This study investigated tourism graduate students' perceptions of academic achievement as revealed in the end of term self-assessment grids for the course English for tourism. Data were collected from 59 first year Romanian Master of Arts students by examining their personal portfolios after the in-class and follow-up activities. The selection of the questions intended to enable students to recognise the major gains at the end of the semester and, through guided self-reflection, to adjust their positive self-image. Results indicate that after participating in the course activities, respondents manifested an increased ability to identify the nature of the difficulties they had encountered while working on the project and to propose amendments. An important pedagogical implication that can be drawn from this study is that, as students proved to be receptive to the course format, it can be replicated and professionals teaching in other career and technical education programs can use it to help learners develop self-reflective skills, and build a supportive community for those who feel insecure about working in a team and speaking to an audience in a foreign language.