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Foreign Language Open Online Courses (FLOOC): A Pedagogical Design
and Development Framework
NURKHAMIMI ZAINUDDIN
Faculty of Major Languages
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
Malaysia
khamimi@usim.edu.my
http://drkhamimi.weebly.com/
ROZHAN M. IDRUS
Faculty of Science and Technology
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
Malaysia
rozhan@usim.edu.my
http://rozhanmidrusprof.com/
Abstract: - This study attempts to analyze and evaluate theories and design principles for design and
development of Foreign Language Open Online Courses (FLOOC). The researchers mentioned about the
research tools and steps which are related to the design and development process. The study proposes the
implementation of connectivism theory proposed by Downes and Siemens (2005), theory of second language
acquisition by Krashen (1984), theory of multimedia learning by Mayer (2001) and Gagne’s 9 events of
instruction by Gagne (1985). Various subjects matter experts in foreign language, syllabus design and
instructional design (ID) have participated in the study. The outcome from this research will later be used by
the researcher in the design and development processes.
Key-Words: - Design and development, theories and design principles, foreign language, open online courses,
non-native students.
1 Introduction
The Internet has long been utilized to facilitate
language teaching and learning process due to its
capabilities, particularly its abilities to provide a one-
stop source of information and opportunities for
language learners to communicate among
themselves either synchronously through chat and
online messenger or asynchronously through bulletin
board and email. There are many benefits mentioned
by researchers from the use of the Internet in
education. It serves the objectives of strengthening
self-learning and attracting the students’ attraction is
an interesting way as students can reduce their
learning time and increase their achievement [1].
Technology in general and the Internet in particular
have invaded all areas of modern life, the economy
and the media, politics, and communications, as the
Internet today has become a way of prominent
communications means [2].
The teaching of foreign language such as Arabic,
Korean, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin and
some other foreign languages can no longer rely
solely on traditional methods of learning, such as
note taking and lecturing, which are still largely
preferred among foreign language lecturers as
mentioned by Nurkhamimi [3]. The researchers’
early analysis and observation entail that the lack of
use of instructional technologies in teaching and
learning foreign language has hindered the
memorization process of vocabularies taught in the
classroom.
Hence, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
has been utilizing its role in foreign language
teaching and learning for students at the university
level. In order to achieve the philosophy of the
university, viz; integration of Naqli (revealed) and
Aqli (human) knowledge, USIM used a number of
teaching aids and modern learning tools such as e-
books and advanced web 2.0 tools like Facebook,
YouTube and Moodle [4]. The university believes
that these learning tools can provide lecturers and
students with new experiences in the process of
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foreign language teaching and learning. The primary
goal of USIM is continuous improvement to reach
students’ proficiency for most of the skills and
achieve educational goals. It is necessary to keep up
with the technological development, live with it and
use it in teaching and learning.
This study was conducted to explore the potential
of open online courses in foreign language teaching
and learning by designing a foreign language open
online courses (FLOOC) prototype to be used not
just in USIM, but to others higher learning
institutions that offer the foreign language study.
Initially, the multimedia functions as a tool in e-
learning, integrated in the learning process to enable
a more meaningful and enjoyable learning
experience for the students. In ensuring the
effectiveness in design and execution of this learning
tool, its implementation should be handled by
experienced educators and trainers, with extensive
knowledge and understanding on non-native
speakers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations thus
producing a successful edutainment environment [5].
Foreign language open online courses have
recently burst onto the scene of Asian countries and
may well prove to be a good platform to learn
foreign languages. These courses were designed so
that absolute beginners could quickly learn the
meanings of the thousand most frequent foreign
languages such as Arabic, Korean, Italian, Russian,
Japanese, Mandarin and many other foreign
languages. These open online courses acts as
platforms, viz; have many capabilities provided that
they are used in their fullness. For example,
connectivity, interaction, feedback, conversation and
networking are some of the possible actions in using
these learning platforms. Furthermore, they provide
a lot of opportunities to explore new methods of
teaching and learning.
2 Problem Formulation
One of the new teaching elements in higher
education is increasingly focused on a format that
meets three basic requirements: openness,
massiveness and ubiquitous [6]. These principles are
emerging particularly in courses called Massive
Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As a phenomenon,
MOOCs have had a huge impact in the media,
particularly when some of the most prestigious
universities in the United States began offering
courses freely delivered by distance learning systems
with the aim of reaching a large audience of students
thanks to their open, participatory and free
registration model.
MOOCs can be defined as online courses that
aim to have a wide appeal to people who are
interested in learning about a specific subject on a
course guided by subject experts as learning
facilitators [7]. These courses are by definition both
open and online to allow the largest possible number
of participants – with the option of free and open
registration, an openly shared curriculum, and
facilitated by professionals who are leaders in their
subject fields [8].
Since 2011, a review of the literature reveals that
few studies have been conducted to explore the
growth in open online courses such as Massive
Distributed Online Collaborative Courses (DOCC),
Big Open Online Courses (BOOC), Synchronous
Massive Online Courses (SMOC), Small Private
Online Courses (SPOC) which have been so
enormous that, according to the Economist
magazine, “the ivory towers of academia have been
shaken to their foundations” [9]. However, to the
best of authors’ knowledge, no report has been found
so far using open online courses to cater the needs of
foreign language learners in terms of pedagogy,
technicality and orthography. Foreign language
learners with a transparent orthography, such as
Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and German, face
fewer difficulties than readers in languages with non-
transparent orthography such as English [10].
Foreign language learners with a non-transparent
orthography often depend on the lexical method,
whereas this is unnecessary for readers in languages
with transparent orthography [11]. On the other
hand, in languages with both types of orthography,
such as Arabic and Hebrew, readers would behave
depending on the type of orthography encountered.
Since there is a gap in literature on this matter,
this study would like to propose a Foreign Language
Open Online Course (FLOOC) that will be useful to
develop and support the foreign languages blended
learning especially in non-native learners’ context. In
light of these prospects, this study will analyze and
determine the appropriate design principles for
FLOOC design and development. This would
substantially benefit foreign language learners and
could help them obtain literacy skills and attain their
potential.
2.1 Research Question
This study will find out:
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1. What are the suitable learning theories involved in
FLOOC design and development?
2. What are the appropriate design principles used
for FLOOC design and development?
2.2 Methodology
This study utilizes the qualitative data collection and
analysis within design and development research
methodology. The rationale for utilizing methods
and approaches of design and development research
[12], was to emphasis on both research and practice
when producing a valid, practical and effective
foreign language open online course based on the
well-defined and theoretically sound design
principles. Iverson for instance suggests the process
of design and development of multimedia
courseware as a combination of research and
practice [13].
Data is collected using interviews with various
subjects matter experts in foreign language teaching
and learning, syllabus design, open and distance
learning, computer assisted instruction and
instructional design. These subject matter experts’
opinions and suggestions are very important in order
to sustain the validity of FLOOC learning contents
among non-native learners.
Creswell describes an interview survey as a
form on which the researcher records answers
supplied by the participants in the study [14]. It also
can be used to describe trends to help in identifying
important beliefs, attitudes, opinion, behaviors and
characteristics of a population. These interviews
involved surveys whereby the researcher used a
structured or semi-structured interview consisting of
mostly close-ended questions with optional response
for interviewees and also through qualitative
surveys consisting of open-ended questions without
options. Table 1 describes the demographic data of
subject matter experts who contributed in this
survey.
TABLE I. LIST OF EXPERTS
Academic
Position
Field of Expertise No
Asst.
Professor
-Teaching Arabic as a
Foreign Language
-Syllabus design
1
Professor
- Open and Distance
Learning
- Instructional Technology
and Technogogy
2
Assoc.
- Instructional design (ID)
3
Professor
-Foreign Language and
Information Technology
-Computer Assisted
Language Learning
Assoc.
Professor
- Instructional design (ID)
-Computer Assisted
Language Learning
-Second Language
Acquisition
-Teachers’ Training
-Multimedia Design and
Development
4
Assoc.
Professor
-Teaching Arabic as a
Foreign Language
-Linguistics
-Curriculum Development
5
A survey consists of open-ended and close-ended
question was utilized in this study to investigate the
validity of theories and design principles for
multimedia design and development in teaching and
learning foreign language. The outcome from this
research will later be used by the researchers in the
design and development processes. The questions
used in this survey are as stated in Table 2.
TABLE II. SURVEY’S QUESTIONS
No
Questions
1
Please describe your thought or opinion for
designing an exemplary or suitable design and
development theory for FLOOC.
2
What are the main factors in the design of
appropriate teaching and learning theories in
FLOOC?
3
How would you determine suitable e-
activities in FLOOC?
4
Which approaches do you prefer FLOOC?
5
What are your opinions in the implementation
of FLOOC in order to improve students’
problem in foreign language vocabulary
memorization?
6
Do you have any additional suggestion to
make FLOOC more pedagogically
articulated?
3 Problem Solution
The front end-analysis provides information that can
direct the design and development of FLOOC. The
summary of experts’ detailed responses to the
analysis survey will be used in the design and
development phases. Table 3 presents the design
and development theories as proposed by the
experts:
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TABLE III. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT THEORY
Expert
1
Use vocabularies which are related to
foreign language learners’ daily life.
Expert
2
21st century foreign language open online
courses need to adapt the concept of
Connectivism
as proposed by Downes
and Siemens (2005). Therefore, learning
community is first element to be created
in FLOOC.
Expert
3
The designer should provide its own
model and the contents must consist of:
a)Education contents based on syllabus
b)Instructional d
esign (ID) model
c)Devices or means to develop and
deploy applications.
Expert
4
Nowadays more instructional designers
implement second language acquisition
theory proposed by Krashen (1984).
Gagne’s 9 events of instruction by Gagne
(1985) is also relevant as a backbone for
FLOOC.
Expert
5
Kindly consider the Multimedia learning
theory proposed by Mayer (2001) and.
Table 4 shows the main factors in the design of
appropriate teaching and learning theories in
FLOOC:
TABLE IV. MAIN FACTORS
Expert
1
Educational materials must contain a
good pedagogy and learning activities.
Expert
2
The contents must be accurate and up-to-
date knowledge.
Expert
3
The contents must contains Higher Order
Thinking skills.
Expert
4
At least one native speaker (subject
matter expert) must be in the design and
development team to cater the validation
process.
Expert
5
Use all types of multimedia (words,
images, sounds and video).
Table 5 describes the suitable learning activities in
FLOOC: TABLE V. E-ACTIVITIES
Expert 1
Expert 2
Expert 3
Expert 4
Expert 5
- Based on multimedia used by the
educators.
- Based on creativity of lecturers
-
Based on amount of vocabularies
taught.
- Based on students’ needs.
- Should focus
more on connectivity
and learning community.
Table 6 demonstrates the preferable approaches in
FLOOC: TABLE VI. APPROACHES
Expert 1
Expert 2
Expert 3
Expert 4
Expert 5
- Flipped classroom approach
- Learner-centered approach
- Group learning-centered approach
- Personalized learning-centered
approach
- Guided learning approach
Table 7 presents experts’ opinions in the
implementation of FLOOC in order to improve
foreign students’ motivation and learning
attainment:
TABLE VII. EXPERTS’ OPINIONS
Expert
1
1. Preparation of advanced educational
tools
2. Use language games to promote the
conservation vocabulary
3. Organize linguistic competitions
Expert
2
Connectivism continues to play an
important role in the development and
emergence of new pedagogies, where
control is shifting from the tutor to an
increasingly more autonomous learner.
Expert
3
The use of multimedia has many
purposes, including addressing the
weakness of the students in the study of
vocabulary and memories in new ways.
Of course, through educational programs
which include multimedia, students will
show interaction with the computer which
shows the features and capabilities of the
students in the present era.
Expert
4
1.To include a discussion forum or
interactive forum in the multimedia
program
2. To include instructional design model
from experts such as: Dick & Carey and
Alessi & Trollip in the course.
3. To include glossaries or important
terminologies or difficult vocabularies in
every topic of FLOOC.
Expert
5
Train instructors on how to implement
FLOOC through training and workshops.
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Table 8 presents experts’ additional suggestions
related to FLOOC design and development.
TABLE VIII. EXPERTS’ SUGGESTIONS
Expert
1
Don’t rely on a single approach for
foreign language vocabulary teaching
Expert
2
A key feature of a great foreign language
open online course is that much learning
can happen across peer networks that take
place online. A lecturer will guide
students to information and answer key
questions. Students are also encouraged
to seek out information on their own
online and express what they find.
Expert
3
In my opinion, the programs which
provide multimedia design process need
creativity to ensure
the effectiveness of
the program to its users. Theories may not
help program designers, but more in some
stages of development.
Expert
4
To apply the theory of learning using
multimedia proposed by Mayer (2001) on
the basis of students needs
Expert
5
Provide extra storage in the courseware to
help students store their materials such as
writings, images, sound recording, video,
and graphs as well as their profiles
4 Conclusion
This study encompasses the theories and design principles
for design and development of FLOOC. This kind of
information is important to produce a foreign language
open online course based on foreign language learners’
needs. Moreover FLOOC can offer some potential
solutions for learning obstacles as mentioned in the
problem statement.
The theoretical contribution of this study can be
concluded in the formulation of the design principles
which are selected and adapted from reviews by the
subject matter experts’. The subject matter experts
propose the implementation of connectivism theory [15],
theory of second language acquisition [16] and theory of
multimedia learning [17]. The research framework using a
modified ADDIE model of instructional design and
research process strategies used and adapted in this study
are also part and parcel of cyclic and iterative methods of
design and development of future learning model that can
be adapted by next research efforts.
The practical contribution of this study is the
production of FLOOC which will be developed based on
related educational theories, design and development
research methods, learning and contextual analysis of
needs. This study mainly adopts a method of qualitative
research exemplifying an in depth and breadth
phenomenon and explanation on theories and
characteristics of a valid, practical and effective foreign
language learning as perceived by users. Thus the findings
can be generalized and some of the design and
development principles may be applied in a similar setting
and to be emulated by other institutions as well based on
their situational learning problems and issues.
However the different set of design principles may
appear in the other settings because this study focuses
only on foreign language learners at elementary level with
a specific course outline of syllabus. This study puts
forward a set of design and development principles for
FLOOC specifically for non-native speakers in general.
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