Massive Open Online Language Courses, also commonly known as Language MOOCs or LMOOCs, are online courses offered for a limited period of time by higher education institutions worldwide for anybody wishing to learn a foreign language. The average duration of these courses is between four and six weeks, and approximately three to five weekly study…

Research into open education has identified a "high number of participants" and "unpredictable mixed abilities" as factors responsible for the relatively weak presence of language Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This contribution presents a model for open online language courses that aims to bridge this gap. The tangible…

In December 2019, the University of Oxford Language Centre started to offer online courses in French, Spanish, and German at an advanced level. This not only enabled the Language Centre to pilot a new way of Modern Foreign Language (MFL) teaching ahead of the unprecedented 2020 health crisis, but also to open and expand 'Oxford to the world'. The…

Teachers are the critical component of students' success in the classroom (NRC 2001), but families are the critical component of student success at home. When families and teachers develop strong relationships and build trust with each other, students benefit (Henderson and Mapp 2002). This is especially true in communities where home culture is…

We describe the integration of telecollaborative language coaching sessions into an online Spanish program as the unifying thread for asynchronous learning and reflection activities. In survey responses, students reported improved language skills and cultural knowledge, and the ability to apply linguistic skills to "real-life" situations…

In this article, the authors describe the redesign of a first-semester Spanish course at the United States Air Force Academy due to the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent transition from traditional, face-to-face instruction to fully online language teaching during the fall of 2020. More than 200 learners were enrolled across 11 course sections…

Technology-mediated task-based language teaching is the merger between technology and task-based language teaching (TBLT; González-Lloret & Ortega, 2014) and is arguably now an imperative for language education. As language classrooms are being redefined, training for how to set learners up to successfully do tasks online must be part of…

Online learning is becoming more and more pervasive in higher education institutions. According to the Sloan-C report (All & Seaman, 2006) more than 3.5 million students are enrolled in online courses in the United States. That number represents a 9.7 % increase over the previous year, which far exceeds the 1.5 % growth rate for higher…

The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment (HCTA) is a reliable measure of critical thinking that has been validated with numerous qualitatively different samples and measures of academic success (Halpern, 2010a). This paper presents several cross-national applications of the assessment, and recent work to expand the validation of the HCTA with…

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are becoming increasingly popular in online education environments and have multiple pedagogical advantages over more traditional approaches to education. VLEs include 3D worlds where students can engage in simulated learning activities such as Second Life. According to Claudia L'Amoreaux at Linden Lab, "at…

A group of faculty that currently teach asynchronous online courses were motivated to ensure that course quality remained high. Many people have seen the online courses that throw some written content up on the web and then have some tests and quizzes and call it an online course. To the faculty, that is not suitable in many ways on many levels.…

This article discusses some preliminary results of an ongoing investigation into the development of intercultural competence in the context of distance language teaching and learning. A search for appropriate practical approaches led us to the design of an online pilot course, the main objective of which was to develop intercultural competence…

An online writing center developed at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, called Calliope, provides a modular platform aimed at enhancing learners' professional writing skills in five different languages: Dutch, English, French, German, and Spanish. It supports courses in business and technical communication. The current version includes modules…