Language acquisition through massive open online courses (MOOCs): Opportunities and restrictions in educational university environment

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of the use of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in modern universities, their effectiveness in general as well as the restrictions MOOCs have in terms of allowing students to form the same level or a comparable level of competence in studying of various disciplines as the full-time study provides. The author focuses on the implementation of MOOCs in language acquisition and provides empirical study data on the phenomena linked to language acquisition in terms of both didactic aspects of conveying information and of personality traits of the students that are connected to academic achievement. The data presented in the article suggests that the current state of MOOCs is still inadequate to provide a quality language acquisition in most students as well as setting up a problem of development of better tools to use in MOOCs in terms of acquiring new language and forming a set of independent learning competencies in students. The author provides specific restrictions and outlines possible solutions and the technologies that can be used to improve language acquisition via self-paced courses.