Read, R. & Martín-Monje, E. Mobile and blended, please! Migrants and refugees learning choices in a language MOOC. The JALT CALL Journal, 17,3(2021): 256-276
This article reports on a study of 2 language MOOCs for refugees and migrants to Spain as part of the European Commission’s MOONLITE project. The MOOCs were designed and developed in consultation with refugee support groups and language instructors who participated in the design, piloting, and delivery of the courses. The courses were designed to address the functional needs of the participants, e.g. looking for housing, training and employment, civil rights.
Although the context of this study is European, it offers a relevant and useful model of functional language training that may have potential in the field of language instruction for newcomers to Canada.
The study examined the types of digital devices that participants preferred to use for the courses, whether the choice of device affected course completion, and how teaching practice affected the outcomes for participants. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, the study indicated that participants preferred to use mobile devices, such as smartphones which enabled “anytime anywhere” learning and that the use of mobile devices contributed to the successful completion of the courses by most of the participants. The study indicated that this preference is because, for the majority of participants, smartphones were the only technology they had regular access to and were accustomed to using them in their daily lives. Most participants who successfully completed the course were also enrolled in F2F language classes and used the LMOOCS to complement their classroom learning. The study concluded that the use of a blended learning model contributed to the successful completion of the courses.
Retrievable from: https://www.castledown.com/articles/JALTCALL_17_3_500.pdf