VIRTUAL WORLD LANGUAGE LEARNING

HISTORY 1970s Colossal Cave Adventure, a text- only simulation in which the user communicated with the computer by typing commands at the keyboard. 1990s Traveler, included the possibility of audio communication (but not text chat) 2007 Languagelab.com's, (audio communication) solution was integrated with Second Life. Prior to that, teachers and students used separate applications for voice chat

 Almost all virtual world educational projects envisage a blended learning approach whereby the language learners are exposed to a 3D virtual environment for a specific activity or time period.  Immersive ] ]  Social  Creative APPROACHES TO EDUCATION IN VIRTUAL WORLDS

 The "Six learnings framework" is a pedagogical outline developed for virtual world education in general. It sets out six possible ways to view an educational activity  Exploring  Collaborating  Being  Building  Championing  Expressing SIX LEARNING FRAMEWORK

 3D virtual worlds are often used for construtivist learning because of the opportunities for learners to explore, collaborate and be immersed within an environment of their choice. CONSTRUTIVIST APPROACH

 Task-based language learning focuses on the use of authentic language and encourages students to do real life tasks using the language being learned TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING

 Dogme language teaching is an approach that is essentially communicative, focusing mainly on conversation between learners and teacher rather than conventional textbooks. DOGME LANGUAGE TEACHING

 A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Virtual world WebQuests: combine the concept of 2D WebQuests with the immersive and social experiences of 3D virtual worlds WEBQUESTS

 The concept of real-life language villages has been replicated within virtual worlds to create a language immersion environment for language learners in their own country. LANGUAGE VILLAGES

 A virtual classroom is an online learning environment VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

 Language learning can take place in public spaces within virtual worlds. This offers greater flexibility with locations and students can choose the locations themselves, which enables a more constructivist approach  Virtual worlds offer opportunities for autonomous learning. VIRTUAL TOURISM Autonomous learning

 Buddy learning, takes autonomous learning one step further. This form of learning involves two people with different native languages working together as a pair in order to help one another to improve their language skills. TANDEM LEARNING

 Voice chat is a modern form of communication used on the Internet. VOICE CHAT

 Second language experiments is a group managed by Nergiz Kern (Daffodil Fargis in Second Life) for collecting and sharing ideas on how to use Second Life for teaching foreign languages. The group meets twice a month  The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable (VWER) group meets each week to talk about issues that concern educators with regard to using virtual worlds as a teaching and learning too. VIRTUAL WORLD CONFERENCE

 Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)  Synthetic immersive environments (SIEs)  Augmented reality language learning (ARLL) BEYOND VIRTUAL WORLDS

MOBILE-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

 Describes an approach to language learning that is assisted through the use of a handheld mobile device.  MALL is a subset of both Mobile Learning (m-learning) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL).  Has evolved to support students’ language learning with the increased use of mobile technologies such as mobile phones (cellphones), MP3 and MP4 players, PDAs and devices such as the iPhone or iPad.  Students are able to access language learning materials and to communicate with their teachers and peers at anytime, anywhere. MALL

1980s  Twarog and Pereszlenyi Pinter used telephones to provide distant language learners with feedback and assistance. 1990s  Instructors at Brigham Young University-Hawaii taught a distance education English course from Hawaii to Tonga via telephone and computer (Green, Collier, & Evans, 2001) 2000s  Dickey (2001) utilized teleconferencing to teach an English conversation course to students in South Korea. HISTORY

 University of Wisconsin–Madison, developed several foreign language courses which have used wireless handheld computers for various classroom activities (Samuels, 2003).  Thornton and Houser (2002; 2003; 2005) developed several innovative projects using mobile phones to teach English at a Japanese university  A project in Ireland used MALL for Irish Language learning and assessment HISTORY

 Due to the growth of wireless and emerging technologies, MALL is available through numerous devices including mobile phones, iPods, tablet PCs, hand-held computers, PDAs, MP3 players, Smartphones and more.  MALL currently serves not only as a primary source of language education for students but also supports the retention and utilization of newly acquired language skills— however they were acquired. CURRENT TRENDS

 Researchers are experimenting with the new way of learning using smart phone. For example Mobile Assisted Word- Learning (MAWL) is an augmented reality based collaborative social-networking interface for learning new words using a smartphone.  MAWL keeps track and saves all textual contexts during reading process along with providing augmented reality-based assistance such as images, translation into native language, synonyms, antonyms, sentence usage etc. THE FUTURE OF MALL

Collaborative learning is the acquisition of knowledge, skills or attitudes occurring in individuals as a result of group interaction. Collaborative learning is a student-centered approach to learning where the instructor is more like a facilitator than a teacher.  Collaboration on a mobile phone can be achieved by asynchronous text messaging and instant messaging or a phone conversation. In each instance learning can take place but the phones serve only as the delivery method for that information.  A tablet PC or a PDA can allow learners to collaborate on documents while at different locations, find information from multiple sources to build ideas with partners, and make information about learning activities portable and easily accessible. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN MALL