Initial findings from a Massive Open Online Course for oral English skills development in China

Abstract

English language proficiency has become increasingly important in Chinese society, as high-stakes English tests play a gatekeeper role, restricting access to the best universities and employers. However, despite efforts to bolster acquisition of English in China, inequalities remain and students from inland and rural areas are disadvantaged. The inherent advantages of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), including their ease of scalability to large student numbers and their lack of required resources on the user side, lead naturally to the inference that supplementation of current foreign language education programmes with the use of targeted MOOCs could potentially be a boon to both teachers and students. This paper reports on initial findings from “Oral Communication for EFL Learners”, a MOOC hosted on the Chinese XuetangX platform in Autumn 2014 with over 25,000 students in the initial cohort. Analysis of user engagement patterns and the results of a survey given to users who completed the course suggest that the initial goals of the course were not met in full, and that much work remains in order to refine and optimize MOOC design and realize the lofty ambitions of MOOC proponents.