Although the use of E-portfolios for collecting and storing students’ language samples obtained across various tasks over time have been
recommended by many researchers as facilitative for language learning, a large number of teachers reported that practically students did not benefit much from using E-portfolios. This paper analyzes students’ learning behaviors while using E-portfolios from the perspectives of contents being published, motivation, richness of extended content, and modes of interaction. Forty-six participants of the study were required to show their process of language and learning development and achievement through creating showcases that display their work such as progress reports and reflective entries in their Eportfolios. Their learning behaviors while using Eportfolios were later compared to those of Facebook. The findings reveal two major factors that may influence the effectiveness of E-portfolios: audience and multimodality. Audience determines students’ motivation of developing E-portfolios, the content they posted and the interactions they had. The degree
of multimodality affects not only the contents of the original sources and the following responses but also the richness of them. Developers therefore are suggested to take these two main factors into account while developing the framework of E-portfolios so as to increase the effectiveness.

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2017

• Date of Conference: 26-29 June, 2017
• DOI: 10.2053/CICE.2017.0135
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-908320-83-4
• Conference Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada