Foreign Language Instruction in a Virtual Environment: An examination of potential activities

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Author(s): Regina Kaplan-Rakowski (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA)
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 20
Source title: Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments: Applying Dynamic Elements to the Modern Classroom
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Giovanni Vincenti (Towson University, USA)and James Braman (Towson University, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-822-3.ch017

Keywords: Education / Educational Technologies / Information Science Reference / Virtual Learning Environments

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Abstract

The chapter conveys the experiences of using the virtual world Second Life (SL) to supplement classroom-based instruction of an introductory foreign language class. With attention given to the needs of educators and instructional designers, as well as students, the author presents selected activities, along with detailed practical plans and theoretical justifications for those activities. She follows by discussing the technological characteristics of SL (communication features, logging features, and features used to ease activity preparation) that the author found to be of particular pedagogical value in her instruction. The importance of situated cognition, cultural relevance, self-pacing, students’ autonomy, and interactivity with diminished inhibition is examined as well.

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Foreign Language Instruction in a Virtual Environment: An examination of potential activities

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