Developing a Survey on Motivations, Attitudes, and Challenges of Non-Native Participants in English-Taught MOOCs

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide free and flexible learning opportunities worldwide. However, despite their supposed accessibility, approximately 75% of MOOCs are in English, posing challenges for non-native speakers. This poster presents the development and pilot testing of a survey designed to measure non-native speakers’ motivations, attitudes, and challenges in English-taught MOOCs. The survey was piloted with 87 participants via Prolific, and was refined using Exploratory Factor Analysis and Cronbach’s alpha calculations. Preliminary results emphasize the value of these courses for professional growth and language development, and show that many participants take English MOOCs because similar courses are unavailable in their native language. Participants generally view these courses as high-quality and prestigious, report high confidence in their English skills, and face few difficulties in comprehension or communication. Additionally, they rarely rely on language support tools. Building on these results, our next step is now to share the survey more broadly in order to reach a representative sample of non-native MOOC participants