LMOOC (Language Massive Open Online Courses) SIG

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have consolidated in this decade as a pedagogical model with the potential to widen access to Higher Education, and dozens of universities around the world offer free online courses covering from Astrophysics to Philosophy. Foreign Language learning has not been oblivious to this trend, and since 2012 we have had LMOOCs (Language MOOCs) “dedicated Web-based online courses for second languages with unrestricted access and potentially unlimited participation (Bárcena & Martín-Monje, 2014: p.1). Teachers and researchers involved in technology-enhanced language learning have witnessed the growing interest in this field, with over 100 LMOOCs already on offer (as of February 2017), 2 monographic volumes published on the topic (Dixon & Thomas, 2015; Martín-Monje & Bárcena, 2014) and panels devoted to LMOOCs at international conferences such as EuroCALL.

It seems, though, that practice is substantially ahead of research, and we consider that it is the right time to establish a Special Interest Group (SIG) on LMOOCs, in order to provide a forum for discussion, to share the research that is being undertaken and reflect together upon its specificities and areas of development. Some suggested areas could be:

• Internationalization and L2 learning through MOOCs
• Technical and pedagogical issues
• MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) & MOOCs
• Cultural studies and MFL (Modern Foreign Language)
• Integration of LMOOCs in Formal Education
• LMOOCs for social integration and employability
• Task design in LMOOCs
• Teacher and student roles
• Social interaction in LMOOCs
• Learning Analytics and LMOOCs

The SIG’s objectives are

• To gather information on ongoing research and projects developed by members of the SIG, and disseminate it via a dedicated website.
• To share information on courses, seminars, conferences, publications, etc.
• To promote academic discussion related to LMOOCs.
• To organise workshops and symposia for exchanging experiences and ideas.
• To encourage Open Practices, collaboration and possible visits to each other’s institutions with the aim of setting up joint projects.