Foreign language learning with Mooc: Back to the future?

Abstract

The MOOC offer is growing exponentially, little by little also in the field of foreign language acquisition. Due to the characteristics of MOOC as a way of teaching and learning that addresses a potentially unlimited audience, its methodology is subject to these particularities, which necessarily influences the achievement of competencies in communication skills such as speaking and writing as well as listening and reading comprehension. Our contribution deals with these limits of MOOC and raises the question, to what extent the related methodology is a step backwards towards essentially formal approaches already surpassed in foreign language teaching.