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