Encouraging reflective practice through learning portfolios in an authentic online foreign language learning environment

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a research study that investigated foreign language student engagement in reflective practice through reflective portfolios. Over the course of one academic semester, students in an Italian as a foreign language course at an Australian university and selected target language native speaker mentors interacted and collaborated with each other in blended learning mode with the aim of completing two situated and authentic tasks designed according to an authentic learning framework. As part of the project, students wrote their observations on the progress of their collaborative work in a reflective portfolio and participated in individual and guided focus group interviews. The findings suggest that the opportunity to contribute their thoughts in writing in reflective portfolios encouraged students to reflect on their own individual learning processes and to engage in a process of collective reflection and collaborative problem solving.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning portfolios
• reflective writing
• blended learning
• situated and authentic learning
• collaborative learning
• design-based research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Pais Marden

M. Pais Marden is a Lecturer in Italian at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Mariolina’s research focuses on online communities of learners and the use authentic and situated tasks in second language acquisition. Her PhD investigated the development and implementation of an online community of foreign language learners through the use of authentic collaborative tasks using design-based research. Email: [email protected]

Jan Herrington

Jan Herrington is Emeritus Professor of Education at Murdoch University, Western Australia. Jan’s research has focused on authentic learning, e-learning, mobile learning, online learning environments, and opportunities for Indigenous learning through technology. She is a former Fulbright Scholar. Email: [email protected]