European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) dokumentua  2007an eman zuen argitara Europako Kontseiluak. Izenak dioen bezalaxe, hizkuntza-irakaslegaiei dago zuzendua, eta autobaluazio-estrategia gisa erabiliz, izandako esperientziak eta horien gaineko hausnarketak biltzeko aukera eskaintzen du.

This document was produced within the framework of the ECML project «From Profile to Portfolio: A Framework for Reflection in Language Teacher Education».

What is the EPOSTL?

The European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) is a document for students undergoing initial teacher education. It will encourage you to reflect on your didactic knowledge and skills necessary to teach languages, help you to assess your own didactic competences and enable you to monitor your progress and to record your experiences of teaching during the course of your teacher education.

Main aims

1. To encourage you to reflect on the competences a teacher strives to attain and on the underlying knowledge which feeds these competences.
2. To help prepare you for your future profession in a variety of teaching contexts.
3. To promote discussion between you and your peers and between you and your teacher educators and mentors.
4. To facilitate self-assessment of your developing competence.
5. To provide an instrument which helps chart progress.

Contents of the EPOSTL

The EPOSTL contains the following sections:

• A personal statement section to help you, at the beginning of your teacher education, to reflect on general questions related to teaching.
• A self-assessment section, consisting of ‘can-do’ descriptors, to facilitate reflection and self-assessment.
• A dossier, in which you can make the outcome of your self-assessment transparent, to provide evidence of progress and to record examples of work relevant to teaching.
• A glossary of the most important terms relating to language learning and teaching used in the EPOSTL.
• An index of terms used in the descriptors.
• A users’ guide which gives detailed information about the EPOSTL.

The self-assessment descriptors

At the heart of the EPOSTL are the 193 descriptors of competences related to language teaching which comprise the self-assessment section. These descriptors may be regarded as a set of core competences which language teachers should strive to attain. It should be noted that the descriptors are aimed at future school teachers in secondary education (ages 10 – 18), teaching general language. Other descriptors might be needed for other contexts; for example, for primary school teachers (i.e. young learners), for CLIL, for adult education etc.