This article explores the language learning experiences of four recently arrived adolescent plurilingual immigrant students who participated in additional structured linguistic support (SLS) in lower secondary education. The SLS was targeted at creating scaffolding for students who were learning both the language of schooling and the…

The processes to assess students' learning acquired in various non-formal and informal learning environments have become increasingly common in Finnish university language centres in recent years. This paper describes new developments at the University of Eastern Finland to assess students' non-formal and informal learning of English for Academic…

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is a principle in education to acknowledge and validate learning acquired during and throughout an individual's lifetime. Formal, non-formal and informal learning can be assessed, recognised and accredited for various purposes in an individual's education or professional life. The methods of assessing prior…

Living in learning societies encourages learning outside the classroom. Alongside this reality, higher education institutions have been incorporating policies and procedures that support recognition of prior learning (RPL). This development means establishing adequate RPL assessment practices. Our empirical study at the Aalto University Language…

This article discusses formal and informal foreign language learning before university level. The focus is on beginning university students' perceptions of their earlier learning experiences, especially in digital contexts. Language learners' digital competence is a part of their everyday lives, but its relationship to learning in and outside…

In recent years Finnish university language centres have increasingly developed procedures for assessing and recognising the skills in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) that students acquire in various non-formal and informal learning environments. This article describes the procedures developed by the University of Eastern Finland Language…