Marina Orsini-Jones

Coventry University, Humanities, Faculty Member

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I am Professor in Global Higher Education Practice (Applied Linguistics) in the Research Centre for Global Learning at Coventry University. I obtained my doctorate in 2012 with a dissertation titled: Towards a Role-reversal model of action-research-supported threshold concepts in languages and linguistics. I pioneered e-learning innovation in the 90s, when, as then Head of Italian, I created a multimedia CD-ROM to teach Italian language, culture and society with my students that was adopted by the Edexcel examination body for ‘A’ level Italian and by various HE Italian departments worldwide. I have organised many workshops for HE Institutions over the last 25 years, both in the UK and overseas, for example on e-portfolios in language learning, on the effective use of Virtual Learning Environments, on threshold concepts pedagogy, on Massive Open Online Courses and Collaborative Online International Learning/Virtual Exchanges. I have presented at over 100 national and international conferences and am part of the editorial review boards of various journals and conferences. I have been awarded pedagogical research grants from the HEA and the British Council and published in my areas of expertise, often with my students, as I like to see my practice and my research through their 'looking glass'. I have worked with numerous international partners, for example from Austria, Brazil, Mexico, China, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland Sweden, the Netherlands and Viet Nam. In 2013 I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from the HEA (Higher Education Academy), in recognition of the national and international impact of my innovative work in languages and linguistics. In 2016, I obtained a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. I have extensive experience as external examiner in the HE UK sector. I am passionate about knowledge-sharing on e-learning for applied linguistics and have recently set up a Research Network for AILA in collaboration with Prof. Kyria Finardi from UFES in Brazil and Prof. Azirah Hashim from Universiti Malaya in Malaysia: English as a Medium of Education, Multilingualism and the SDGs: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

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Virtual Exchange as a Transformational Third Space for English Language Teacher Education

International journal of computer-assisted language learning and teaching, Dec 14, 2023

This article discusses Vietnam Virtual EXchange for English Language Teaching (ViVEXELT), a proje... more This article discusses Vietnam Virtual EXchange for English Language Teaching (ViVEXELT), a project funded by the British Council-Vietnam (Digital Learning Innovation Fund Pilot-Response to COVID-19). It makes a substantial contribution to the theorization of Virtual Exchange as a fertile and inclusive knowledge-sharing Third Space. ViVEXELT proposes a distinctive internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) model, where students and staff involved in formal ELT courses in higher education collaborate with ELT practitioners from other ELT educational sectors to co-construct Sustainable Development Goals-inspired ELT materials. ViVEXELT attracted over 200 participants from 46 different educational level institutions between June 2021 and March 2022. The rich qualitative data collected illustrate that ViVEXELT supported its participants with developing online interactional and intercultural competence, while also providing them with opportunity to reflect on the learning gains from the pandemic for their future ELT practice, such as the effective use of breakout rooms.

Action-research and role-reversal-informed creation of a Zoom breakout room guide for e-CIIC mediators

Discussing Global Citizenship through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) - Virtual Exchange (VE) in Language Learning and Teaching

This paper reports on how a Zoom breakout room (BoR) guide for E-CIIC (e-Classroom Interactional ... more This paper reports on how a Zoom breakout room (BoR) guide for E-CIIC (e-Classroom Interactional and Intercultural Competence) mediators was created as an unexpected outcome of project ViVEXELT (Vietnam Virtual EXchange for English Language Teaching). ViVEXELT was funded by the British Council and the National Foreign Language Project in Vietnam (digital learning innovation fund pilot – response to COVID-19, 2021-2022). The grant was awarded to provide research and insights to respond to specific questions about remote or digital capacity building during/post COVID not yet investigated in Vietnam. The ViVEXELT team delivered two iterations of a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Virtual Exchange (VE) course, in June-July 2021 and in October-November 2021 and reached over 200 participants, from 41 different educational institutions in Vietnam and five in the UK. The evaluation of the project was carried out with a mixed method approach. Rich qualitative data were collected fro...

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Discussing Global Citizenship through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) -Virtual Exchange (VE) in Language Learning and Teaching Symposium Proceedings

by Kyria Finardi and Marina Orsini-Jones

Coventry University, 2023

This is the edited collection of the papers presented at an international symposium held at Coven... more This is the edited collection of the papers presented at an international symposium held at Coventry University in hybrid mode on 16th November 2022. The publication aims to share research findings and good Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) - Virtual Exchange (VE) theory and practice for the development of global citizenship competences for the 21st Century, with a focus on language teacher education and language learning.

The papers bring a variety of perspectives on COIL-VE for language learning and teaching and report on COIL-VE projects involving Higher Education Institutions from Spain, Brazil, France, Turkey, Vietnam and the UK.

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A ‘Glocal’ Community of Practice to Support International ELT (English Language Teaching) Students in the UK: Project BMELTET

by Kyria Finardi and Marina Orsini-Jones

IGI Global, 2022

This chapter reports on the project ‘Blending MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) into English La... more This chapter reports on the project ‘Blending MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) into English Language Teaching (ELT) Education with Telecollaboration (BMELTET)’. BMELTET aims to foster reflection on ELT with a COIL-(Collaborative Online International Learning) MOOC blend. It promotes the engagement of international students based in the UK and studying on a Master’s degree in ELT, with students and staff based in universities in Brazil, China and Spain and with the participants on the MOOC from all over the world. BMELTET aims to debunk the myth of the ‘native speaker’ as the ideal teacher of English language, thus decolonising ELT through dialogic online intercultural exchanges in a safe ‘Third Space’. Data were collected via two online surveys, the analysis of the ‘live’ Zoom exchanges and focus groups with self-selected groups of students. This chapter reports on the impact that BMELTET had on the international students involved in it.

https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/a-glocal-community-of-practice-to-support-international-elt-engli

Troublesome grammar knowledge and action-research-led curriculum design: two case studies from the Department of English and Languages at Coventry University

Discussing Global Citizenship through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) - Virtual Exchange (VE) in Language Learning and Teaching

Network-based Language Learning at Coventry University - Constructing and Sharing Knowledge Via Webct

Les As. veulent montrer comment l'introduction a la plateforme en ligne WebCT (Web Communicat... more Les As. veulent montrer comment l'introduction a la plateforme en ligne WebCT (Web Communication Tools) dans la didactique de tous les cours de l'Universite de Coventry (Grande-Bretagne) a favorise une reflexion sur l'apprentissage linguistique entre enseignants et etudiants et aide a une reorganisation des cours d'italien et d'informatique. Les As. passent en revue les modeles preexistants d'integration de plateforme en ligne dans la didactique universitaire, pour proposer ensuite une alternative. Ils veulent egalement determiner en quoi l'apprentissage electronique des langues est facilite par l'usage du WebCT

Listen to me! Horizon-Wimba Voice Tools for WebCT

Supporting Collaborative Grammar Learning via a Virtual Learning Environment

Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, Feb 1, 2007

This article reports the results of an investigation into the issues encountered by undergraduate... more This article reports the results of an investigation into the issues encountered by undergraduate language students while engaging in ‘the Grammar Project’ - a collaborative assessment task for the module Academic and Professional Skills for Language Learning - and shows how encouraging students to take ownership of their learning process with the support of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can increase their motivation and their understanding of the subject matter. It shows that students’ beliefs may hinder their learning experience, while maintaining that an effective social-interactive environment can help them understand subject-specific concepts, particularly if this is supported by recording their reflections both within the VLE and in a portfolio.

Implementing institutional change for languages: online collaborative learning environments at Coventry University

ReCALL, Sep 1, 1999

This paper stems out of the author's work developed thanks to her secondment as the representativ... more This paper stems out of the author's work developed thanks to her secondment as the representative for Languages to the Task Force for Teaching, Learning and Assessment at Coventry University. The aim of the secondment is to disseminate a recognised model of good CALL practice, the FREE-Fluid Role-Exchange Environment (Orsini-Jones and Jones 1996, Orsini-Jones 1999), to other areas of Italian Studies, to languages other than Italian and to the rest of the university. This paper will show how the model was disseminated to the teaching of EFL and Italian translation studies via the use of the Web. The paper will finally consider a few issues relating to the impact of the implementation of C&IT change in Languages.

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Innovation in Collaborative Online International Learning: A Holistic Blend

Lecture notes in educational technology, 2020

This chapter outlines innovative models and case studies of Collaborative Online International Le... more This chapter outlines innovative models and case studies of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) implemented at Coventry University (UK). The institutional drive towards the integration of COIL as part of internationalisation of the curriculum will be outlined, as well as a brief overview of the issues relating to the design and delivery of pedagogies for intercultural online learning. Staff incentives and capability development in facilitating students' engagement in meaningful intercultural interactions will also be considered. In particular, and through the sharing of case studies, this chapter will discuss the 'holistic blend' that COIL can offer. We will illustrate what students stand to gain beyond the immediate action learning of the online dynamic alongside face to face interaction. Such interaction includes the development of critical digital literacy skills, the acquisition of interactional online communication skills, and importantly, openness to knowledge pluralization. It will be argued that consideration must be given to where in the curriculum students should encounter COIL pedagogies and to how to synchronise and merge COIL within the wider course programme. This is to enable students to make sense of COIL as part of their wider internationalised curriculum and not to see it as an add on. Finally, further research recommendations for the design and delivery of COIL, based on the last decade of practices at Coventry University, will be shared.

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<i>Supporting a course in new literacies and skills for linguists with a Virtual Learning Environment. Results from a staff/student collaborative action-research project at Coventry University</i>

ReCALL, May 1, 2004

Contained within this issue is a selection of papers presented at the 2003 annual EUROCALL Confer... more Contained within this issue is a selection of papers presented at the 2003 annual EUROCALL Conference, hosted during September in Limerick, Ireland. This was the second time that Ireland had the privilege of welcoming EUROCALLers, the first being the conference at Dublin City University in 1997 organised by Françoise Blin. The theme of EUROCALL 2003, "New literacies in language learning and teaching", aimed to focus attention on the changing concepts and practices concerning literacy brought about by technological developments, particularly in relation to language learning and teaching. Sub-themes focused on the changes in practices involving literacy brought about by the World Wide Web; the need to re-interpret current teaching paradigms; the relationship between the more "traditional" language skills and the "new literacies"; interactivity, learner interaction, and feedback; and spoken and written corpora in language teaching and learning. This last theme reintroduced to EUROCALL an important research area which had been well represented in the early days of the association, and has led directly to the creation of a new SIG within the association in March 2004. The keynote speeches, while not included in this volume, deserve special mention as they served to situate the themes of the conference in a broader context.

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Measures for inclusion: coping with the challenge of visual impairment and blindness in mainstream university undergraduate level language learning

Repository for the Virtual Environment (CURVE) Marina Orsini-Jones Measures for inclusion: coping... more Repository for the Virtual Environment (CURVE) Marina Orsini-Jones Measures for inclusion: coping with the challenge of visual impairment and blindness in mainstream university undergraduate level language learning Author Post-Print Orsini-Jones, M. (2009) 'Measures for inclusion: coping with the challenge of visual impairment and blindness in mainstream university undergraduate level language learning'.

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Shared Spaces and ‘Secret Gardens

IGI Global eBooks, May 25, 2010

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Supporting foreign language learning for a blind student: a case study from Coventry University

Support for Learning, Aug 1, 2005

This article outlines the adjustments made to provide an accessible learning environment within t... more This article outlines the adjustments made to provide an accessible learning environment within the first-year undergraduate curriculum of the languages degree course at Coventry University. Marina Orsini-Jones, Kathy Courtney and Anne Dickinson describe how language staff collaborated with the Centre for Higher Education Development and the Teaching and Learning Support Unit both to raise awareness amongst all students about accessibility issues and to adapt materials for a blind student reading French, German and Spanish. The article includes a discussion of the challenges faced, and provides an action plan for future adjustments to the languages materials in line with the lesson learnt from the case study.

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Student-driven intercultural awareness raising with MexCo: agency, autonomy and threshold concepts in a telecollaborative project between the UK and Mexico

Study Skills for Masters’ level ‘through the looking glass’ of Chinese students on the MA in English Language Teaching at Coventry University

Online teaching and learning: assessing academic library skills

Marina Orsini-Jones

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