[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ks7jOdJ88&w=560&h=315]

 
Potential for learning in VWs

While exploring the space before our online meeting in Small Worlds (SW) this week, I walked around the garden, looked at the food and drink laid out in the kitchen, and watched an excellent Youtube video clip by Karelia Kondor about her “absolutely compelling experience” learning languages through the Virtual World, Second Life, in the SW living room.

Wanting to improve her Italian language skills, Karelia came across a weekly class held by Anna, who manipulates “…the lack of a pre-determined narrative or plot-driven storyline” (Warburton 2009: 416) to great effect by creating tasks that may not be possible in Real Life (RL) that force her students to communicate in Italian. For example, Karelia describes a fun task where students sit on a chair, answer questions, and the seat takes them up to the top with each correct answer. Once at the top there is another activity to complete, an anagram, or crossword, which, once done, leads on to the next challenging task. Fun activities help participants to ‘relax, enjoy each others company and give the incentive to have a go’. It is clear from Karelia’s description that these game-like features of VWs enhance motivation.

Often engaging with native speakers, Karelia is exposed to authentic target language input. As Peterson (2010) points out, “The presence of native speakers creates conditions in which communication problems may occur, providing opportunities for learners to negotiate meaning” (Peterson 2010: 432). Indeed, Karelia’s experience of chatting and singing with native speakers, also provided the opportunity for the production of natural output. She often talks about laughing and enjoying herself. This is a great example of how  “3D VWs provide an immersive experience around which people can connect together” (Warburton 2009).

Learning Activities in VWs

Karelia’s experimentation reveals a host of benefits for learners, and specifically, language learners. Indeed, Warburton references a useful list of current educational activities of SL (Kay & Fitzgerald, cited in Warburton 2009):

• self-paced tutorials
• displays and exhibits
• immersive exhibits
• role plays and simulations
• data visualisations and simulations
• historical recreations and re-enactments
• living and immersive archaeology
• machinima construction
• treasure hunts and quests
• langauge and cultural immersion
• creative writing

Barriers for Teaching and Learning in VWs

Relative ease of access to the internet and digital tools, means that it is easier than ever to create online activities that hook people in to learning languages. However, 3D environments, such as SL, are not without their downsides. What with the pace of technological advancement, it might be costly for institutions or individuals wh to keep upgrading your computer in order to run VW programmes.

Time is another limitation to teaching in VWs, as proven by the tutor who created the SW environment in which we held our online meeting – it took one year to construct! Now, I am a patient person, but the effort vs. reward is very slim in that scenario.

We must also consider safety when organising activies online. These spaces are open for all, and your activities may attract unwanted attention. Indeed, in the middle of our meeting, we had a number of strangers just turn up, and our tutor had to forcibly eject them from the room! As adults we can exert such a pragmatic approach to unwanted guests, but young learners may not yet possess that wisdom. As Milton (2013) suggests, “…young learners access may have to be limited and controlled to ensure they are not placed in the way of danger.”

Similary, if you are unfamilar with VWs, an online environment such as SL, “…can feel destabilising – and – outside the ‘safety zone’ – a place of no limits, no boundaries and no restrictions on behaviour” Warburton (2009). In this way, it is important that teachers establish rules of conduct to protect their students while working in-world.

References

Milton, J. (2013) Second Language Acquisition via Second Life. In Chapelle C.A. (Ed) The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Peterson, M. (2010) ‘Massively multiplayer online role-playing games as arenas for second language learning’. Computer Assited Language Learning, 23, 5, pp 429-439

Warburton, S. (2009) ‘Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching’. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40, 3, 414-426.