LANGUAGE LEARNING IN A SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT. THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO IN BUSINESS AND ENGINEERING STUDIES

摘要

Language learning in a scientific-technical environment requires a constant development of updating, mainly suggested by the advances proposed by the studies where language courses are located. That is to say, new research in the fields of marketing or engineering must be reflected in the teaching of English and its vocabulary. That is why the emphasis of this article is based upon the incorporation of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) in the teaching- learning process. This portfolio was born from the consensus of the Council of Europe in 2001, whose main result was published within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) [1]. The case of the ELP for specific purposes offers a very powerful tool not only as a means of assessment but also as a learning process through which learners are going to be able to carry their learning tasks in an independent way. Regarding the teaching/learning process, there may be several aspects which are crucial to it. Nevertheless for this matter, the focus will mainly highlight the importance of having up-to-date contents and their clear adequacy and relevance to other core courses in the learners' studies. It will be then when the tool becomes most powerful and effective. Dealing with this point, the European Language Portfolio applied to business and engineering students will provide us with an excellent tool for assessment, assuming that a good estimation of the requirements has been carried out and that the right measure of objectivity as opposed to subjectivity is indexed and clearly stated beforehand. In order to do this, we will focus our attention on part three of the ELP, the dossier, since it becomes the most creative part and where learners can offer a wider range of their own production. Our article will offer then an analysis of several classes working with the ELP applied to business and engineering and other classes where this innovative task has not been done.