Beyond ESL Classroom: The Use of MOOC in Enhancing ESL Reading Skills

Abstract

Technology is changing the landscape of language learning and is viewed to have a huge potential in enhancing the teaching and learning of English language. Due to the high accessibility of the internet, coupled with the availability of ICT tools in Malaysian schools, it is believed that new methods which can shape new pedagogical techniques could be brought into the Malaysian classrooms. The lessons could then be shaped to become more personalized for the learners’ needs and allowing them to learn on the move. This creates the potential for significant change in the teaching and learning process of English as a second language (ESL) in Malaysia. By looking at the existence and potentials of the Massive Open and Online Courses (MOOC), this paper offers reflections on the benefits that MOOCs can offer to ESL classrooms; specifically, to the development of the reading skills, as well as the constraints that might be faced by the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners when using MOOC. Above all, it also looks at the changes MOOC might bring to the pedagogical aspect of the ESL classrooms; towards both the students and the teachers themselves.