Integrating the Real and Virtual World for Academic Language Education in Second Life

2013 ◽  
pp. 514-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmela Dell’Aria
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Oral Language Proficiency ◽  
Is Integration

This chapter focuses on a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) study conducted in virtual worlds that could help teachers in terms of knowledge about acquisition processes, in which technology is integration between formal and non formal education. The research comprises of two studies strongly focused on the development of Italian oral language proficiency. It was held within Second Life® (SL™)1 in order to explore the affordances of public spaces to enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)2 and to stimulate the oral production through learner’s engagement. Since 2007, a new pilot project, Café Italia, was developed by Carmela Dell’Aria (aka Misy Ferraris) in Second Life®. Starting from theory and research (SLA and Linguistics) the project leads to effective language learning practice. As matter of fact, the research moves to analyze learners’ needs, to give a focus for instruction, to adapt technology to their needs through experimentation, and to evaluate the results.

The Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist in Whole Language

1990 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol E. Westby
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Whole Language ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Language Programs ◽  
Oral Language Proficiency ◽  
Speech Language Pathologist

Many schools are implementing whole language methodology in the teaching of reading and writing. Whole language programs assume that children have a certain degree of oral language proficiency. For language-learning disabled students, such assumptions may be incorrect. The whole language literacy movement provides an excellent opportunity for speech-language pathologists to work as an integral part of the school team seeking to build literacy. This article presents a framework for understanding the pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, text, and phonological aspects of language that underlie both oral and written communication and gives suggestions for ways speech-language pathologists can assess children's language skills that are essential for success in a whole language program.

Debating Across Borders

2011 ◽  
pp. 241-269
Author(s):  
Mats Deutschmann
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Virtual World Environments

Internationally, virtual world environments such as Second Life® (SL) have become accepted as platforms for innovative educational activities at many universities in recent years. One such activity includes innovative ways of students coming in contact with other students in so-called telecollaborations. The present case study explores the initial stages in an Action Research process, namely the design and initial implementation of a telecollaborative language learning activity between four universities in Second Life under the EU-funded Avalon project. The chapter describes how theoretical frameworks including the Ecology of Language Learning (van Lier, 2004), the Five Stage Model of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (Salmon, 2004) and Activity Theory (Leont’ev, 1978) were used in order to address different aspects of the design of the course. Based on questionnaire responses from students and observations, the chapter then goes on to evaluate the relative success/failure of the first course trial. Finally, the chapter discusses the implications of the lessons learnt from this pilot project on further developments of the course concept in the action research process, and goes on to discuss implications of the findings for the use of virtual worlds in more mainstream educational settings.

scholarly journals Assessing oral proficiency in computer-assisted foreign language learning: A study in the context of teletandem interactions

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Altamiro CONSOLO ◽  
Viviane Bagio FURTOSO
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Oral Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching Context ◽  
Distant Interactions ◽  
Field Notes

ABSTRACT An innovative aspect in the area of language assessment has been to evaluate oral language proficiency in distant interactions by means of computers. In this paper, we present the results of a qualitative research study that aimed at analyzing features of language spoken in a computer-aided learning and teaching context, which is constituted by teletandem interactions. The data were collected in the scope of the Teletandem Brazil project by means of interviews, audio and video recordings of online interactions, questionnaires and field notes. The results offer contributions for the areas of assessment, teacher education and teaching Portuguese for foreigners.

Can Virtual Replace In-person Coaching? Experimental Evidence on Teacher Professional Development and Student Learning in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Cilliers ◽  
Brahm Fleisch ◽  
Janeli Kotzé ◽  
Nompumelelo Mohohlwane ◽  
Stephen Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Oral Language Proficiency ◽  
Virtual Coaching ◽  
Negative Effect

Virtual communication holds the promise of enabling low-cost professional development at scale, but the benefits of in-person interaction might be difficult to replicate. We report on an experiment in South Africa comparing on-site with virtual coaching of public primary school teachers. After three years, on-site coaching improved students' English oral language and reading proficiency (0.31 and 0.13 SD, respectively). Virtual coaching had a smaller impact on English oral language proficiency (0.12 SD), no impact on English reading proficiency, and an unintended negative effect on home language literacy. Classroom observations show that on-site coaching improved teaching practices, and virtual coaching led to larger crowding-out of home language teaching time. Implementation and survey data suggest technology itself was not a barrier to implementation, but rather that in-person contact enabled more accountability and support.

scholarly journals A Cross-Departmental Approach to Supporting Students with a Disability Affecting Foreign Language Acquisition

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Lys ◽  
Alison May ◽  
Jeanne Ravid
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Foreign Language Study ◽  
Foreign Language Requirement ◽  
Language Requirement ◽  
Important Objective

Abstract In order to enhance mobility, competitiveness, and opportunities for work, the European Union lists the ability to communicate in a foreign language and to understand another culture as an important objective in their language education policy. Knowledge of a foreign language is also an important objective for many American universities, which require students to study a foreign language as a prerequisite to graduate. Students with documented disabilities affecting the learning of a foreign language or students with poor foreign language learning skills, therefore, pose a significant challenge, since a foreign language requirement may prevent such students from graduating unless universities are willing to make special arrangements such as having students graduate without fulfilling the requirement or letting them take substitution classes. The question of what to do with such students is at the heart of this article. It describes how one mid-sized private university with a two-year language proficiency requirement has approached the problem to ensure that policies are implemented fairly. Rather than pulling students out of the foreign language classroom, the university succeeded in keeping students engaged with foreign language study through advising and mentoring across departments

scholarly journals Speech fluency: a result of oral language proficiency?

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna Požgaj Hadži ◽  
Damir Horga ◽  
Tatjana Balazic Bulc
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Speech Fluency ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Oral Language Proficiency

The aim of this paper is to answer the question of the influence of language proficiency on speech fluency in relation to speakers’ other cognitive abilities by comparing the speech of research participants who speak Slovenian as L1 and Croatian as LF. By using the method of acoustic and corpus analysis, the values of speech rate, articulation rate, mean length of runs and the length and frequency of certain pauses are presented.

scholarly journals The Griefer and the Stalker: Disruptive Actors in a Second Life Educational Community

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Paul Lafayette DuQuette
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
English Language ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Linden Lab’s Second Life (SL) is well-known for its hands-off approach to user conflict-resolution. Although users are given tools to mute and block individual accounts as well as ban undesirable avatars from user-owned land, that does not prevent determined, malicious users from disrupting communities and harassing individuals. This case study focuses on two such malicious users exemplary of two specific types of malevolent virtual world actors: in-world griefers and online stalkers. As part of a decade-long ethnographic research project within the Cypris Chat English language learning community in SL, this paper utilizes data gleaned from notes on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and first-hand encounters. It categorizes the disparate strategies these individuals have used over the years in their attempts to disrupt group cohesion, sow distrust between students and teachers, humiliate individuals, and foment an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. It then reviews the methods community members used to defend themselves from such attacks and analyzes the efficacy of these strategies. This study builds on our understanding of harassment in virtual worlds and acts as a cautionary tale for future virtual world educators and community leaders considering the development of their own online classes and groups.

scholarly journals Year of Intensive Language Learning, A Special Program to Rocket Hungarian Students’ Foreign Language Proficiency: A Success Story?

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-174
Author(s):  
Enikő Öveges
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Secondary School Education ◽  
School Year ◽  
Foreign Language Proficiency ◽  
Contact Hours

Summary Hungary has witnessed several major attempts to improve the foreign language proficiency of students in primary and secondary school education since the political changes of the 1990s, as both international and national surveys reflect a dramatically low ratio of Hungarian population that self-reports to communicate in any foreign language at any level. Among other initiatives, a major one to boost students’ foreign language competence has been the Year of Intensive Language Learning (YILL), introduced in 2004, which allows secondary schools to integrate an extra school year when the majority of the contact hours are devoted to foreign languages. The major objectives of YILL are as follows: 1) to offer a state-financed and school-based alternative to the widely spread profit-oriented private language tuition; thus 2) granting access to intensive language learning and 3) enhancing equal opportunities; and as a result of the supporting measures, 4) to improve school language education in general. YILL is exemplary in its being monitored from the launch of the first classes to the end of their five-year studies, involving three large-scale, mixed-method surveys and numerous smaller studies. Despite all the measures to assist the planning and the implementation, however, the program does not appear to be an obvious success. The paper introduces the background, reviews and synthesizes the related studies and surveys in order to evaluate the program, and argues that with more considerate planning, the YILL ‘hungaricum’ would yield significantly more benefits.

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