PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

Nowadays it is beyond doubt that there is a high need of professionals with intercultural competence. As the world is rapidly growing towards a globalized, yet glocalized market, there is no doubt that society, and the business world as such, will gradually, but steadily and rapidly need more people with intercultural competences. Though intercultural competence is often referred to as a soft skill, in many respects however it is a critical. factor of success, and will become more and more decisive as the cultural background of people, working force, companies, institutions, ... will become more diverse and multicultural. The need to interact will always be there, the gap that is created by the lack of tuition needs therefore to be filled Teaching intercultural communication immediately raises the question of assessment. If you don't want to assess a student on his/her theoretical knowledge of his intercultural competence, you will have to organize a continuous professional development (CPD) scheme. One of the methods can be a framework that is being used as a starting point in acquiring competence. To measure levels of proficiency the learner can make use of a portfolio in which there is place for self-evaluation and leading to personal action and development plans for students. All these elements are included in a portfolio, which is the starting point for lifelong learning For the students this means a self-evident step towards autonomous learning via shared guided learning to autonomous learning. The educational process is a clear example of blended learning in which e-learning plays a great role. Assessment portfolios are a clear example of a methodology that is based in social constructivism. As communication is a keyword within the framework the role of language knowledge is very important. Multilingualism is an enormous asset, it does not only open doors, but it keeps them wide ajar for further communication and cooperation. In this talk we will also reflect on the different sorts of on-line possibilities to assess oneself in the field of intercultural competence and at the same time training foreign languages. E-methods like ICOPROMO, LOLIPOP, The autobiography of the CoE, INCA, CEFcult and IEREST will be introduced and discussed