Marina Orsini-Jones

Supporting a course in new literacies and skills for linguists with a Virtual Learning Environment. Results from a staff/student collaborative action-research project at Coventry University

This paper reports on the results of an action research project at Coventry University that consisted of the evaluation of a curriculum innovation supported by the use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) WebCT, i.e. a new module (course): Academic and Professional Skills for Language Learning. The project was carried out collaboratively by staff – all the linguists teaching level 1 modules in EFL, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish – and students over a period of ten months in 2002–2003. The module aims at engaging students actively with the new literacies and skills required by the ‘knowledge society’. The provisional hypothesis was that skills-based teaching and learning activities that are aligned with the needs of language learners would raise confidence in academic and professional skills and increase motivation and proficiency in language learning. The use of the Virtual Learning Environment Web Communication Tools (WebCT), available within the online learning portal both on and off campus for students at Coventry University, would be instrumental in testing the hypothesis, as it provided an interactive reflective forum for both staff and students involved. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The paper will show how the use of the Virtual Learning Environment facilitated the creation of exercises that developed both ICT skills and language-specific ones. On a less positive note, the results confirmed the outcomes of other research in the field, i.e. that students find it challenging to become reflective, autonomous learners and that we cannot assume that the use of technology automatically leads to autonomy. Many students also found it challenging to see the relevance to their studies of skills and literacies that went beyond the four basic language skills. The paper will conclude by illustrating both the positive and the negative outcomes of the project and outlining the staff/student-agreed way forward in the light of the issues encountered.

Supporting Collaborative Grammar Learning via a Virtual Learning Environment

This article reports the results of an investigation into the issues encountered by undergraduate language students while engaging in ‘the Grammar Project’ - a collaborative assessment task for the module Academic and Professional Skills for Language Learning - and shows how encouraging students to take ownership of their learning process with the support of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can increase their motivation and their understanding of the subject matter. It shows that students’ beliefs may hinder their learning experience, while maintaining that an effective social-interactive environment can help them understand subject-specific concepts, particularly if this is supported by recording their reflections both within the VLE and in a portfolio.

Emerging Online Politeness Patterns

This chapter provides a systematic analysis of the results derived from the analysis of the exchanges on the asynchronous discussion forums linked to the tasks designed for the telecollaborative CoCo project. Brown and Levinson’s (Politeness: Some universals in language usage, Cambridge University Press, 1987) and Leech’s (The pragmatics of politeness, Oxford University Press, 2014) linguistic politeness frameworks were applied to the three online exchanges students engages with and were used to identify patterns of linguistic behaviour such as type and frequency of politeness strategy/maxim.

The CoCo Telecollaborative Project: Internationalisation at Home to Foster Global Citizenship Competences

This chapter provides a description of the CoCo (Coventry Colmar) telecollaborative course. It illustrates the tasks designed and/or adopted for it, such as the Cultura Quizzes. It discusses how CoCo was fully integrated into the curriculum and assessment of both institutions involved and how students practised critical digital literacies for global citizenship though active learning with the creation of a group Intercultural Digital Learning Project (IDLP). It describes the materials and instruments used including more details about the politeness frameworks adopted and it illustrates how the analysis was performed. The chapter includes relevant figures and tables that help to illustrate the telecollaborative project structure, the politeness framework used to analyse the data and the breakdown of the relevant strategies.

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Revisited

This chapter documents the evolution of the concepts of Communicative Competence (CC) and Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) and discusses how the advent of the World Wide Web and the widespread use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) are affecting the re-conceptualisation of ICC. It highlights the importance of integrating telecollaboration into the HE curriculum for the purpose of developing a global citizenship competences for the digital age in HE (Higher Education). The concept and features of ICC for global citizenship are explored.

CoCo Research Questions and Answers

This chapter discusses the research questions for this study at a deeper level and provides a rationale for some of the analysis decisions made on the asynchronous discussion forums linked to the tasks designed for the CoCo telecollaborative project. It investigates what the application of linguistic politeness theory frameworks reveals about how politeness is negotiated online by project participants. The asynchronous interactions in the CoCo forum are examined from a cyberpragmatic perspective and by applying Brown and Levinson’s (Politeness: Some universals in language usage, Cambridge University Press, 1987) and Leech’s (The pragmatics of politeness, Oxford University Press, 2014) linguistic politeness frameworks to the data to investigate politeness strategies and facework used by the CoCo interactants.

Flipping the blend through MOOCs, MALL and OIL – new directions in CALL

This chapter describes how one particular Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), created at the University of Southampton, has evolved beyond its core purpose as a promotional tool, to complement and serve purposes and priorities of relevance and importance to wider University strategic aims. It briefly outlines elements of the course design and content, and the impact of the course over its 6 runs to date. It describes the steps taken to shape the evolution of the course including review, re-use of assets, use of the course in research and its role as inspiration for a ‘spin-off’ course. It concludes by noting that one MOOC can provide rich and varied opportunities to enhance and support areas which are key priorities in UK higher education institutions.