Exercices de style: Developing Multiple Competencies Through a Writing Portfolio

This article presents a writing portfolio project whose primary goal is to integrate the development of projiciency skills, content knowledge, and grammatical competence through literary study. Excerpts from Queneau's (1947) Exercices de style, which tells the same story 99 times, serve as the basis for this portfolio project: These excerpts are both the input for grammar instruction and the model for student writing. Students prepare multiple drafts of their written texts according to a process-oriented approach that includes peer review, self evaluation, and instructor feedback. Following an overview of relevant research, an outline of the portfolio project and student com mentaries are presented that provide empirical evidence of the perceived value of the project.