Language MOOCs: uma análise conectivista do ensino de línguas

Abstract

In the promising scenario of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the online education and language teaching, LMOOCs emerge. These online courses are dedicated to teach language with unlimited potential of participation and they are offered through platforms in partnership with institutions and universities around the world. Characterized as a recent phenomenon, LMOOCs can provide students with an interactive and collaborative environment, allowing flexibility in time and space. To understand how language learning occurs in this type of environment, this dissertation proposes to analyze English language teaching through a LMOOC, based on Connectivism. According to this theory, learning occurs in a collaborative and networked manner. The qualitative research has as its strategy a case study, starting from a narrative research approach.The study was developed in four steps: (1) survey of different LMOOCs through a MOOCs search engine, (2) course selection, (3) elaboration of questionnaire and (4) questionnaire application. The questionnaire consists of the following analysis categories: structure/content, pedagogy, evaluation and infrastructure. Data analysis, through Connectivism, showed that the course studied follows the more traditional model of teaching, focusing on the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge, unlike LMOOCs that follow the connectivist pedagogy, where teachers have the role of mediator in the process of construction and maintenance of the learning networks, with the content creation and generation done by the student.