Language Teaching in Second Life

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Language Teaching in Second Life

• Mehmet Sahin
• Iowa State University

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Advantages of virtual worlds

• flexible applicability
• creativity
• accommodating learning preferences
• enhancing student motivation and engagement
• facilitating collaboration
• providing experiential learning opportunities
  unavailable in traditional learning environments
• sense of social presence

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Effective use of SL in teaching other fields

• business
• architecture
• art
• fashion
• theatre

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Lessons learnt- teaching business in SL

• Careful and time-consuming course preparation
• Steep learning curve for newbie students
• The use of this application ignites student
  interest in the subject matter, but also creates
  room for pedagogical issues
• SL gives students a unique immersive perspective
  on eCommerce and Entrepreneurship
• Calls for multiple reflective opportunities both
  on and off the grid
• Mennecke and Hassall (2007)

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Language teaching

• Languagelab.com
• Kamimo Islands Project
• Second House of Sweden
• Ecole de Langue Varadi
• Tibetan language in SL
• AvatarEnglish.com

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Languagelab.com

• audiovisual components and direct interaction
  with teachers and other students in social
  environments such as restaurants, museums and a
  bus depot
• task-based and contextual learning
• (Edgware Marker)

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Kamimo Islands Project

• collaborative effort by three universities to
  create a unique space for research, communication
  and socialization within Second Life
• Social English for Doctoral Students
• Scandinavians and Balts tend to lose out at
  international conferences (in terms of being
  invited onto research teams, having their papers
  published, etc) because they're a bit shy when
  they have to make contacts, schmooze and assert
  themselves in English (Richardson)

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Kamimo Islands Project

• We had our first teaching session on the Oral
  Production course yesterday evening. There were
  about 9 students there (some came late ), and we
  managed to cover quite a lot of ground. The
  students presented their findings from a week of
  SL exploration, and they practised being polite
  and courteous in English. There were one or two
  who needed help getting their voice chat working,
  but we managed to get that sorted on the hoof
  without disrupting the rest of the
  activities.Immediately after the session, I
  posted feedback on the course web site and
  published a podcast about it too, both of which
  are accessible from the course web site.The
  facilities worked very well - almost too well, in
  fact. I'm going to work on small group work
  between now and next time, so that groups don't
  disturb each other's work. (Richardson)

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Swedish Institute

• One of the instructors in Second House of Sweden
  says
• There is a lot of demand for Swedish lessons out
  there from people who dont have easy access to
  such lessons immersive distance learning works,
  but the learning curve can be steep its
  important to have structured lessons and
  finally, instead of just asking people to show
  up, a better model may be to have people apply,
  and then use Second Life as the immersive aural
  part of a course, complemented by worksheets and
  video that they can watch at their leisure. But
  well see it certainly is promising to be able
  to reach people who would otherwise never have
  any face time with a live Swedish teacher.

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Ecole de Langue Varadi

• This school is planning to offer 33 foreign
  languages with a method known as "Around a
  language in 80 hours", which permits taking a
  beginner to a general autonomy level in 80
  lessons. They will use the same method for the
  courses delivered through Second Life. The
  virtual classroom of Ecole Varadi in Second Life
  is Piazza San Marco in Venice, reproduced with
  high fidelity.

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Tibetan Language in SL

• William Magee in Dharma Drum Buddhist College,
  has developed digital Tibetan language learning
  systems on a variety of digital platforms
  including Second Life. He used three materials
  in his course
• (1) brief audio language-data units accompanied
  by corresponding text
• (2) virtual 3-D "primitives" created in Second
  Life to deliver programmed sound, text, and
  interaction.
• (3) machinima video tutorial to provide broad
  overviews of the content of lessons and specific
  directions about use.

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Tibetan Language in SL

• Magee used machinima assignments as
  language-learning projects to assess student
  learning (e.g. two students can collaborate in SL
  to record a dialogue).
• Several benefits of creating language programs in
  Second Life
• Ease of implementation
• Situational flexibility
• Participant Control
• Project-based Testing Metrics.

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SurReal quests in SL

• Howard Vickers, the founder of avatarenglish.com
  in SL, proposes SurReal quests as a language
  learning activity in virtual worlds (Vickers,
  2007). SurReal quests are adapted from WebQuests
  to enable learners to talk with real people in
  the foreign language to gain specific information
  and complete real communication within the
  virtual world.
• The aim is to mimic face to face communication,
  both in terms of the social functions and the
  information conveying functions, through creating
  a genuine need to communicate. The quest creates
  the need to communicate because the learner
  researches both on the Internet (sources are
  suggested by the teacher) and within Second Life,
  allowing personal and immediate knowledge to be
  gained. The learner edits and crafts the
  information into the final product a podcast,
  video-podcast (vodcast) or text. Select to view
  examples of learner created podcasts.
• Intended specifically for language education,
  SurReal Quests (Vickers 2007) combine the social
  and communicative aspects of Second Life with the
  wealth of information available on the Web.

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References

• The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE
  Learning Initiative. (2007). The Horizon Report.
  Retrieved March 20,2007, from http//www.nmc.org/p
  df/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf
• Gee, J. P. (2003). What videogames have to teach
  us about learning and literacy. New
• York Palgrave Macmillan.
• Kirriemuir, J., McFarlane, A. (2003).
  Literature review in games and learning.
• Retrieved August 10, 2006, from Futurelab Web
  site http//www.futurelab.org.uk/research/lit_rev
  iews.htmlr08
• Dede, C., Clarke, J., Ketelhut, D., Nelson, B.,
  Bowman, C. (2005). Fostering motivation,
  learning, and transfer in multiuser virtual
  environments. Paper presented at the American
  Educational Research Association
  Conference,Montreal.
• Prensky, M. (2006). Dont bother me, Mom, Im
  learning! How computer and video games are
  preparing your kids for 21st century success and
  how you can help! St. Paul Paragon House.
• http//fitsl.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/elaine-polvi
  nen-teaching-fashion-in-a-virtual-environment/
• http//www.bus.iastate.edu/mennecke/503/SecondLife
  Overview.ppt
• This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th,
  2007 at 409 pm and is filed under Digital
  Crossroads, TechOne, PodTech.
• http//www.podtech.net/home/4233/teaching-architec
  ture-via-second-life-interview-with-terry-beaubois
  
• http//www.elearningeuropa.info/community/index.ph
  p?pageforumtopicf1t23
• http//kamimo-islands.blogspot.com/
• http//swedishlearningspace.wordpress.com/2007/11/
  08/swedish-teaching-in-second-life/
• http//secondhouseofsweden.com/
• http//elib.ddbc.edu.tw/magee/shared/Future_Tibet
  an_Article/Future_Tibetan_In_Second_Life.htm
• http//kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/edition-
  15/surreal-quests-enriched-purposeful-language-lea
  rning-in-second-life/
• http//www.educause.edu/Program/13300?PRODUCT_CODE
  ELI081/FS08