English writing eportfolio for university STEM majors

This study suggests using electronic portfolios (eportfolios) as a multimodal project-based writing assignment in English language courses to help identify the challenges English writing instructors face in Japan. The assignment design proposed here is sequenced with a series of scaffolding tasks to help students develop an electronic eportfolio, which will in turn help to bring about students’ self-directed and collaborative learning through reflection on their learning processes. Such an eportfolio would enable students to demonstrate to an audience outside of the university their development as a writer by showcasing thoughtful reflection and relevant artifacts, including multimedia forms in both visual and musical formats. Importantly, this writing assignment model is designed to deepen students’ understanding of “rhetorical situation”, a key writing concept, as well as to help transfer such conceptual knowledge to different types of situations writing students will engage in during college and beyond.