Learners' perspectives on interaction in a language MOOC

One of the main problems teachers face in the foreign language classroom is low student participation. Nowadays, with the advent of computer mediated communication (CMC), students have at their disposal another medium to communicate and participate in their language learning process. But what is their attitude towards this medium? Our study investigated the perception of preservice English language teachers of the interaction that occurs both in the classroom and in the forum. Two groups of students between the ages of 20 and 40 responded to a questionnaire designed ad hoc. The results obtained from the analysis of the data suggest that CMC acts as a complement to the language learning process.

Proceedings of the Fourth (2017) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) promise to engage a global audience and emphasize the democratic achievement of free, university-level education. While such open access enables participation, it is unclear how learners who are not fluent in English (ELLs) engage with MOOC content. After all, the language of MOOCs is English. In order to improve accessibility for ELLs in digital learning environments, we must first have a clear understanding of the educational landscape: who are the non-native English speakers enrolled in MOOCs? Where are they located geographically? What are their current online learning behaviors, motivations and outcomes? In this paper we start answering some of these questions by analyzing data from 100 HarvardX courses, using self-report and log data. Preliminary analysis show evidence that ELLs are motivated by more utilitarian goals compared to non-ELLs.

Linguistic and Cultural Studies: Traditions and Innovations, 2016

The article explores linguistic features of communication in massive open online courses (MOOCs), the possibilities of their usage in professionally oriented foreign language teaching at tertiary level. A number of linguistic features of various types of texts created by MOOCs participants are revealed, possibilities of this type of foreign language resources in teaching specific language are analyzed, the structure of foreign language competencies in professional and scientific spheres and foreign language competencies related to the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) are determined.

2017

In computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments, there is an extensive body of research which has looked at the nature of language learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) students within and beyond the classroom setting. However, most of this research has focused on the pattern of student-student interactions and extensively on the modality of synchronous CMC. The nature of instructor-student CMC interactions on online discussion forums remains unexplored in both L2 and Saudi EFL learning contexts. This study investigates how Saudi EFL students perform their language and project their social presence when they interact with (as opposed to without) their instructor in online discussion forums. Throughout an entire academic semester in a prestigious university in Saudi Arabia, 49 Saudi EFL students interacted in student-student and instructor-student online exchanges to discuss argumentative topics in their educational discussion forums. The present study employed a mixe...

Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field, 2020

Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, experienced in-person foreign language tutors had to shift to fully online foreign language instruction and thus needed to develop new skills in terms of technology and pedagogy. Many tutors new to online language teaching found the plethora of learning technologies available overwhelming. Helping tutors select appropriate technologies and sharing best practices can facilitate effective teaching, particularly when tutors are under extra pressure due to a global crisis. In synchronous online class sessions with foreign language learners, tutors need to facilitate communication and online socialization to create opportunities for second language learning. We report on how one instructor created a learning space to facilitate collaboration, interactivity, and social cohesion for beginner learners of German. We provide both guidance and recommendations for teacher trainers on how to support pre-and in-service tutors during the pandemic to facilitate interactive live sessions for language learners based on sound pedagogical principles.

Hacettepe University Journal of Education

Previous studies have pointed out the need to consider carefully how digital tools are presented in schools to ensure their use meets authentic needs for today's knowledge society. This implies that learning tasks should be planned so students' practice with technological and digital resources such as videoconferencing and text chats resembles potential communicative situations they may face outside the classroom. Along these lines, this article analyses a 44-minute Skype videoconferencing session involving two small groups of middle school students who are studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The data come from a wider-scale telecollaborative project between two classes, one in Sweden and another in Spain, in which the students had to collaborate on a public awareness raising initiative regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. Applying a multimodal Conversation Analysis (CA) approach, the study aims to 'unpack' the complexity of the multiple resources used by the participants during the interaction. In particular, the article focuses on how the learners use multiple resources to creatively mediate their communication and to resolve problems that emerge during their interaction in the foreign language. The findings of the analysis can help identify key foci for task design in similar online foreign language learning settings.

This paper examines the effect of social presence on learner-centered communicative language learning. Social presence is the "the ability of participants in a community of inquiry to project them solve socially and emotionally, as 'real' people", as defined by Garrison et al, (2004). We compared videoconferencing software which supports target expressions in English communication and face-to-face communication in

Education and Information Technologies

This present study explores the nature and extent of classroom interaction in online English as a foreign language (EFL) classes at the university level. Based on an exploratory research design, the study involved the analysis of recordings of seven visits to online EFL classes given by different instructors with approximately 30 language learners in each class. The data were analyzed by using the Communicative Oriented Language Teaching (COLT) observation sheets. Findings provided an understanding of the interaction patterns in the online classes, by showing that there was more teacher-student interaction in online classes compared to student-student interaction, and the classes involved more sustained teacher speech, whereas the students' speech mostly encompassed ultra-minimal utterance patterns. Also, the findings showed that group work activities fell behind individual activities in online classes. In addition, the online classes observed in the present study were found to be instruction-focused, and discipline issues reflected on the language used by the teachers were found to be at a minimum level. Besides, the study presented a detailed analysis of teacher and student verbal interaction by unveiling that rather than form-related incorporations, message-related incorporations were common in the observed classes and the teachers commented on the students' utterances and expanded what they said mostly. The study brings some implications for teachers, curriculum planners, and administrators by providing insights regarding classroom interaction in online EFL classes.

DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2023

The advent of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) has opened up a whole new world of language learning opportunities. It helps to boost access to language instruction for individuals outside of regular classrooms. Language MOOCs (LMOOCs) are online courses that are generated with the purpose of providing free and accessible content for those who are interested in language learning and who come from various backgrounds. Albeit its potential to improve interaction, most of the LMOOCs have not been designed focusing on individuals' communicative skills in English. Therefore, the current project presented a language MOOC on speaking English for A2/B1 learners in English as a Foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) contexts. The content of the speaking lessons was based on a framework for teaching speaking, which reflected the ideas of current SLA research (e.g. the information processing, noticing hypothesis, skill learning theory, transfer appropriate processing) from an interactionist perspective. Within this framework, the lessons were shaped in four stages: identifying the learning outcomes, creating awareness on the target speaking function(s), appropriating the identified function(s) via various activities and tasks, and giving an opportunity for autonomous use of the target function(s). The activities and materials designed were built upon tasks that reflected everyday situations and interactive contexts to guide learners communicate in the target language. Situations similar to real life contexts also helped learners transfer information and expressions they used in these situations into the actual speaking contexts in the outside world. The design and content of the suggested MOOC described here can be helpful for language educators, practitioners, and course designers to integrate technology into classrooms via MOOCs to foster speaking skills in EFL/ESL contexts. Several implications were drawn to shed light on the role of MOOCs for language instruction.

World Journal of English Language, 2022

This research investigated the effects of interaction in online language classroom. A mixed method research design using questionnaire and interview was employed to elicit quantitative data from teachers (N=30) and students (N=55). In addition, a semi-structured interview was conducted with faculty members (N=10) to collect the qualitative responses on the effects of interaction in online language classroom. The data was analyzed using SPSS software (23.0). The results of the questionnaire revealed that students" interaction in online language classroom had positive effects on learning. However, the qualitative data contradicted the questionnaire results. Based on the contrary findings, the researchers offered the possible reasons for the difference of opinions. Solutions, based on the participants" qualitative responses, are offered to address the interactions" issues as highlighted by the respondents during the semi-structured interview. As e-learning platforms are being used worldwide in academia, this study will have universal implications.