THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO WITH MY GROUP

The ELP has been developed for use with language learners of different ages, different countries, different contexts and different purposes. The ELP is a personal document of a learner. In this document learners of all ages can record their language learning and cultural experience at school or outside school. A learner using the ELP takes over ownership of his learning process. He develops strategies to plan, monitor and evaluate his own learning. Thus learning it becomes more efficient and effective and very motivating.

The ELP has two functions: reporting and pedagogical.

·         Reporting because it shows the abilities in relation to foreign languages. Its purpose is not replacing the official certificates, but to supplement them by presenting additional information.

·         Pedagogical because it's also intended to be used as a means of making the language learning process more transparent to learners, helping them to develop their capacity for reflection, self-assessment and for assume more and more responsibility for their own learning.

So, the ELP is designed to support these four aims of the Council of Europe’s key political:

·         The preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity.

·         The promotion of linguistic and cultural tolerance.

·         The promotion of plurilingualism.

·         Education for democratic citizenship. 

All this that I have explained is based on the advantages that have the European language portfolio.

The disadvantages that could have are:

·         If you want to use the ELP in your class or your school, you have to train teachers and students in order to use it correctly.

·         It isn't suitable for all levels, so you have to adapt it to the characteristics of your pupil’s level.

·         The students could be frustrated if they do the same effort but their progress is not as big as their classmate’s progress. Comparisons are awful.

Finally to give the end to this post I’m going to do my conclusion about this European Language Portfolio, is a very effective and positive tool for children because they can evaluate their own learning so this motivate them because they see their progress, also helps them to record their personal language experience and achieve personal goals.

Personally I don’t think this ELP have any disadvantages because is a good tool for the students. Maybe teachers find it so difficult taking charge of the levels and do it at class is a little bit difficult because of time and usually there are a large number of students at class.