3. GAMING FOR LANGUAGE
LEARNING
Games and virtual environments can be used to foster language
learning, especially spontaneous communication and task-based
activities.
4. CAVEAT
Idea not “you should teach using virtual
environments/video games” but rather
“these opportunities exist – should we
exploit them, and if so, how?
Rationale: ubiquitous
utilities, motivational, many students
already use them.
5. VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR LL
Environments like Second Life have no specific goals
or plots, but are simply open virtual environments.
Possibly more engaging for CMC than other modes
(combine things to do with SCMC).
Second Life has been used for virtual classrooms, LL
quests, and for finding L2 conversants (you can visit
language-specific regions, good for FL contexts).
Similar to other forms of CMC, may lead to more
involvement by students who are quieter in FTF
activities.
Wide open environment.
6. GAME ENVIRONMENTS
Video games can foster collaboration and communication among
participants.
Massively Multiplayer Online games like World of Warcraft and
EverQuest 2 have been the focus of much LL research (See
ReCALL 2012 Special Issue).
Other online games with multiplayer options have also been
used/studied for LL.
Some free, some paid.
7. MOBILE GAMES
A broad range of tutorial-type games available for mobile devices
(especially for vocabulary).
Mobile mobile games (see ARIS and Mentira, as discussed in
Holden & Sykes, 2009).
Interpersonal games that foster communication/ cooperation
(e.g., SpaceTeam, Timeline)
8. LIVEBINDERS
Privacy controls, collaborative features.
Can embed pretty much anything.
User tools are somewhat friendly.
Not the best layout options (with more work you can achieve
better results (e.g., Wordpress, Google Sites, Weebly).
