Mısır, HülyaIşık-Güler, Hale2022-02-162022-02-162022Mısır, H. & Işık-Güler, Hale. (2022). “Be a better version of you!”: A corpus-driven critical discourse analysis of MOOC platforms’ marketing communication. Linguistics and Education, 69. (Online first). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.1010210898-5898https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101021https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12695/1491TARAMASCOPUSThis study examines the representation, reconstruction, and promotion of the ’ideal subject’ of the job market in the promotional materials of the online/life-long learning platforms known as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). We take a corpus-driven critical discourse analysis to investigate the marketing language in the subscription e-mails and websites of six English-medium MOOC platforms. The analysis shows that the platforms use an array of promotional persuasion strategies, including advice-giving, autonomization and responsibilization of individuals and reinforce a self-betterment discourse to create marketable employees. Through the use of a distinct blend of higher education, marketing, and self- help discourses, the skills-oriented language explicitly references job insecurity and urges the individual to (re)build oneself tirelessly to remain demandable/marketable, neglecting an intellectual advancement angle. This ideology legitimizes the neoliberal demands for the enterprising-self and employability and feeds into one’s fear of failure, ranking individuals in the society based on a value-adding/detracting practice.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessMassive Open Online CoursesEnterprising-selfHigher education discourseJob market discourseSelf-help discourseCorpus-driven critical discourse analysisArticle69Q1