Virtual Worlds

While reading the first article titled Educational Frontiers: Learning in a Virtual World, I asked myself the question “What is it that we can do in the Second Life but cannot do in our real teaching?” – the same question which was posed in the article Virtual Worlds: Moving Beyond Today. These two articles, as well as the exploratory case study on learner participation patterns and strategy use in Second Life, helped me formulate my own understanding of the use of virtual worlds in an EFL environment.

It’s true that virtual worlds are engaging, stimulating spaces which differ from traditional courses due to 3D graphical design. They increase the sense of community, allow to make mistakes which are great opportunities for learning. Shifting Ss from the passive roles of survivors to the active roles of researchers and explorers requires a change in their perception of themselves and their willingness to participate. Another benefit is that virtual worlds can support Ls with different learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

Moreover, the exploratory study mentioned above found that the highly learner-centered nature of interaction represents a positive finding that lends support to one of the main benefits hypothesized for network-based learning. This kind of interaction may facilitate learner autonomy. Also, the participants commented positively on low stress atmosphere of virtual worlds compared to a regular language class. These findings coupled to the presence of errors suggest that Second life can be useful in developing fluency rather than accuracy.

However, both Cynthia Calongne and Donald Welch remind that’s it is not easy to set up a successful virtual environment. The latter requires a blend of technology, tools, content, student ownership, engagement, course structure, feedback and other factors.

I believe that this is s big challenge for course designers. Donald Welch hopes that soon we will take a step further. But in the Armenian EFL context, taking into consideration of the current situation in our EFL classrooms, I feel that this step is very far; but how far is this far, is a question.