Before I begin discussing my personal experience creating the e-ELP I feel it is only fitting to place my discussion in context within the framework of the European Language Portfolio. The e-ELP project “aims at the implementation and use of a digital European Language Portfolio (ELP).” On the website for this project a few important points are clearly identified:
1. “The data base underlying the digital ELP is an important instrument to get longitudinal information on the language learning process. This may bring considerable pedagogical innovations to evaluation.
2. A digital ELP allows [us] to experiment [with] new forms of assessment based on a dynamic – not static – concept of language learning.
3. The implication in terms of ODL and ICT is that the Institution could better monitor the students’ learning process in order to improve it; teachers could easily have access to students’ in-progress ELPs; students would be constantly stimulated to think about their learning (made visible by the digital ELP, that thus fosters their learning autonomy and active consciousness.”
(eelp.gap.it/about.asp#pedag)
(eelp.gap.it/about.asp#pedag)
So what did I learn from the e-ELP experience?
Completing the e-ELP in French, the only language I have ever had prolonged experience with that is not my mother tongue, was incredibly daunting. There was an irrational fear of “judgement” that plagued the whole process for me (although I do not know who I felt would judge me for my answers as there was no one but me and my computer in the room). I felt that if I somehow admitted I was not as proficient in the language as I should be that I would be a failure. This initial reaction to the e-ELP seemed interesting to me and provided me with a new-found respect for all those people who ever have to write a language proficiency test or are required to answer a similar questionnaire about their level of understanding in a given language.
As a result of completing my e-ELP I have come to realize that to be “literate” in a certain language can mean a variety of different things. For example, when listening to French I can certainly get the gist of what is being said and glean meaning from a conversation if I understand the context in which it is given. However, to read the language or to understand a complex lecture would prove incredibly difficult for me. I realized that asking someone if they are literate in a specific language is not an easy question to answer: Can you understand a simple conversation? Can you understand a lecture? Can you understand a television broadcast? Do you need to hear something several times to understand it? Do you need it to be spoken slower? Do you need something to be written down? All of a sudden the phrase “to be literate” is far more complex than I originally anticipated.
The e-ELP has impacted the way I view language learning in that I now understand that this sort of learning is not necessarily done in a systematic way. For example, a student may be proficient in conversational French but not have the slightest idea how to write a grammatically correct sentence. By creating the e-ELP the language learner can begin to understand where their strengths are in understanding a language and also which areas they will need to work on in the future. The e-ELP also elucidates that learning a language is an incredibly personal and complicated process that requires not only an understanding of the language itself but also the cultural backdrop of a language to be able to meaningfully communicate with the people around them. The next time I see an English Language Learner struggling to write English but able to conduct a conversation in my classroom…this educator will certainly think twice about the complexity of the students’ learning process!
Referemces:
EU/SocratesMinerva Action. (2005). ELP: European Language Portfolio. http://eelp.gap.it/.
EU/SocratesMinerva Action. (2005). ELP: European Language Portfolio. http://eelp.gap.it/.
