Virtual worlds and language learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabela Melchor-Couto
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Affective Variables ◽  
One Step ◽  
The Eu

Technology has made an invaluable contribution to foreign language (FL) teaching, particularly so in recent years. The advanced technical capabilities offered by digital games, including voice and text chat, take the use of computer-mediated communication in language learning one step further, allowing for remote, anonymous and situated learner interaction. This article presents an overview on how virtual worlds (VWs) are being used for educational purposes and for FL teaching in particular. A literature review on existing research has been included, covering areas such as FL interaction, impact on affective variables and attitudes towards the use of these environments. Special attention will be devoted to how VW interaction may affect students’ anxiety, motivation and self-efficacy beliefs. Finally, teacher perceptions will be explored through the data collected among 179 secondary school FL teachers participating in the EU-funded TeCoLa project (‘Pedagogical differentiation through telecollaboration and gaming for intercultural and content integrated language teaching’).

Effect of SCMC on foreign language anxiety and learning experience: A comparison of voice, video, and VR-based oral interaction

ReCALL ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70
Author(s):  
James York ◽  
Koichi Shibata ◽  
Hayato Tokutake ◽  
Hiroshi Nakayama
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Communication Modalities

AbstractStudies on computer-mediated communication often compare the affective affordances of different technologies with face-to-face communication. This study aimed to understand how three different computer-mediated communication modalities may affect EFL learners’ foreign language anxiety (FLA). Using a counterbalanced 3 by 3 factorial design, 30 undergraduate Japanese university students participated in this study, completing a spot-the-difference task in three different oral synchronous computer-mediated communication modes: voice, video, and virtual reality (VR). Upon completing each task, participants responded to an FLA questionnaire and answered questions regarding their learning experiences. Finally, a post-experiment questionnaire asked participants to explicitly compare their experiences of learning within each modality. Results suggest that although all three modes were successful in reducing learner FLA, no statistically significant differences were found between mean scores. However, the results of the learner perceptions questionnaire suggested that VR was the easiest environment to communicate in, was the most fun, and the most effective environment for language learning. Participant responses to an open-ended question suggested that learner dispositions to technology as well as their affective characteristics may be responsible for differing opinions regarding the affordances of VR for language learning. The study concludes with a call for more research in the area of learner affect and technology use, including studies that more effectively utilize the technological affordances of VR, and also qualitatively assess which elements of VR may affect learner FLA and motivation.

Current Trends in Online Language Learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 19-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Blake
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Development ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Virtual Classes

Online language learning (OLL) can take place in Web-facilitated, hybrid, or fully virtual classes. These formats are beginning to attract serious attention from the language profession and, in particular, the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). This article traces recent studies of online learning and then focuses in on its application to language learning through tutorial CALL, social computing, and games for language learning. I strive to show that tutorial CALL and computer-mediated communication can complement each other in the service of modern language instruction, along with the inclusion of language games. Although assessment studies of OLL remain sparse, the evidence is steadily mounting that shows that these new formats can provide learning environments conducive to successful second language development when properly integrated into the curriculum.

Promoting Autonomous Language Learning in Online Environments

10.47908/9/15 ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 165-280
Author(s):  
Maria De Santo ◽  
Luisa Boardman
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Autonomous Learning ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Integration Of Technology ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The University

The Self-Access Language Centre of the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (CILA) promotes the development of autonomy in language learning, offering a wide range of technology-based resources and a language counselling service. In the last few years, to satisfy the growing need for independent language learning in our university, we have integrated autonomous learning in the SAC with online pathways and multimedia materials. We started by offering online Self-Access activities in blended courses, integrating face-to-face classroom teaching with online modules. This experiment enabled us to develop a kind of blended autonomous learning, combining a real-life SAC with online Self-Access Centres. Virtual SACs suggest a variety of language learning activities and allow learners to study a language while reflecting on their learning process. In the online SAC, language counsellors implement the language learner’s autonomy promoted in presence in the SAC, interacting with them through computer-mediated communication. In this paper we shall look at how the promotion of autonomy in language learning can be enhanced through the integration of technology-based materials and activities made available in self-access modality. Our aim is to present online resources designed to help students learn a foreign language autonomously.

Theatre in Second Life® Holds the VR Mirror up to Nature

2011 ◽  
pp. 376-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Schrum
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Creative People ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Definition Of

As creative people inhabit virtual worlds, they bring their ideas for art and performance with them into these brave new worlds. While at first glance, virtual performance may have the outward trappings of theatre, some believe they don’t adhere to the basic traditional definition of theatre: the interaction between an actor and an audience. Detractors suggest that physical presence is required for such an interaction to take place. However, studies have shown that computer mediated communication (CMC) can be as real as face-to-face communication, where emotional response is concerned. Armed with this information, the author can examine how performance in a virtual world such as Second Life may indeed be like “real” theatre, what the possibilities for future virtual performance are, and may require that we redefine theatre for online performance venues.

scholarly journals Word Shortening Strategies: Egyptian vs. Non-Egyptian English Tweets

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Iman Mohamed Mahfouz
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Parallel Corpora ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Message Length ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Media Platform

The language of Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) is known to deviate from standard language in many ways dictated by the characteristics of the medium in order to achieve brevity, speed as well as innovation. Together with the intrinsic features of CMC in general, the character limitation imposed by the popular social media platform, Twitter has triggered the use of a number of linguistic devices including shortening strategies in addition to unconventional spelling and grammar. Using two parallel corpora of English tweets written by Egyptians and non-Egyptians on a similar hashtag, the study attempts to compare the shortening strategies used in both datasets. A taxonomy for orthographic and morphological shortening strategies was adapted from Thurlow and Brown (2003) and Denby (2010) with particular focus on message length, punctuation, clipping, abbreviations, contractions, alphanumeric homophones and accent stylization. Given the scarcity of linguistic studies conducted on Egyptian tweets despite the vast amount of data they offer, the study compares the findings about tweets written by Egyptians in English as a foreign language to previous studies. The findings suggest that Egyptians tend to omit punctuation more frequently, whereas non-Egyptians favor abbreviations, contractions and clipped forms. The results also indicate that Twitter may be shifting towards longer messages while at the same time increasingly employing more shortening strategies. The study also reveals that character limitation is not the only factor shaping language use on Twitter since not all linguistic choices are governed by brevity of communication.

scholarly journals Teletandem language learning in a technological context of education: interactions between Brazilian and German students

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 729-762
Author(s):  
Suelene Vaz da SILVA ◽  
Francisco José Quaresma de FIGUEIREDO
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Technological Context ◽  
The University ◽  
Communication Study

ABSTRACT This paper presents data from a computer-mediated communication study conducted between a group of Brazilian university students - from Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Goiás, Campus Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil - who wanted to learn English, and a group of German university students - from the University of Worms, in Germany - who wanted to learn Portuguese. The cross-cultural bilingual communication was conducted in the second semester of 2010 and involved discussions on environmental issues. Adopting a qualitative perspective in the analysis, the data were derived from conversation sessions through a webconferencing software known as Openmeetings and through e-mails and some written activities developed by the students. All these were analyzed by means of sociocultural theory. Among the conclusions we reached, we observed that the participants used the software features to help them in their language learning process, discussed issues related to environmental science, as well as topics related to their personal and academic life. Regarding the languages used, the participants used English during the teletandem sessions as an anchoring language to assist their partners in learning English itself and Portuguese, as well as introduced the German language in the interaction sessions.

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