Integrating Education For International Understanding And Development Of English Proficiency Through The Futurelearn MOOC Intercultural Communication

Thanks to UNESCO’s active promotion of Education for International Understanding(EIU),EIU has been widely adopted throughout the world.In China,it has been carried out in various forms such as school-based curriculum development,theme activities,international exchanges,etc.At present,it has made certain achievements,but is still at an exploratory stage.The Ministry of Education of China recently released an official document calling for cultivating students’ key competencies,and EIU is capable of fulfilling some responsibilities.In the globalized world today,the importance of the humanistic goal of foreign language education has become increasingly prominent,which also coincides with what is promoted by EIU.At the same time,since 2011,MOOC has rapidly swept the world as an emerging form of online education.FutureLearn is an international MOOC platform from the UK.With its high-quality courses,it has attracted millions of learners around the globe.MOOC provides opportunities not only for innovative education in the globalized Internet era,but also for improving learners’ international understanding and developing their English proficiency.This thesis seeks to examine how Intercultural Communication MOOC is designed and used as a vehicle to integrate the improvement of learners’ international understanding and development of their English proficiency.The thesis adopts methodologies of participant observation and back-end data analysis.The author analyzes the course itself and learner behaviors as both a learner and an observer.Results show that in the case of the Intercultural Communication MOOC,EIU was successfully integrated with the development of English proficiency.First,the objectives and content of the course are in line with what is advocated by EIU.Learners’ comments of the course also reflect their awareness of international understanding.Second,English input,interaction,and output are continuously achieved throughout the course.Learners’ English skills can be practiced via various course activities.Additionally,the massive-scale online interaction and social learning of MOOC platforms represented by FutureLearn contribute to enhancing the international understanding of learners.Finally,The Intercultural Communication MOOC is an example of how MOOCs can facilitate content-based foreign language teaching with its high-quality course content,various learning activities,and context for real conversation and application.