THE PORTFOLIO

First term
Week 3
Warm up: Kahoot questionnaire to check knowledge
MAIN ACTIVITY: DEFINICIÓN DE UN PORTFOLIO

What are Language Portfolios?

They are a collection of individual students’ work put together in a file or
ring binder. They belong to the student and can be updated as language
learning continues by adding to and taking away pieces of work.
EXAMPLE:
BRIEF HISTORY OF EUROPEAN PORTFOLIOS

A brief history of European Language Portfolios (ELP)

Teachers and learners have been working with Language
Portfolios since the mid 1990s, and between 1998 and 2000
various ELP models were piloted in Europe.

There has been much literature written about them and there are
lots of interesting examples. In the year 2001, which was also
the European Year of Languages, The Council of Europe
launched ELPs throughout Europe.

Many adult and young learner course books now contain

features of language portfolios such as passport activities and
learner checklists while many classrooms have learner
portfolios stored on their shelves.
STRUCTURE
WHAT COULD BE THE ADVANTAGES OF USING THEM?

Esta foto de Autor desconocido está bajo licencia CC BY

ADVANTAGES

 They enhance learners’ motivation by providing something personal and tangible

which they can build up and develop over the course.
 They help learners to reflect on their own learning and achievement by asking them
to make choices, review, compare and organize their own work.
 They enable learners to look for new cultural experiences by opening their eyes to
the possibilities available to them. Part of portfolio work involves ‘show and tell’
sessions where learners talk about their experiences and look at other portfolios.
 From a teacher’s point of view, portfolios lead to greater learner autonomy since
they involve self assessment, learner responsibility and parent involvement.
 Learners can work in their own time on different sections of the LP.
WHAT COULD BE THE DISADVANTAGES?
DISADVANTAGES

• First of all with large groups the storage of portfolios can be

problematic. Of course, learners can look after them
themselves but this always means there are lots of students
who forget or lose their portfolio. It is better to store them in
class and only allow them home occasionally throughout the
year. In this way it means they are readily at hand for parent
interviews and of course class time.

• Secondly, as a teacher portfolios involve the provision of the

folder and the organization of the contents, which can be
quite time consuming.
PRACTICE: STARTING YOUR OWN PORTFOLIO - SIMULATION
REFERENCES:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/portfolios-elt
Further reading
Peter Lenz & Gunther Schneider: European Language Portfolios.
www.coe.int/portfolio
Council of Europe Standard (C.O.E.): What your language level means.

Malisa Iturain, Teacher British Council YL Centre, Barcelona

This Article was first published in 2007
Formando líderes para la construcción de un
nuevo país en paz