Advantages and disadvantages of using the ELP

Taking into account my personal teaching context, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of using the ELP with my groups?

First of answering that question, we need to reflect on what a European Language Portfolio (ELP) is. The Council of Europe introduced the European Language Portfolio as “a means of helping language learners to keep track of their language learning as it happens and record their language learning achievements and their experience of using other languages and encountering other cultures”.

According to the European Centre for Modern Languages, using this resource has many advantages for the learners, the teachers and the policy-makers.

A learner who uses the ELP is all the time conscious of his own learning process in an autonomous way. He can organize his knowledges and self evaluates his own learning. That is why learning becomes more efficient and effective and, at the same time, very motivating.

The ELP also can be very interesting for teachers because they can benefit from the two functions of it (Little, 2002). In its reporting function, it presents additional information of the student language learning experience. This helps reporting language learning achievement in an internationally transparent manner. In its pedagogical function the ELP is engaging learners to share responsibility for the learning process, to think critically when they plan, monitor and evaluate their learning and to develop appropriate target language use.

At last, the ELP is a good tool also for policy-makers because it promotes linguistic and cultural diversity in classrooms, schools and societies. And therefore, the ELP can be an appropriate key in promoting democratic citizenship.


Nevertheless, the use of ELP in classroom can also have some disadvantages. For instance, in Primary school pupils maybe have difficulties to understand the descriptors to self-assess their learning process because it is too abstract to them. Another disadvantage could be that students cannot be honest with their own evaluation because is easier to get a good mark in their learning abilities and skills. If we look through teachers’ perspective, we should understand that implementing the ELP could demand an extra effort in order to learn how to apply it in a correct way in their classes.


In conclusion, the ELP has more advantages than disadvantages. That is why it is an effective tool to develop linguistic and cultural competences of students, at the same time that it is an useful instrument for children and teachers in order to support the evaluation of their learning process.


Before finishing, I’d like to share a video of How We Succeed in Language Teaching by David Little, which is about some of the advantages explained above. I hope it helps you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFqWdEdq9s



Bibliography:


http://www.coe.int/en/web/portfolio

http://elp.ecml.at/UsingtheELP/tabid/2323/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

Little, D. (2002). The European Language Portfolio: structure, origins, implementation and challenges. Language Teaching, 35, pp 182-189.