The ELP throughout time. Background motivation, growing experience, current beliefs

Abstract: This article offers an overview of research strategies currently in use at the Language Centre of the University of Calabria and aimed at observing university students’ learning habits when they are asked to use the European Language Portfolio during language courses. We present evidence of how experimental groups of students belonging to different fields of study (e. g. business administration, engineering, humanities, natural sciences, social-political science) interact with the ELP toolkit. Variables are considered such as students’ motivation and learning styles, which may be affected by different approaches to study in different academic disciplines. We hypothesize that the experimental groups will outperform the control group, made up of students who will not be using the ELP. The global objective of the research stems from the research team’s belief that the ELP offers strong and effective support when teachers wish to encourage language learners to develop reflective learning and participative autonomy.