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Exploring the affordances of
Massive Open Online Courses
on Second Languages
Elena Martín Monje, Elena Bárcena &Timothy Read
SO-CALL-ME Research Project, ATLAS Research Group
UNED, Spain
Table of contents
• Introduction
• The MOOC model
• “Professional English”: A pioneer MOOC on ESP (English for Specific Purposes)
• Conclusions
• References
Introduction
Formal education
Informal education
Non-formal
education
MOOCs
The MOOC model
• New culture of sharing: OCW, OER, OEP. • MOOCs: G. Siemens & S.Downes. • Connectivism (Siemens, 2005):
– Content offered through a variety of channels. – Learners creating networks. – Construction of meaning through interaction.
• MOOC students: pro-active protagonists of their own learning.
• Social, collaborative learning: audio-visuals + text, karma-based forums.
• Voluntary educational experience, attractive for non-standard students.
The MOOC model: Second Languages
• Teacher-student & peer-to-peer communication are means and end.
• Unbalanced teacher/student ratio (e.g. 1/5,000 in “Professional English”).
• Social (P2P) feedback becomes crucial.
• Substantial change in roles.
• Complexity of Language Learning: Not much open production and interaction.
• Challenge: Implementation of written/oral production and interaction in MOOCs.
Course coordinator & curators
Facilitators
Monitors (students with highest karma)
Rest of students
“Professional English”: A pioneer MOOC on ESP
“Professional English” in
“Professional English” in
“Professional English”: A pioneer MOOC on ESP
“Professional English” in
Asynchronous oral practice with social feedback
“Professional English” in
Combination of synchronous and asynchronous oral practice
Conclusions
• Key contributions of MOOC “Professional English”
– Enhancement of socio-cultural competence (in written forums, oral interaction & P2P feedback).
– Coverage of full range of communicative linguistic competences.
– Adaptability of MOOC format to language learning.
– Innovative proposal for synchronous & asynchronous oral communication.
References
• Council of Europe (2001). The European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(10), 3-9. Retrieved December 17 2012, from http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/jan_05.pdf
