AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
1.4 MOOCs in English Language and Literature
Materials and Methods
The research was conducted among the students of English
Language and Literature teaching study programme. There were
36 undergraduate students and 23 graduate students who filled in
the questionnaire based on their interest in taking a MOOC
course during the corona virus pandemics: March-September
2020. The questionnaire was also focused on individual
preferences of students based on their teaching study programme
– courses covering English language and literature.
Results
The following tables – Table 1 and Table 2 show interest of
students in MOOCs enrolment. When comparing the interest of
undergraduate and graduate students, the results show that
graduate students are more interested in online learning than
undergraduate students.
Table 1: Interest in MOOCs – undergraduate students
INTERESTED IN MOOCs
YES
NO
UNDERGRADUATE FEMALES
13
13
UNDERGRADUATE MALES
4
6
TOTAL
17
19
Source: own elaboration
Table 2: Interest in MOOCs – graduate students
INTERESTED IN MOOCs
YES
NO
GRADUATE FEMALES
10
2
GRADUATE MALES
9
2
TOTAL
19
4
Source: own elaboration
Table 3 and Table 4 show interest of undergraduate and graduate
students in specific courses related to their study programme.
The selection of courses was based on the modules taught in the
programme. The modules in the tables are listed in accordance
with the results of their interest. While for undergraduate
students courses on “Skills” are the most important ones, for
graduate students “Translation and interpreting” seems to be the
most essential one.
Table 3: Interest in courses – undergraduate students
INTERESTED IN
COURSES
UNDER
GRADUATE
FEMALES
UNDER
GRADUATE
MALES
TOTAL
Skills (reading, writing,
listening, speaking)
15
4
19
Translation and interpreting
9
6
15
Literature
12
1
13
History, life and institutions
of Anglophone countries
9
3
12
Intercultural communication
9
2
11
Grammar
5
5
10
Phonetics and phonology
3
4
7
English for specific
purposes
5
1
6
Stylistics
5
0
5
Other
2
1
3
Source: own elaboration
Table 4: Interest in courses – graduate students
INTERESTED IN
COURSES
GRADUATE
FEMALES
GRADUATE
MALES
TOTAL
Translation and
interpreting
7
8
15
Skills (reading, writing,
listening, speaking)
6
5
11
Grammar
4
3
7
Intercultural
communication
5
2
7
English for specific
purposes
3
3
6
Phonetics and phonology
2
3
5
Literature
3
1
4
Other
1
2
3
History, life and
0
2
2
institutions of
Anglophone countries
Stylistics
2
0
2
Source: own elaboration
2 Discussion
Online learning via MOOCs is a unique phenomenon which
gains its proponents in a digital environment very fast. At the
beginning of the 21st century, multimedia and CALL were
leading mediums for computer based instructions in foreign
language teaching (Badinská, 2009, p. 277). With the rise of
internet connection accessibility among the general public,
universities and companies started to offer online learning on a
global scale.
The aim of the research was to gather information about interest
of students of English language and literature teaching
programme on online learning as well as to find out what
courses do students find important for their future carrier and
would like to enrol in. The results showed that graduate students
are more interested in MOOCs as an additional source of
learning. It seems that they are more motivated to take the
courses in order to obtain certificates which they would benefit
from in the future. On the other hand, the results from interest of
undergraduate students show that they are less interested in
MOOCs.
“Skills in English language” and “Translation and interpreting”
are perceived as the courses with the top importance by both
groups. However, there is a difference when it comes to the third
place; for undergraduate students a course on “Literature” and
for graduate students a course on “Grammar” dominates. Taking
into account the aforementioned results with what online
platforms offer to our students, we come into conclusion that
there are many courses on learning skills in English language but
none in practising translation and interpreting. Also, there are
many courses on literature but a few on grammar practice.
The following list shows courses offered by edX to illustrate the
variability of subjects for students of English language and
literature:
Education and Teacher Training Courses
Understanding Classroom Interaction
Blended Learning with edX
Intercultural Competency in Education
Academic Writing for Clarity and Meaning
Developing Course Content and Teaching Materials
English as a Second Language (ESL) Courses
General Academic English
Upper-intermediate English
English for Journalists
Writing
AP® English Literature & Composition – Part 1: Stories
AP® English Literature & Composition – Part 2: Poems
Creative Writing
In the following tables – Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7 – three
courses on introduction to poetry are briefly presented. The aim
of this presentation is to show the difference between three
platforms for students and also variability students have when
deciding on enrolling on the MOOC.
Table 5: FutureLearn - Poetry: How to Read a Poem
FutureLearn
Name of the institution
University of York, United Kingdom
Name of the course
Poetry: How to Read a Poem
Length of the course
4 weeks
Effort
4 hours per week
Access to the course
Free access to this course for 6 weeks
Price
49 € with access to this course for as long as it’s
on FutureLearn; Access to this course’s tests as
well as a print and digital Certificate of
Achievement once you’re eligible
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