The student language portfolio
This curriculum specification sees language learners as language users, who play a key role in their own language learning journey. Over the three years of Junior Cycle
MFL
Modern Foreign Languages
, each student develops a student language portfolio (
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
). The purpose of this is to encourage, support and facilitate students in this journey to becoming lifelong, autonomous language learners.
The
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
is a broad collection of student work that provides students with the opportunity and space to set goals, to document and celebrate their achievement, and reflect on their growing communicative competence, language awareness, sociocultural knowledge and
Intercultural awareness
An awareness of the student’s own and other cultures, values and beliefs. It builds understanding, empathy, respect, and acceptance of other people and cultures by focusing on the development of specific knowledge, attitudes and skills.
. The
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
will include a broad range of items created by students, including written, spoken, and multi-modal texts to demonstrate their increasing competence in completing communicative tasks and activities in the target language across the three strands. In addition to target language texts, the
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
may include learning goals, student reflections and
Learning logs
provide a way for students to record what they are learning in a flexible way. They are sometimes also called learning journals and can be in paper format or digital format.
which will facilitate them in demonstrating their deepening awareness of the target language, the process of language learning and their awareness of themselves as language learners.
When students use language creatively for the purpose of communication and are allowed to take risks in a safe learning environment, they develop the confidence needed to become autonomous, lifelong language learners.
In second year, students will choose three pieces in a variety of media from their
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
and present them for assessment in the first Classroom-Based Assessment (
CBA
Classroom-Based Assessment
): Examples from my student language portfolio. While this
CBA
Classroom-Based Assessment
offers an opportunity to present a snapshot of their achievements to date, it is not intended to capture the entirety of the
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
, as students continue to develop their
SLP
Student Language Portfolio
throughout junior cycle and beyond. More information on
CBA
Classroom-Based Assessment
1 is available here.