39). Connecting the curriculum or coursebook to the ELP will give learners, and consequently parents, a sense of achievement as the time they have dedicated to learning English in state school is worthwhile.
Then, the teacher the teacher should develop evaluation procedures for keeping track of the portfolio contents and for grading the portfolio. A good idea would be for the teacher to dedicate at least a teaching hour per week in which learners would review their work and discuss their progress. These ‘conferences’ would encourage more reflective teaching and learning (Venn, 2000: 540).
6. Aims and goals of the ELP The Council of Europe’s European Language Portfolio project aims at providing individuals from member-states ‘with a record of their language learning
experiences
and
accomplishments”
(Weigle,
2002:
203). 12
Individual member-states have produced their own models for portfolios, but always in accordance with the levels of language proficiency outlined in the CEFR.
Its goals are 1) to raise awareness of and promote the
linguistic heritage of Europe; 2) motivate all European citizens to learn languages, including those less widely used, and 3) support lifelong language learning as a way of responding to economic, social and cultural changes in Europe (Council of Europe, 2000).
Potential purposes of portfolio assessment could be evaluating individual learner
progress
and
accomplishment,
diagnosing
learners’
needs,
encouraging reflective practice at the school and classroom level, encouraging teacher efficacy and supporting teachers’ professional development, encouraging learner efficacy, and communicating with parents (Weigle, 2002).
“Teachers planning to use portfolios in their classrooms must be prepared to devote sufficient time to introducing the concept of portfolios to their students” and to discussing the procedures involved in assembling them. They must also be prepared to spend class time revising work for the portfolio and giving feedback to learners whenever needed (Weigle, 2002: 228).
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7. Implementing the ELP in Greek primary education: an example First of all you have to explain to your pupils what the ELP is, the parts it consists of, and how useful it will be for them. Pupils at the age of 9-12 do not understand theoretical notions like learner autonomy and the metacognitive process so you had better not spend time explaining the theoretical background.
After the implementation of the portfolio in
English classes they will be able to understand these notions. But at the beginning you should try to motivate them by promising that the portfolio classes will be very enjoyable and rewarding for them.
The first step is to ask them to have a look at the portfolio, write their names and their schools on its cover.
You have to tell them that it
consists of three sections: i)
The Language Passport,
ii)
The Language Biography,
iii)
The Dossier.
7.1 The Language Passport First, you start with the Language Passport. You read the introduction and you explain briefly some difficult concepts like ‘intercultural experiences’ and ‘multilingualism’.
Then you ask them to complete the
next page with their personal information and stick their photos on it. You ask them to write the date of your first portfolio class and you decide together with them how often you will work on the portfolio. It’s 14
important to work on the ELP on a fixed day of the week, e.g. on Thursdays every week or every two weeks. You ask them to store their portfolios in the bookcase of their classroom as it is inconvenient and purposeless to take them home.
In the next lesson, you go to page 2 of the language passport section and ask your students to complete the information about their mother tongue, the languages they speak at home as well as the languages they learn at school. They complete the languages they learn at each grade of primary school. In order to create the linguistic profile of their class you give them the “bee activity” (http://eltaaelp.wikispaces.com/). As you will see, we try to make the portfolio classes enjoyable by giving them activities that are interactive and involve all the students. When they have finished this activity, you can make the linguistic profile of your class and stick it on a board in the classroom. This activity will take up to two teaching hours.
The next step is to explain the levels on page 11. Pupils at this age tend to confuse the levels with the classes they attend either at school or at private English language schools, so you have to help them understand the difference by giving them examples.
For example, you can ask simple
questions in English like “How old are you?”, “Have you got any brothers or sisters?”, “What are their names?” You can give answers to them, then you are in level A1. You can get help if you use the CEFR assessment grid and the A1/A2 examples (http://eltaaelp.wikispaces.com/).
You can
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tell them that by the end of the 6th grade they are expected to be at A2 level and they could possibly sit for the KPG exam for this level.
7.2 The Language Biography You go to page 2 and you ask them to think about a foreign film, a football team, a TV series, actors, actresses, singers, monuments or anything else they particularly like. You can do the sample activity 2 with the attached graphic organizer (ice-cream activity: http://eltaaelp.wikispaces.com/). This activity will probably take up to two or three portfolio classes because pupils will have to translate all the information they have about their favorites and they need your help.
After finishing this activity, you will continue by working on page 6 of the language biography section “My intercultural experiences”. As this term may sound onerous to learners, you have to tell them that an ‘intercultural experience’ is something they may do in their everyday lives, e.g. talking to a classmate from another country and learn about his/her way of life. You can use the questionnaire “My intercultural experiences” or you can make a simpler one based on this so that your learners will be able to complete pages 6, 7, 8, 9 and then pages 12-15.
Now you can start implementing the portfolio in your everyday lessons. What you have to do is to choose an activity from the book and make a worksheet on it, e.g. An air pocket - 6th grade Pupil’s book, page 42 16
Listening
or
Unit
5:
letter
writing-
page
50
(http://eltaaelp.wikispaces.com/). Of course, you can use the activities from the pupil’s books or you can make your own. After finishing the activity, you can give them the worksheet with the descriptors and ask them to fill it in.
The pupils can now understand how well they can
respond to each task and assess themselves. You have to help them and make clear that they assess themselves and this does not have to do with your assessment and marking. After using these worksheets and making sure that your learners are familiar with this process, you could possibly talk to them about the notions of self-assessment and learner autonomy.
The next part of the portfolio is to help them understand how they learn. For this reason, you can give them worksheets with an evaluation of the activities they do in class and decide which activities make them learn better. At this stage, you can ask them to read the sentences on page 16 and think about the way they learn.
You could possibly give it in the Greek language because translating is time consuming.
Learners can now complete pages 17 and 18.
It is
important to expose your pupils to a variety of activities taking into consideration all the types of learners. All these will be implemented in your everyday classes, not only in your portfolio classes. The use of the portfolio will gradually be incorporated in your classes because your pupils will be familiar with the process.
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On page 19 our team decided to make some changes and substitute the languages with qualitative descriptors. 1. Με μεγάλη άνεση 2. Αρκετά καλά 3. Μέτρια 4. Με μεγάλη δυσκολία 5. Το δικό μας σχόλιο We did this because pupils usually use the portfolio only for one language and it is quite difficult to collaborate with the French or German teacher as they teach in two or three schools and they do not have enough to time to work on it. They can now complete the respective pages for their level A1 or A2 on their personal methods of learning.
It would be better to complete these pages towards the end of each trimester and ask learners to consider all the activities they had carried out during the semester, review the descriptors, read and reflect on them and on their aims. They have to account for their self assessment by giving examples of practices they have carried out related to the descriptors and how they have managed to improve their skills or what they are planning to do in the future.
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7.3 The Dossier In the third part, pupils can describe what they can do in the foreign language and tuck their composition sheets or their written work in general, into the ELP folder. If it is a project or another kind of activity, they can just describe what they did or put a photo of it. You can take a photo of their projects, or photocopy them and ask them to tuck it into the Dossier section.
In the second part, they can put something that shows their contact with other countries e.g. tickets from a concert, a leaflet from a museum they have visited, a recipe they liked from a foreign country, etc. In the third part they can photocopy a certificate they have in a foreign language.
Conclusion The ELP focuses on and provides information on learners’ view of their own language learning as well as the strategies they apply in the various skills. To be used actively and interactively, the portfolio must be “an integral part of instruction and instructional planning” (Genesee & Upshur, 2002: 99).
The increase in learner autonomy which the ELP promotes “does not in any way imply the diminishing role of the teacher.
Instead, it poses
challenges for learners and teachers alike: for both it may represent a 19
departure from the familiar transmission model of education, requiring them to rethink and to adapt to new roles in the learning process.” (Dalziel, 2009: 75)
Portfolios
are
particularly
useful
in
the
assessment
of
learner
achievement because “they provide a continuous record of students’ language development that can be shared with others” (Genesee & Upshur, 2002: 99).
YouTube tutorials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXacV3Yz-60 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j7YKB4YdmU
ELP Resources The European Language Portfolio: http://eltaaelpwikispaces.com
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Bibliography Bompolou, E. (2012). “Prospects of Using the European Language Portfolio as Pedagogical and Assessment Tool in Greek Schools”. Research Papers
in Language Teaching and Learning. Vol. 3, No. 1, February 2012, 189‐199.
Council of Europe (2011). ‘European Language Portfolio’. Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/CADRE1_EN.asp
Dalziel, F. (2009). The European English Portfolio and Teacher Education in: Federica Gori (a cura di) “Il Portfolio Europeo delle Lingue nell’Università italiana: studenti e autonomia”, Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2009, 75-82.
Genesee, F. & Upshur, J. (1996). Classroom-Based Evaluation in Second
Language Education. Cambridge: CUP.
Little, D. (2002). “The European Language Portfolio: structure, origins, implementation and challenges”. Language Teaching, 35, 182-189.
Pedagogical Institute (2003). ‘Cross-Curricular/Thematic Framework’. Retrieved from http://www.pi-schools.gr/programs/depps/
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Research Centre for Language Teaching Testing and Assessment (RCeL) (2011). ‘Integrated Curriculum for Foreign Languages’.
Retrieved from
http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/xenesglosses/sps.htm
Venn, J. J. (2000). Assessing students with special needs (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing Writing. New York: CUP.
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