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Use of ePortfolios in EAP classes to facilitate self-efficacy through the improvement of creative, organizational, reflective, revision and technological skills

  • Kathleen Mitchell , Fergus O’Dwyer EMAIL logo and Laoise Sutton
Published/Copyright: October 15, 2025
Language Learning in Higher Education
From the journal Language Learning in Higher Education Volume 15 Issue 2

Abstract

EPortfolios have long been associated with encouraging learners to develop learner autonomy by helping them document and reflect on their learning processes and developing suitable learning strategies. While there is plentiful research in this area, it is still unclear the specific ways in which learners feel that maintaining an ePortfolio can help develop their reflective practices, and implementation of learning strategies. To address this, we surveyed and interviewed learners on an International Foundation Programme regarding their year-long use of ePortfolio practices to ascertain which skills and abilities they felt they developed, and in what ways this was of use to them in their current and future learning journey. The results section synthesizes survey and interview data to represent the students’ voices and their feelings regarding the creation and maintenance of an ePortfolio, and the development of skills. The thematic analysis of the data suggests that students feel that the use of an ePortfolio is challenging but that it facilitates self-efficacy through the improvement of creative, organizational, reflective, revision and technological skills. The discussion and conclusion present ideas about how these practices can be developed in the future, and how other practitioners may decide to implement an ePortfolio in their own context.

Keywords: English for academic purposes (EAP); ePortfolios; learner autonomy; reflection; self-efficacy
Corresponding author: Fergus O’Dwyer, Marino Institute of Education (an associated college of Trinity College, the University of Dublin), Dublin, Ireland, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the participants for their time and to acknowledge the support and advice of Dr. Thomas Garavan while drafting the article.

Appendix

List of Focus Group questions.

  1. What challenges did you face personally creating your ePortfolio?

  2. Could you tell me anything you learned about your own learning from doing the ePortfolio?

  3. Did you find doing the ePortfolio a useful experience? If yes, why? If no, why not?

  4. What skills do you feel you made use of compiling your ePortfolio? Do you feel you developed or gained any new skills? Are these skills ones you think could benefit you going forward in your university studies?

  5. What did you like and not like about working on your ePortfolio?

  6. How did you create your ePortfolio? What did you choose to include and exclude from your ePortfolio? Why do you think you approached it in this way?

  7. How useful do you think the ePortfolio was as a means of reflecting on your studies? In what ways? Was there anything did you not find useful? How?

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Received: 2025-03-19
Accepted: 2025-09-09
Published Online: 2025-10-15
Published in Print: 2025-10-27

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. 10.1515/cercles-2025-frontmatter2
  2. Introduction
  3. Language learning across cultures and continents: exploring best practices of dialogue, collaboration and innovation
  4. Research Articles
  5. Students’ perceptions of a sense of belonging in Language Centre courses – What role do teachers play?
  6. Use of ePortfolios in EAP classes to facilitate self-efficacy through the improvement of creative, organizational, reflective, revision and technological skills
  7. Boosting learner autonomy through a learner diary: a case study in an intermediate Korean language class
  8. Examining the (in)accuracies and challenges when rating students’ L2 listening notes
  9. The relationship between English Medium Instruction and motivation: a systematised review
  10. Generative AI in teaching academic writing: guiding students to make informed and ethical choices
  11. Developing writing skills and feedback in foreign language education with chatGPT: a multilingual perspective
  12. Activity Reports
  13. Fostering sustainability literacy and action through language education: perspectives and practices across regions
  14. Receptive communication skills to support inclusive learning in the multilingual classroom: a workshop for university teaching staff
  15. The challenge of LSP in languages other than English: adapting a language-neutral framework for Japanese
  16. Promoting autonomous learning amongst Chinese learners of Japanese – introducing flipped learning and learner portfolios
https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2025-0024
Keywords for this article
English for academic purposes (EAP); ePortfolios; learner autonomy; reflection; self-efficacy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. 10.1515/cercles-2025-frontmatter2
  2. Introduction
  3. Language learning across cultures and continents: exploring best practices of dialogue, collaboration and innovation
  4. Research Articles
  5. Students’ perceptions of a sense of belonging in Language Centre courses – What role do teachers play?
  6. Use of ePortfolios in EAP classes to facilitate self-efficacy through the improvement of creative, organizational, reflective, revision and technological skills
  7. Boosting learner autonomy through a learner diary: a case study in an intermediate Korean language class
  8. Examining the (in)accuracies and challenges when rating students’ L2 listening notes
  9. The relationship between English Medium Instruction and motivation: a systematised review
  10. Generative AI in teaching academic writing: guiding students to make informed and ethical choices
  11. Developing writing skills and feedback in foreign language education with chatGPT: a multilingual perspective
  12. Activity Reports
  13. Fostering sustainability literacy and action through language education: perspectives and practices across regions
  14. Receptive communication skills to support inclusive learning in the multilingual classroom: a workshop for university teaching staff
  15. The challenge of LSP in languages other than English: adapting a language-neutral framework for Japanese
  16. Promoting autonomous learning amongst Chinese learners of Japanese – introducing flipped learning and learner portfolios
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