scholarly journals Review of ‘Exploring English: Language and Culture’

2015 ◽  
pp. 138-141
Author(s):  
Judith Buendgens-Kosten
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Large Numbers

The popularity of MOOCs – massive open online courses, i.e. online courses that can be used by large numbers of learners without formal entrance requirements – has skyrocketed in recent years, with a broad range of courses made available by major MOOC platforms such as Coursera, Udacity or EdX, but also by smaller providers. At the same time, very few MOOCs cover language learning. This review will discuss one MOOC – ‘Exploring English: language and culture’ – that attempted to close this gap, and will describe the specific challenges that language learning poses for MOOCs.

scholarly journals LMOOC para la integración de personas desplazadas

2021 ◽  
pp. 463-477
Author(s):  
Mercedes Sanz Gil
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Displaced People

Uno de los principales retos a los que se enfrentan las personas desplazadas es hacer frente a las barreras lingüísticas y culturales que supone el desconocimiento, en la mayoría de los casos, de la lengua y de la cultura del país de destino. Actualmente, y gracias a las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación, existen numerosos recursos y aplicaciones que pueden ayudar a paliar dichas carencias, antes o durante el periodo en el que se desarrolla la movilidad. En este artículo presentamos algunos de ellos. En concreto nos centramos en el formato MOOC (Cursos masivos abiertos en línea, por sus siglas en inglés) para el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras (LMOOC). Analizaremos dos LMOOC de aprendizaje del Español como Lengua Extranjera (ELE) destinado principalmente al colectivo de personas inmigrantes y refugiadas y tres de aprendizaje del Francés como Lengua Extranjera (FLE) destinado principalmente a personas desplazadas por motivos laborales o educativos. One of the main challenges faced by displaced people is dealing with the linguistic and cultural barriers that arise from the lack of knowledge, in most cases, of the language and culture of the destination country. At present, thanks to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), there are numerous resources and applications that can help to alleviate these deficiencies, before, or during the period in which mobility develops. In this article we present some of them. More specifically, this article focuses on the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) format for foreign language learning (LMOOC). We will analyze two LMOOCs for learning Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) aimed mainly at migrants and refugees; and three for learning French as a Foreign Language (FFL) aimed mainly at people displaced for work or educational reasons. L'un des principaux défis auxquels les personnes déplacées sont confrontées est celui de faire face aux barrières linguistiques et culturelles qui découlent du manque de connaissance, dans la plupart des cas, de la langue et de la culture du pays de destination. De nos jours, et grâce aux Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC), il existe de nombreuses ressources et applications qui peuvent contribuer à pallier ces lacunes, avant, ou pendant la période de mobilité. Dans cet article, nous en présentons quelques-unes. Nous nous concentrons en particulier sur le format MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) pour l'apprentissage des langues étrangères (LMOOC). Nous analyserons deux LMOOC pour l'apprentissage de l'Espagnol comme Langue Étrangère (ELE) destinés principalement à des personnes migrantes et réfugiées et trois pour l'apprentissage du Français comme Langue Étrangère (FLE) destinés principalement aux personnes en déplacement pour des raisons professionnelles ou éducatives.

A Comparative Study on Various Vocabulary Knowledge Scales for Predicting Vocabulary Pre-Knowledge

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Zou ◽  
Haoran Xie ◽  
Yanghui Rao ◽  
Tak-Lam Wong ◽  
Fu Lee Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Knowledge Levels

The world has encountered and witnessed the great popularity of various emerging e-learning resources such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), textbooks and videos with the development of the big data era. It is critical to understand the characteristics of users to assist them to find desired and relevant learning resources in such a large volume of resources. For example, understanding the pre-knowledge on vocabulary of learners is very prominent and useful for language learning systems. The language learning effectiveness can be significantly improved if the pre-knowledge levels of learners on vocabulary can be accurately predicted. In this research, the authors model the vocabulary of learners by extracting their history of learning documents and identify the suitable vocabulary knowledge scales (VKS) for pre-knowledge prediction. The experimental results on real participants verify that the optimal VKS and the proposed predicting model are powerful and effective.

The Structural and Dialogic Aspects of Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs)

2016 ◽  
pp. 10-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Teacher Instruction ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Learner’S Perspective ◽  
Structural Aspects

This case study contributes to the growing body of research on Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs) by examining their structural aspects (i.e., layout and format) and dialogic nature (i.e., interaction and negotiation) from the language learner's perspective. This exploratory study draws on data from 15 student teachers of English as a Second/Foreign Language at a private graduate institution on the East Coast of the U.S. As required by their technology elective, participants who were enrolled in a beginner-level LMOOC of their choice kept a log of their learning process/progress over a period of eight weeks. At the end of the course, they were invited to fill out a post-project questionnaire to reflect on their overall experience. The goal of the project was to educate student teachers on the pedagogical underpinnings of LMOOCs while exposing them to online language learning. In this study, the focus was primarily on self-reported system interaction and profile data since the Author was not involved in the design of any of the LMOOCs. Data collection instruments included a needs analysis, weekly LMOOC logs, and a post-LMOOC questionnaire. According to the questionnaire results, student-teachers' motivation was “satisfactory,” and only four out of 15 student teachers completed their LMOOCs. Results further showed that structural aspects (i.e., content, materials, and procedures) rank higher than dialogic aspects (i.e., scaffolding and feedback). This questions the over-reliance on content transmission and instructivist (or teacher-instruction) approaches in LMOOCs, especially since MOOCs enrolment numbers rely heavily on learner's self-motivation to sign up and complete a course.

Trends and Issues With Massive Open Online Courses

2017 ◽  
pp. 116-127
Author(s):  
Kijpokin Kasemsap
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Modern Learning ◽  
Professional Field ◽  
Public Offering

This chapter reveals the overview of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the implications of MOOCs in the digital age. MOOCs are the Internet-based courses which have large numbers of students involved. MOOCs have a potential for helping college students succeed and for giving a preview of a particular university's teaching style to potential applicants. MOOCs can bring students from all over the world and encourage engagement between staff and students of a given university to interact with the wider public. Offering diverse classes on different topics through MOOCs makes it easy for students to keep up with the latest trends and be on top of their professional field. The chapter argues that encouraging MOOCs has the potential to improve educational performance and gain educational goals in the modern learning environments.

scholarly journals A survey on the pedagogical features of language massive open online courses

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Billy Tak-ming Wong
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis paper examines the pedagogical features of massive open online courses (MOOCs) for language learning–known as language MOOCs. The mainstream pedagogy of MOOCs typically involves the provision of short videos and reading materials for self-study; discussion forums, mostly for peer-to-peer interaction on course content; and machine-graded quizzes for self-assessment. For language learning, which has been conventionally understood as skill development, the pedagogical features of relevant MOOCs have yet to be comprehensively surveyed.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed a total of 123 language MOOCs from the major MOOC platforms. The pedagogical features shown in these courses were identified and categorised according to the types of course materials and learning activities as well as the participation of learners and instructors.FindingsEnglish was the most common language taught in the courses. Over 80% of the courses took not more than six hours to complete. Most of these courses followed the typical approach of xMOOC delivery, with video watching, reading and auto-graded assessment being the most common learning activities. Less than half of the courses included discussion as part of learning, and instructors were involved in less than 30% of the discussion.Originality/valueThe findings show that, despite the technological advances in course delivery, current language MOOCs do not differ substantially from conventional distance language learning. Yet, the utilisation of computer-assisted language learning technology and the massive student base of MOOCs for creating a virtual social community are opportunities for developing learners' language proficiency on this learning environment.

The Structural and Dialogic Aspects of Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs)

2019 ◽  
pp. 1540-1562
Author(s):  
Carolin Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Teacher Instruction ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Learner’S Perspective ◽  
Structural Aspects

This case study contributes to the growing body of research on Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs) by examining their structural aspects (i.e., layout and format) and dialogic nature (i.e., interaction and negotiation) from the language learner's perspective. This exploratory study draws on data from 15 student teachers of English as a Second/Foreign Language at a private graduate institution on the East Coast of the U.S. As required by their technology elective, participants who were enrolled in a beginner-level LMOOC of their choice kept a log of their learning process/progress over a period of eight weeks. At the end of the course, they were invited to fill out a post-project questionnaire to reflect on their overall experience. The goal of the project was to educate student teachers on the pedagogical underpinnings of LMOOCs while exposing them to online language learning. In this study, the focus was primarily on self-reported system interaction and profile data since the Author was not involved in the design of any of the LMOOCs. Data collection instruments included a needs analysis, weekly LMOOC logs, and a post-LMOOC questionnaire. According to the questionnaire results, student-teachers' motivation was “satisfactory,” and only four out of 15 student teachers completed their LMOOCs. Results further showed that structural aspects (i.e., content, materials, and procedures) rank higher than dialogic aspects (i.e., scaffolding and feedback). This questions the over-reliance on content transmission and instructivist (or teacher-instruction) approaches in LMOOCs, especially since MOOCs enrolment numbers rely heavily on learner's self-motivation to sign up and complete a course.

scholarly journals Massive Open Online Courses : En Route to Communication Skills Acquisition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melor Md Yunus ◽  
Haida Umiera Hashim ◽  
Harwati Hashim
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Skills Acquisition ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Good Communication

Technology has its own forte and has been making its waves through the educations’ heart among educators and especially young learners. In conjunction to the waves of technology and the era of globalization, there is also a demand for excellent communication skills among today’s younger generations especially university students. University students are expected to be well equipped with proficient English language and outstanding communication skills which is what they are currently lacking at. Therefore, a specific Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for English for Communication is designed and developed to provide learners with the ladder towards good communication skills. This study is a design and develop research of study which consists of twenty-two undergraduate students in a public university and the whole duration of this study is fourteen weeks altogether. The particular well developed MOOCs then later implemented to the learners and learners evaluation on the course are taken into consideration. This study intended to accommodate students with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and to investigate the learners’ perceptions on the use of MOOCs in helping them to develop good communication skills. This study also evaluated the developed MOOCs’ usability and the students’ interaction level during learning along with the impacts of particular developed MOOCs towards their development of communication skills. The findings gathered have proven that this particular developed MOOCs of English for Communication has helped learners to further improve on their communication skill acquisition that would help them to be a better critical thinker and an autonomous learner.

scholarly journals MOOC (MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES) AS AN ADVANCED TECHNIQUE TO STUDY ENGLISH LANGUAGE

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inas Kamal Yaseen ◽  
Çağlar Demir
Keyword(s):  
Positive Attitude ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
College Teachers ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Advanced Technique ◽  
High Attitude ◽  
Academic Year

This study tries to shed lights on the most updated technique that has been used nowadays to study variety of disciplines and English in particular. MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) is a trendy term come to exist in the very recent dates, where learners can use technology and internet to learn from vital online recorded or live platforms assured by granted well organized resources or foundations that provide knowledge for free or not. This research tries to investigate the awareness of Iraqi English teachers to MOOCs by making a questionnaire to English language college teachers from different disciplines and universities in Baghdad during the academic year 2018-2019. The sample of this study includes 35 English language college teachers. According to the findings of this study, the researcher considered the weighted mean 50% and 68% as an item that gain low positive attitude from teachers. Consequently, three items were gaining high attitude from teachers. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0779/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

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