Language teaching in SL

Being particularly interested in language learning processes and looking for practical examples of  how web 2.0 tools could be integrated in Second Life to enhance and enrich students’ learning experience  I finally stumbled upon an interesting article by Howard Vickers.

Vickers runs a language school in second life and his educational approach aims at linking the potentialities of a virtual world to both the best offer of web 2.0 tools and the conventional use of internet.One of the practical result of this approach is the SurReal Quest, that is, Web Quest in Second Life.

While in the inquiry-oriented lesson format “Web Quest” most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web in SurReal Quest learners are asked to research the needed information in Second Life where they can have real-time conversations/interviews with native speakers/avatars located in different places all around the world.

The process activated by the SurReal Quest not only creates, during the searching phase, an immersive opportunity for a wide range of language skills to be developed and practised inside Second Life but it also allow students to create tangible products like podcasts or video casts to be further published in one or more of the web 2.0 environments.

I have found it interesting the way Second life is used in combination with other tools, be they on- or offline because as Vickers states “while the Web offers language learners a wealth of information, Second Life adds a real-time, social and communicative dimension. In doing so, it complements, perhaps even revolutionises, distance learning for languages”. 

Listen to Vickers’s podcast: