Foreign language in virtual learning environments: oral production, academic literacies and multimodality

Abstract

Revealing a documentary, exploratory and also proactive nature, within the specificities of qualitative research in the study field of Applied Linguistics, this work is aimed at academic oral genres in English and Portuguese as foreign languages in virtual learning environments. The focus on orality is justified by the complexity of oral practices and the resulting difficulties related to the developmento of oral production activities in remote learning processes. In times of mobility and internationalization of Higher Education both the demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages as far as undergraduates and post-graduates are concerned, and the limitation of studies in this field highlight the relevance of the proposed research. Having as its mains purpose to investigate and to indicate theoretically informed bases to support the instructional design of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to be developed in the near future, this study intends to contribute to educational policies related to Brazilian universities internationalization process and to the dissemination of Brazilian language and culture. More specifically, from a discursive perspective of language and based on a critical view towards language education, the present study aims at widening theoretical framework on multimodality in virtual learning environments; investigating technological resources to effectively work with oral production in digital learning environments; discussing (with peers), expanding and developing a theoretical and practical framework concerning the use of social media as a means to create learning communities in virtual environments; and, finally, defining the main technical-pedagogical elements to support the development the instructional design of a MOOC aimed at the teaching and learning of academic oral genres in English and Portuguese as foreign languages.