Piccolo Mondo: Virtual worlds for language learning:
a look at Second Life
by
Kate Borthwick and Ann Jeffery,
University of Southampton
Session outlineSession outline
• What is Second Life?
• Our interest in Second Life for language learning
• How we got started in SL
• Benefits and barriers
• Demo
What is Second Life?What is Second Life?
• Virtual, 3-D world
• More than 2,700,000 people registered
• Social networking service
• Rich environment
• Free, but a cost for building/owning land
Our interest in SL for language Our interest in SL for language learninglearning
• Users can create content for others to access and use
• Over 100 ‘islands’ created for educational use
• Research at an early stage
• General potential for language learning
La mia seconda vitaLa mia seconda vita
• My perspective of the adult learner• 2 main difficulties :
– getting to classes– Practising Italian conversation
• Wanted to explore SL community– What were SL communities actually like?– Were there other language learners?– Would it help me to learn Italian?
• Short overview of my experience
Starting outStarting out
• Choose your name from:– A Linden surname and a personal forename– This affects how people respond to you– My Italian name means Italian people speak to me
• Create a basic avatar• Learn the essential movement controls• You decide how you want to look.
• Red hair because it often gets a ‘bad press’, green eyes because I could
• Unusual combination in SL, gets attention!
GrowingGrowing upup
• Overcome shyness, reserve, gain confidence
• SL can be a real social leveller
• I found friendly, helpful people who have actively helped out
• Friends from across the world, across different time zones.
Learning ItalianLearning Italian
So how has Second Life helped me with my Italian?
My My experienceexperience
• In 4 days, I needed to extend my vocabulary etc.
• Dictionaries, verb tables and grammar books.
• Translating songs, making jokes, cultural concepts, phrases and sayings.
• Now faster with fewer mistakes
Teacher’s perspectiveTeacher’s perspectiveMettiamo i mobili? A learning activityMettiamo i mobili? A learning activity
• Uses the culture of SL• Having land and creating a home
• Students create a personal space,• Choose and move their furniture
• Could support language learning functions:• Learn directions, position and types of furniture.
• Assessment• Screenshots
• Recorded dialogues• Reflective diary• Finished house
Q: Dov’é metto il divano?A : La metta in salone. La metta in salone.
Vicino al fuoriVicino al fuori
Are there other benefits?Are there other benefits?
• Learning styles can be explored
– Visual and kinesthetic are fairly evident, but auditory styles could prove interesting.
• Students acquire higher-level skills
– such as negotiation, intercultural communication, social, personal and creative skills.
The environmentThe environment
•Endless possibilities:
•snowboarding, sailing, waterslides, dancing…
•Exploring is one of the most fun things you can do in Second Life. You can do just about anything.
•How does it benefit language learning?
ConversationConversation
• Sailing in Nantucket - a themed sim• New environments promote new topics of conversation • The conversation turns to boats, and Venice.• Notecard on the bottom right shows how I include accents.
Benefits and barriersBenefits and barriers
• Definite cost in time and effort
• Some investment of money
• It takes time to get started
• Technical issues
• Interface issues
Benefits and barriersBenefits and barriers
• On the positive side:• Immersive
– Difficult to dip in (very sociable)– Hours spent practising Italian
• The limit does appear to be your imagination• Friendly, sociable, collaborative• Rather like the www in the beginning…
– Clunky, quirky but undeniably fun.
Overall learning experienceOverall learning experience
• Immersive
• Collaborative
• Active learning
• Role-play
• Speed of learning
• Importance of cultural knowledge
DemoDemo
• A quick view of the environment, the ‘learning centre’, the informal space where we meet up.
• Chat in-world with Glenn Hardaker, University of Huddersfield
Useful links and articlesUseful links and articles• Find out about Second Life at http://secondlife.com/• Second Life: the official Guide (2007) by Rymaszewski,
M., Wagner, J.A., Wallace, M., Winters, C., Ondrejka, C., Batstone-Cunningham, B., and Second Life residents. Pub: Wiley
• A useful article about language learning with Second Life by Vance Stevens,
http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej39/int.html• The University of California IT Guidance Committee
provides a site of useful Second Life information links at:http://www.ucop.edu:8080/display/SecondLife/
Articles+and+Papers