Second International Conference MOVE-ME

Overview

The University of Naples L’Orientale together with Federazione Nazionale Insegnanti Centro di iniziativa per l’Europa (FENICE), as one of the partners of the project "MOOCs for University Students on the Move in Europe" (MOVE-ME) funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, invite you to attend the Second International conference on "MOOCs, Language Learning and Mobility".

The conference will take place on 13 - 14 October 2017 at the University Conference Centre located in Palazzo Du Mesnil, via Chiatamone, 61 Naples 80121 in a central zone, near the Egg Castle, the sea and in close proximity to some of the best hotels in the city.

This second international conference aims to bring together higher education professionals, linguists and language technologists from around the world to debate issues relating to three topical areas of research, such as MOOCs, language teaching/learning and student mobility, by providing a forum for exchange of ideas, research outcomes and technical achievements.

Confirmedkeynote speakers:

• Mauro Calise, University of Naples Federico II - Italy
• Donatella Troncarelli, University for foreigners of Siena - Italy

About the Theme

The agendas of higher education institutions around the world seek to move beyond widening access agendas and towards a deeper integration into all aspects of the educational experience. This involves creating a more inclusive teaching and learning environment that better enables all students and institutions to achieve a fuller cognitive, social, emotional, and professional development, while respecting their individual and group identities. An ever more accepted model is the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that has marked a milestone in the use of ICT for education. The reach, potential, and possibilities of MOOCs are immense. However, they are not limited to global outreach: the same technology can be used to improve on-campus teaching and training inside companies and institutions.

Modern Europe is characterised by student and professional mobility. Whatever the reasons for moving into and within Europe—for example to take up studies, start a new profession, join one’s family, or seek refuge—proficiency in the language of the community in which the newly arrived live plays a key role in social and professional integration. The recent arrival of refugees and asylum seekers has added a further layer of mobility and has reinforced the challenge to develop pathways to integration for different groups of people. The increased mobility has posed significant challenges. Language testing and assessment has played a role in the way European states have responded to these challenges, with language tests being used in different ways for the procedures of governing mid-term residency, immigration and access to citizenship since the 1990s. This trend has also led to an on-going debate on the ethics, justification, fairness and usefulness of the role of using language tests in immigration, integration and mobility contexts.

Finally, students on mobility programmes usually have a B1/B2 level of language competence and they enrol in courses where they are required to negotiate the considerable difficulties of academic language and organize their learning activities autonomously and independently. However, competences necessary for everyday standard use of a language differ considerably from those required for communication in academic contexts.

The conference will explore three main phenomena:

• MOOCs as a revolutionary and challenging model within the related fields of formal education, lifelong learning and non-formal training, its use in language learning and its impact worldwide;
• innovation in language teaching and learning methodology in an increasingly multilingual society;
• student mobility, which is bound to increase exponentially as market globalization and internationalization of education become more and more established.

The Conference will include:

• research results, insights and experience from practice, or examples of good practice related to MOOCs and/or Language Learning and/or Mobility through workshops and hands-on training sessions;
• information sessions describing different initiatives and developments linked to these fields supported by European and national programmes.

Themes

We particularly encourage proposals on, but not limited to, the following areas related to the conference themes:

1. MOOCs - design, learning, teaching, quality assurance, etc.
2. CALL and its normalisation
3. Mobile-assisted language teaching and learning
4. E-learning solutions for language teaching and learning
5. Informal language learning and technologies
6. Virtual classrooms, eLearning, and ePortfolio
7. Monitoring and evaluating of language learning with technologies
8. Recognition and validation of language skills acquired through MOOCs
9. MOOCs to support multilingualism and international Mobility
10. Technologies and/or Multimedia for Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP)
11. Technologies and/or Multimedia for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

Scientific Committee:

• Federico Corradi, University L'Orientale of Naples - Italy
• Anna De Meo, University L'Orientale of Naples - Italy
• Laura Incalcaterra Mcloughlin, National University of Ireland, Galway - Ireland
• Qian Kan, The Open University - United Kingdom
• Johanna Monti, University L'Orientale of Naples – Italy
• Andrea Villarini, University for foreigners of Siena - Italy

Registration

Conference attendance is FREE for all presenters and non-presenting attendees but it is requested a previous registration.

• Abstracts authors are invited for a 20-minute presentation. The closing date for submission of proposals is 17 June 2017.
• There is a limit of two contributed submissions per registered author;
• The Conference official languages are English and Italian. Abstracts and Power Point presentations must be written in English while speakers can choose whether to speak in Italian or English;
• Abstracts should be based on any of the topic areas listed above.

The abstracts and papers submitted will be peer-reviewed by the scientific committee and the acceptance will be notified by 15 July 2017

All accepted abstracts will be included in the conference proceedings.