Digital critical literacy development and intercultural awareness raising ‘in’ action, ‘on’ action and ‘for’ action in ELT

Abstract

This paper reports on project Blending MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) into English Language Teaching Education (ELT) with Telecollaboration (BMELTET), the latter which aims to foster reflection on ELT with a COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) MOOC blend that promotes the engagement of international students based in the UK and studying towards a master’s degree (MA) in ELT, with a global community of ELT practice, with students and staff based in universities in Brazil, China, and Spain, and with the participants on the MOOC from all over the world. BMELTET aims to debunk the myth of the ‘native speaker’ as the ideal teacher of English language, thus decolonizing ELT through dialogic, online intercultural exchanges. A mixed-method approach was adopted for the data analysis and data was collected via two online surveys. The analysis of the live ZOOM exchanges and focus groups with the self-selected groups of students was then examined. The results illustrate a positive, changed attitude towards online learning and digital literacy facilitated by BMELTET, but also show that there still are challenges to be overcome