L & B: Your Prof-ELP, a modern online Language Learning Portfolio, has now entered the pilot phase. Who works with it and how long will the testing phase last?
Mónica Aznárez: The piloting is being carried out in May-June 2010. This follows a testing period by all the partner organizations that was completed in April. Each participating partner - from Greece, Poland, the UK, Sweden and Spain - is following a different strategy for the pilot phase, depending on the stakeholders identified in a previous phase of the project and on the particular needs of each country. The stakeholders identified in the project are basically employees and future employees, linguistic training providers, employment promoters, and Human Resources managers, who are now using the tool and reporting on it through a variety of questionnaires. The stakeholders’ views and ideas were already taken into account when designing the tool, but the feedback coming from the piloting will be basis of the final modifications and adaptations.
L & B: Unlike other ELPs developed so far, your solution also includes the employers’ and the language teachers’ perspectives. They can gain insight and make decisions on the information available in the ELP. Why is this so important?
Mónica Aznárez: The Professional Portfolio is a tool that belongs exclusively to the user, in this case employees or future employees. However, in the current employment context where foreign language skills have become strategic for companies, the Prof-ELP seeks to provide another option for use that, as you say, has not been considered in the design of ELPs for other areas to date: the possibility of it functioning as a useful tool for both employers and language-training providers. More precisely, we think that Human Resources managers planning the training for their employees, as well as the tutors providing this training, can benefit from it. In Spain, for example, the information that tutors have about their trainees’ linguistic skills, previous learning experiences, learning styles, etc. is often quite limited and based only on a “placement test”. This lack of information makes it more difficult to design and plan the training. Similarly, Human Resources managers don’t have much information about the staff’s foreign-language abilities and needs. We think Prof-ELP can be very informative, not only for planning the training but also throughout the whole learning process, which will consequently make it more effective. Of course, the participation of tutors and employers is controlled by the users, who can decide the level of access to their information to be made available.
L & B: Don’t employees or people looking for a job run a risk when revealing too much information about their foreign language skills? Is it advisable to demonstrate weaknesses? Examples show that many people in a recruitment phase tend to overestimate or to exaggerate their command of, for example, English, just to get a job.
Mónica Aznárez: We need to bear in mind that ProfELP is a European Language Portfolio, which is, above everything, a self-learning tool. It is very important that, even though - as I’ve just said - it is a tool that can be used to inform others, Prof-ELP is seen by users as a personal tool designed to help them in their learning process. From this point of view, there is no use in exaggerating one’s command of a language.
As I explained earlier, it’s true that Prof-ELP has an informative function for employers and future employers and that job seekers can use a section like the Passport as an attachment to their CVs, but this information shouldn’t be looked at as “objective” information. An ELP is not a substitute for a language test or certification because it comes from the reflections and the users’ own perceptions of their abilities, which can result in both overestimations and also underestimations from an objective point of view. The lack of “objectivity” is also a fact in CVs, especially in descriptions of linguistic proficiency. When you think about it, statements like “French speaking: good, French writing: very good” aren’t at all precise and are certainly relative.
The advantage of ProfELP is that it provides a more appropriate description of the user’s abilities through specific descriptors of professional linguistic skills. This enables an employer to gauge the kinds of job-related tasks the user thinks he or she can do in a foreign language. Finally, regarding the first question, similarly to what people do when writing a CV, users need to think whether it’s convenient for them to reveal certain information; that is, they need to decide whether they want to share their Passport with a future employer.
L & B: How can I - as an individual - derive the highest benefit from Prof-ELP?
Mónica Aznárez: It would depend on your situation, but in general, users can get the best of it if they see it as their companion in their language and intercultural learning process. They need to complete all sections of the tool in the first place, and they have to keep it updated. Of course, each individual should choose what suits him or her best when using the portfolio. If you work with a tutor, or if you are working for an employer who may be funding your linguistic training, you can get the highest benefit by sharing the appropriate sections of the portfolio with them. You can even use ProfELP as a communication tool with your tutor for planning and assessing your skills. But the most important thing is probably to be aware that the portfolio is a lifelong learning tool that has been designed to help you in your personal language-learning process as a professional and to allow you to easily record all your linguistic skills, experiences, objectives and progress.
L & B: What do people say about it? How have they responded to the tool?
Mónica Aznárez: At this stage, we can’t draw any conclusions about the users’ opinions because the tool has just been made available for the participating stakeholders. What we can say already is that there is a strong interest in the tool from all of them, especially from tutors and employees/future employees.
Thank you very much for your time Ms. Aznárez!
April 13th, 2010
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