Refugees from MENA Learning Languages: Progress, Principles and Proposals

The promise of autonomous online language learning undertaken in a non-formal educational context as a general solution for all student needs is greatly exaggerated. In this chapter, the authors argue that its adoption and application varies from region to region, culture to culture, and language to language. This is particularly true of the Middle East and the refugee communities coming from there. The problem is arguably more sociocultural than technological; a broader definition of the digital literacy needed to learn online would need to be both culturally and contextually specific. The chapter explores the nature of such literacy for this social group and how it needs to be defined to potentiate their online language learning. A key element in this process is argued to be community LMOOCs that exploit and combine appropriate open-source software with a set of design principles and processes that ensure the necessary empowerment and ownership needed for meaningful language learning.