as developmental and/or showcase portfolio
Andrea Ghoneim-Rosenauer (educational worker, Vienna)
Email: andrea.ghoneim@gmail.com
Gertrude Durusoy was a polyglot researcher, teacher, and translator – and head of the European Languages and Cultures Research and Application Center at Ege University, Izmir. This paper takes this into account and blends some articles of Gertrude Durusoy with research on digital portfolios and the documentation of skills.
- Change in teaching and learning
Durusoy states in 1999: “To know several languages means to be rich, mentally and culturally. This means also that a cultural exchange at the level of individuals will be possible and the knowledge of the cultural differences will prepare the basis of a peaceful life within Europe. At the same time, this means that teaching languages should no more be done in a traditional way, that new manuals and books should be published […]”. (Durusoy 1999)
In the meantime, a shift from teaching to learning proved Durusoy right. Informal learning and nonformal learning approaches (Baumgartner, Ghoneim & Wolf 2016) underline that the acquisition of knowledge and skills – like languages – does not only happen in classrooms. Apart from the possibility to obtain certificates to assess language skills, ePortfolios can showcase these skills, and they can also serve as developmental portfolios to plan further learning, for example of languages.
ePortfolios are learner-centered digital workspaces which learners can use as storage space, working space, and for the documentation of learning goals as well as of reaching these goals. (EUfolio 2015) They can support the elaboration and documentation of skills which results in different types of ePortfolios (Bauer & Baumgartner 2012). Learners could be accompanied during their lifelong learning journey by a developmental portfolio. The approach to this type of learning portfolio can include that learners set their own learning goals and thus develop skills of self-regulated learning alongside their acquisition of language skills. (Kühn & Rodewald 2010; Ghoneim, Gruber-Mücke & Grundschober 2017). A showcase portfolio could complement the Europass profile (European Union, n.d.), not only giving short descriptions of language learning and intercultural experiences, but also illustrating these experiences with artefacts (samples of learning and skills, like summaries of reading experiences, audio-proofs of oral production, own essays, videos, …). On one hand, such a showcase can prove that a level of a language (as described by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Council of Europe 2001) has been reached, on the other hand it can be used for reputation management and/or job applications (Baumgartner, Ghoneim & Wolf 2016, 67f).
- Selecting artefacts for an exemplar digital language portfolio of Gertrude Durusoy
We could read the publications of Gertrude Durusoy as artefacts which would be part of her showcase portfolio. If one is looking at a list of Gertrude Durusoy’s publications (as a potential pool of artefacts from which an ePortfolio could be created), one can easily see that she used mainly German and English, but also French and Turkish as publication languages (Ege üniversitesi n.d.). A selection of artefacts to show her multilingualism could contain the following examples:
2.1 Artefact on translation processes
In her text “Übersetzungsprozesse als Kulturakte“ (Durusoy 2002a), Durusoy’s subject are translation processes which she sees as cultural acts. As examples she chose the translation of two poems from German to Turkish. For the translations, she cooperated with Ahmet Necdet. The article makes clear that Durusoy does not only have Turkish language skills but also shows her command of the French language, as she compares the translations of Georg Trakls poem “An den Knaben Elis” to Turkish and to French with each other and with the German original (Durusoy 2002a). Having known Gertrude Durusoy personally, I know that French was her mother tongue. Nevertheless, if someone wanted to know about her language skills just by studying her publications, the mentioned article would be one proof for her language skills in German, Turkish and French. Another artefact to prove Durusoy’s French skills is the French version – maybe even the original – of her text on multilinguism quoted above (Durusoy 1999b).
2.2 Work as a section chair and contributor to the section
As Gertrude Durusoy was a German scholar, many of her published works are in German. Most of them, however, show the richness of her language portfolio, as does her work in transcultural encounters of translators, scholars of language and cultural scholars. One example is her work as editor of the section “Modalitäten von Kulturkontakt” (modalities of cultural contact) in the framework of the INST book and project “Virtuality and new Knowledge Structures” (https://www.inst.at/burei/CBand6_eng.htm). Durusoy has summarized the input of participants of 11 different countries and edited contributions in three languages (German, English, and French) (Durusoy 2006a). She is not only the editor but also contributes an article about Francesco Micielis to the section to show how multiple cultures can be grown in a human being (Durusoy 2006b). The sources used for the article are in multiple languages, including Italian.
- Outlook
Those who knew Gertrude Durusoy could easily help to add proofs for the many more languages she spoke, read and understood to an imaginary showcase portfolio. It would be good practice in ePortfolio work to contextualize the collected artefacts with a cover letter. This paper could be read as a beginning of such a cover letter.
As I am glad to have known Gertrude Durusoy and to have worked with her, I am convinced that she would have liked the idea of digital language portfolios. Most likely, she would have encouraged her students to create such portfolios for their personal development and to showcase selected proofs of their language skills.
Sources
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