1。2 Objective of the Study

First, based on quantitive analysis, this study aims to find out the general patterns of EFL MOOCs (listening & speaking) based on lesson videos from major platforms。 Second, a comparative study of Chinese & American EFL MOOCs will be conducted to reveal different configurations of meanings in these videos。 Third, through the investigation of videos。 This paper intends to enrich the study of EFL MOOCs and provide some suggestions for future MOOC development。 Last but not least, it is hoped that the theory of multimodality will also be enriched by this study。

1。3 Significance of the Study

English is one of the most popular language in this globalized world。 It is a window for us to a  maintain a broaden view of the world。 More and more parents and schools value English education very much。 Many EFL MOOCs are developed by institutions as well as inpiduals。 However, traditional language teaching classes shows many weakness in practice。 A growing need for more effective and natural way  of EFL teaching requires us to make some change。

America has richer experience both in L2 teaching and online education。 Comparing American EFL online classes to Chinese one will not only inspire the future development of Chinese EFL online courses but also to the face-to-face classes。 Online EFL classes maintain some common features with face-to-face classes。 Through studying multi modals in American & Chinese EFL, we can manage to provide suggestions for both online and face-to-face English classes。

1。4 Organization of the Study

The study consists of 5 parts, introduction, literature review, theoretical framework, course analysis and conclusions。 The introduction part illustrates the skeleton of the research。 i。 e。, background information, objectives, significance and the general structure of the study。 The literature review presents an overview of present research。 Part 3 provides the theoretical foundations for this study。 The fourth part deals with how linguistic & non-linguistic modalities are organized to construct multimodal lessons。 Speech alone cannot fulfill the task of meaning constructions。 Section five summarizes the study and provides some suggestions based on analysis 。 Last section concludes the whole paper and discusses limitations of present study。

2。 Literature Review

This part intends to review the literature from two key fields that inform this study: multimodality and EFL MOOCs。 Major findings of previous studies will be introduced and the research area for the current study will be established。

2。1 An Introduction to Multimodal Analysis

2。1。1 Definition of Multimodality

Multimodal analysis is an emerging paradigm in studies which extends to the study of language in combination with other resources, such as images, scientific symbolism, gesture, action, music and sound。 Multi refers to the fact that modes never occur by themselves, but always integrate to create meaning 。 Therefore, multimodality is characterized by the presence and use of a multiplicity of modes。 Language is inherently multimodal and that literacy is not confined to language。 (O'Halloran, KayL, Smith, 2011) Usually, in any lesson, several modes are ‘ in use’ at the same time: teachers take up certain, always meaningful, positions in the space of the classroom, textual objects are present and usually, but not always。 We see all the modes are sources for making (different kinds of) meaning-as-signs。 Following Halliday (1978:  123), semiotic resources are systems of meanings that constitute the reality of the culture。 Here in this paper, we talk about modes that illustrative purposes only。论文网