View Content #17170

 By Mandy Lindgren, Associate Director

At CASLS, we believe that quality formative assessment helps provide students with the information they need to reflect on and take control of their own learning. That belief is at the heart of LinguaFolio Online, an e-portfolio documenting students' language proficiency and intercultural competence. As a student-centered portfolio, LinguaFolio Online has the power to first help students understand what they can do with the target language and then set goals, an important component to keep them motivated to continue their language study.

University of Oregon Chinese Flagship Scholar Katriel Perry has used Linguafolio Online in both a STARTALK summer program and the Chinese Flagship Program. 

"Usually, I just go to class, do homework, and repeat without giving much thought to whether or not I am improving," Katriel says of her language learning. Her experience is typical across many high school and college language programs in the country. Without an opportunity for reflection, students aren't able to see what they can do with the language they are studying and how far they have come in understanding another language and culture.

With the help of LinguaFolio, Katriel was able to see the progress she had made in learning Chinese since high school. "Initially, I had the bubbles that showed I was still working on a certain skill, but when going back and reflecting during the Flagship Program, I was able to confidently mark all the previous bubble bars as complete."

The process of understanding the skills students do have leads to perhaps the most powerful component of formative assessment: helping students help themselves. Once Katriel understood the skills she already had, she was able to set realistic goals. "It was great seeing the progress I had already made since tenth grade...When I used LinguaFolio Online, it felt sort of like a game. I was eager to check off the next task and fill in as many bars as possible. Although I just used the program in Chinese class, I believe it can be useful motivation and reflection tool in other courses."

Thanks to that motivation, Katriel plans to graduate the University of Oregon in 2017 with a major in Chinese. She may add a second major in social science with an emphasis in crime, law, and society. Her dream job is owning a rock climbing company in China and teaching others how to rock climb. 

In an effort to practice what we preach, we're also setting our own goals for LinguaFolio Online. We're hoping to make many improvements in 2014, and we'd love to hear what changes you'd like to see and how you're using formative assessment in your classroom. Email us at info@uoregon.edu or join our conversations on Twitter or Facebook.