Massive Online Open Courses and Language Learning: The Case for a Beginners’ English Course

Abstract

Massive Online Open Courses have recently burst onto the scene in Spain and may well prove to be a good way to teach and learn foreign languages. The course analysed in this presentation was part of the first large-scale experience with MOOCs as a tool for English language learning in Spain. This course was designed so that absolute beginners could quickly learn the meanings of the thousand most frequent English words and start to read short texts. A comprehensive questionnaire was given to participants to gather qualitative and quantitative information related to their background and previous learning experiences, as well as methodological aspects related to their experience of massive online open learning. Methodological issues in this new language teaching/learning resource explored in this presentation are: crowdsourcing, explicit learning, distance teaching/learning, learner autonomy, materials design, and the development of learning strategies.