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The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation

  • Federica Gori is language advisor and co-coordinator of ELP implementation at the Language Centre of the University of Trieste.

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Published/Copyright: February 18, 2014
Language Learning in Higher Education - Journal of the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS)
From the journal Language Learning in Higher Education - Journal of the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS) Volume 3 Issue 2

Abstract

Projects related to the European Language Portfolio (ELP) carried out at the Language Centre of the University of Trieste are concerned to examine whether and to what extent “can do” descriptors can be extended to courses in Languages for Specific Purposes. The project reported in this article had two aims. The first was to explore what is involved in transforming traditional course objectives into a “can do” format. We focused on courses in the Language of Tourism in the Economics Faculty (English and Spanish) and the German course for students of International Science and Diplomatic Relations. After determining which tasks were relevant to each course, we analysed which specific skills the students were expected to develop with reference to the proficiency levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Checklists of descriptors with examples and contexts of use were then presented to the students together with the official version of the CercleS version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP). Our second aim was to deal with the problem of continuity between language learning objectives at secondary school and university, and specifically to investigate how using the ELP can bring the two together. We carried out a survey of secondary school students who had worked with a checklist of descriptors for literary language, asking them about their perception of the ELP. Positive feedback confirmed that identifying and demonstrating the relevance of the ELP to students' academic or professional interests both enhances the perceived value of the ELP and leads to increased motivation for language learning.

Keywords: European Language Portfolio (ELP); Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP); “can do” descriptors; motivation; continuity in language learning

About the author

Federica Gori

Federica Gori is language advisor and co-coordinator of ELP implementation at the Language Centre of the University of Trieste.

Published Online: 2014-2-18
Published in Print: 2014-2-1

©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Narratives and accounts: “Post-crisis” narration in annual company reports
  3. Connectedness through a strong form of TBLT, classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and learning-oriented assessment
  4. Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course
  5. Oral communication in the framework of cognitive fluency: Developing and testing spoken Russian within the TORFL system
  6. First- and final-semester non-native students in an English-medium university: Judgments of their speech by university peers
  7. The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation
  8. Translating the CercleS European Language Portfolio into Portuguese for plurilingual development in a Community of Practice
  9. The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
  10. The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
  11. Mind the gap between form and function. Teaching pragmatics with the British sitcom in the foreign language classroom
  12. Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2013-0016
Keywords for this article
European Language Portfolio (ELP); Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP); “can do” descriptors; motivation; continuity in language learning

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Narratives and accounts: “Post-crisis” narration in annual company reports
  3. Connectedness through a strong form of TBLT, classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and learning-oriented assessment
  4. Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course
  5. Oral communication in the framework of cognitive fluency: Developing and testing spoken Russian within the TORFL system
  6. First- and final-semester non-native students in an English-medium university: Judgments of their speech by university peers
  7. The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation
  8. Translating the CercleS European Language Portfolio into Portuguese for plurilingual development in a Community of Practice
  9. The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
  10. The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
  11. Mind the gap between form and function. Teaching pragmatics with the British sitcom in the foreign language classroom
  12. Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
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