Insights into the European portfolio for student teachers of languages (EPOSTL)
2007 saw the publication of the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) by the Council of Europe, the result of a project carried out under the auspices of the European Centre for Modern Languages. The central aim of this project was to produce a document which would contribute to the harmonisation of teacher education in Europe. The EPOSTL is a portfolio intended for students undergoing their initial teacher education which encourages them to reflect on the didactic knowledge and skills necessary to teach languages, helps them to self-assess their own didactic competences and enables them to monitor their progress and to record their experiences of teaching during the course of their teacher education. At its heart are 195 "I can" descriptors of didactic competences, which teachers strive to attain. The EPOSTL has since been translated into 13 languages and is used widely across Europe and beyond. The main aim of Insights into the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) is to explore important theoretical issues, an understanding of which is necessary to support the use of the EPOSTL in teacher education programmes. The first part of the book provides discussions of relevant theoretical areas: the role of reflection, learner autonomy and intercultural awareness. In the second part, the focus is on the relationship between the EPOSTL and other European publications, such as the Common European Framework of Reference and the European Profile for Language Teacher Education. Suggestions are made as to how they can be used together in teacher education. The final section provides case studies on the use of the EPOSTL in three European countries. Whether users of the EPOSTL or not, both teacher educators and their students will find that the discussions of this book provide important insights into key aspects of teacher education.
European Portfolio for Student - Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) and Insights from Student - Teachers’ Feedback
This study focuses on some issues: first it gives a general view on portfolios: their usage, form and content and then it focuses on a specific portfolio which is the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). This article gives some information about the teaching practice in “Aleksander Xhuvani” University in Elbasan, Albania and then it describes the implementation of EPOSTL in this university. It tries to highlight how EPOSTL helped most of the student-teachers who used it, and it tries to share the experience that the student-teachers and the researchers had while working with EPOSTL and how do student-teachers view the EPOSTL based on their feedback. Through interviews and two questionnaires, one at the beginning of initial teacher education and one after the teaching practice the authors try to answer the following questions: How beneficial is EPOSTL (illustrated with examples, ideas from student-teachers)? How independent do student-teachers feel while working with it? In which ways do student-teachers feel more confident? What is the role of the teachers and mentors regarding EPOSTL? Is there any change in the relation between student-teachers and their mentors resulting from the use of EPOSTL? How is EPOSTL helping the student-teachers change the way they evaluate and self-evaluate? Student-teachers of “A. Xhuvani” University, Elbasan, Albania, have been using EPOSTL for a few years and they bring some interesting and useful insights. EPOSTL is the basic source of training for student-teachers and their feedback helps to draw conclusions concerning the benefits and ways of using it in the future. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p71
Thrombus formation after aortic valvular replacement using Björk-Shiley valve occluding the right coronary orifice.
We describe a patient with unstable angina due to occlusion of the orifice of the right coronary artery by thrombus formation after aortic valvular replacement using a Björk-Shiley valve. After strict anticoagulant treatment, transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated disappearance of the thrombus formation around the orifice of the right coronary artery.