Piccolo Mondo: Virtual worlds for language learning: a look at Second Life by Kate Borthwick and Ann Jeffery, University of Southampton

Session 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? 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 learning 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 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 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!

Growing up 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 Italian So how has Second Life helped me with my Italian?

My experience 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 perspective Mettiamo 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

La metta in salone. Vicino al fuori Q:Dov’é metto il divano? A :La metta in salone. Vicino al fuori

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 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?

Conversation 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 barriers Definite cost in time and effort Some investment of money It takes time to get started Technical issues Interface issues

Benefits 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 experience Immersive Collaborative Active learning Role-play Speed of learning Importance of cultural knowledge

Demo 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 articles Find out about Second Life at 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, The University of California IT Guidance Committee provides a site of useful Second Life information links at: +Papers