It has been a long time since my last post here, and today I'm back to talk about my first experience on second life.
Virtual reality and virtual worlds are some of the concepts that we hear especially for the last few years. Yet, these are two different terms. While virtual reality allows you to be detached from the physical world via headsets, the virtual world allows you to see that world through your avatar by using your computer. So, what I'm trying to say is that second life is also a game based on the virtual world. It is a virtual world in which you can buy and own anything you want or build other things, teleport and travel to other places like landmarks, and most importantly interact with other people either with text messages or voice calls via their own avatars.
Actually, things you can do in second life are more than this but these are the basics that we need to know in terms of language learning perspective. In SL, learners have the chance to interact with other people including natives and this will provide them with authentic input if they interact with them. On the other hand, The learners don't have to interact with them on their own so, they can do this as a part of the lesson. For example, you can take them to the places they want to see and talk about those places. Further, you can provide them with context and experience via SL. To give an example, you and your students may go to a cafe or restaurant and experience ordering something by interacting with other people. These will enable learners to practice their skills, learn the relation between functions and notions firsthand through contextualization, experience more realistic situations without going outside their comfort zone since no one knows who they are thanks to their avatars.
According to what you come up with for learning, the benefits will be more varied in this virtual world. Yet, there may be some drawbacks of this environment as well. It may be hard to understand the nature of SL and start to use it, or learners and teachers may need some privacy since there may be some other disturbing people in the game and so on. These may be seen as drawbacks of SL, but it is a fact that these can be seen as benefits according to the point of view. For example, it can be a benefit if you think that these may also provide learners with experience on how to tackle these situations.
In conclusion, SL can be used for language learning and teaching and it can be beneficial while it draws learners' attentions.
If you want, you can check the short discussion video that we had in Second Life: CLICK HERE
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