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Full-Text Articles in Education
Understanding Presence, Affordance And The Time/Space Dimensions For Language Learning In Virtual Worlds, Susanna Nocchi, Françoise Blin
Understanding Presence, Affordance And The Time/Space Dimensions For Language Learning In Virtual Worlds, Susanna Nocchi, Françoise Blin
Articles
Notwithstanding their potential for novel approaches to language teaching and learning, Virtual Worlds (VWs) present numerous technological and pedagogical challenges that require new paradigms if the language learning experience and outcomes are to be successful. In this presentation, we argue that the notions of presence and affordance, together with the time/space dimensions of interactions in virtual worlds (e.g. Bakhtin’s (1981) chronotope, Foucault’s (1984) heteropia, and Lemke’s (2000) heterochrony), provide new insights into language learners’ trajectories as they attempt to carry out tasks that are designed to make use of virtual worlds’ characteristics and potentialities. We explore and analyse a critical …
Sharing Systems, Sharing Language: Designing And Working In A Virtual Department, Claire Mcavinia, Jane Hughes
Sharing Systems, Sharing Language: Designing And Working In A Virtual Department, Claire Mcavinia, Jane Hughes
Articles
Less widely taught languages present special problems. Often students may be ab initio learners who must progress very rapidly from beginner to highly competent. Appropriate learning materials are scarce. Small student numbers restrict the range of learner tasks. To address these problems, and drawing on research methods from both CALL and Computer Science domains, we investigated the use of a virtual learning environment (WebCT) as a tool for collaborative language teaching and learning. A web-based virtual department was created, bringing students and tutors from different institutions together to practise the target language (students) and share the development of quality resources …