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Second Language Learning in the Context of MOOCs

Title:

Second Language Learning in the Context of MOOCs

Wu, Shaoqun, Fitzgerald, Alannah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0392-2740 and Witten, Ian (2014) Second Language Learning in the Context of MOOCs. In: 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, April 1-3, Barcelona, Spain.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5220/0004924703540359

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses are becoming popular educational vehicles through which universities reach out to non-traditional audiences. Many enrolees hail from other countries and cultures, and struggle to cope with the English language in which these courses are invariably offered. Moreover, most such learners have a strong desire and motivation to extend their knowledge of academic English, particularly in the specific area addressed by the course. Online courses provide a compelling opportunity for domain-specific language learning. They supply a large corpus of interesting linguistic material relevant to a particular area, including supplementary images (slides), audio and video. We contend that this corpus can be automatically analysed, enriched, and transformed into a resource that learners can browse and query in order to extend their ability to understand the language used, and help them express themselves more fluently and eloquently in that domain. To illustrate this idea, an existing online corpus based language learning tool (FLAX) is applied to a Coursera MOOC entitled Virology 1: How Viruses Work, offered by Columbia University.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Education
Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Refereed:Yes
Authors:Wu, Shaoqun and Fitzgerald, Alannah and Witten, Ian
Date:April 2014
Projects:
  • FLAX Language Project flax.nzdl.org
Funders:
  • The International Research Foundation (TIRF) for English Language Education, USA
  • William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (The)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):10.5220/0004924703540359
Keywords:Second Language Learning, Corpus-based Language Learning, English for Academic Purposes, MOOCs, FLAX, Open Educational Resources
ID Code:982739
Deposited By: ALANNAH TERESA FITZGERALD
Deposited On:09 Aug 2017 13:16
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:55
Additional Information:S. Zvacek, M. T. Restivo, J. Uhomoibhi, & M. Helfert (Editors)
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