Innovation in Language Learning

As we live in an age where knowledge, languages, and cultures cross borders, transnational discourses have become one of the main topics to be discussed in the field of English Language Teaching and Learning (ELTL) (Aoyama, 2021). While different studies have discussed the impact of transnational on ELTL, only a few studies deliberate about how assessment tools can be used to analyze ELTL trainees’ identities in a transnational context (Buyukkarci, 2014). This study aims to fill this gap by examining the use of e-portfolios by ELT trainees as a space to reflect on their own experiences and reconstruct their identities. A group of four ELTL program trainees were recruited as participants in this study. Their lived experience has been analyzed using narrative inquiry. The main data source was the trainees’ e-portfolios which include bi-weekly reports, weekly journals, and a final reflection in addition to semi- structured interviews which were done before, during, and after their training program. The data shows how the transnational ELTL curriculum has deeply penetrated the trainees’ experience as EL teachers and reveals a conflict between the transnational ELTL and the EL program in Saudi public schools. As the trainees found themselves at crossroads, their weekly journals, reports, and reflections allow them to reflect on their own experience and reconstruct their identities by negotiating their perspectives of language teaching and their teaching methodologies. As suggested by other previous studies, this study concludes with the need for a systematic model to enhance ELTL trainees’ experience and more updated assessment tools like e-portfolios to facilitate the development of their transnational identities (Fairley, 2020).