Turkish Foreign Language Learners’ Roles and Outputs: Introducing an Innovation and Role-Playing in Second Life

Year 2017, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 280 - 302, 14.07.2017

Cigdem Ozbek İrem Comoglu Bahar Baran

Abstract

This study aims to design of the two activities “introducing an innovation” and “role playing”
in Second Life (SL) and to evaluate qualitatively Turkish foreign language learner’s roles and
outputs before, while, and after the implementation of the activities. The study used
community of inquiry model consisting of cognitive presence and social presence as a
theoretical frame to discuss the roles and outputs. The participants were twelve students
and two English teachers from two different high schools. Teaching and learning in SL took
six weeks. The first activity “introducing an innovation” let students develop an innovation
and introduce it in English at a congress hall. The second activity “role playing” had four
different scenarios in which students would be involved in; travel agency, get permission
from family to go out, restaurant, and renting a car. It was found that the two activities in
Second Life had various requirements in terms of the teacher, the student and the social
environment and that they differed in pre-activity, while-activity and post-activity phases in
terms of outputs. When the learning contexts created in this study are considered in terms
of cognitive presence, the outcomes of the interaction effect between the teacher, the
student, and the social environment were higher in the role-playing activity than in the
second activity. Written preparations done before the activity in both teaching activities
had positive effects on students’ performance during the activity. The fact that students
responded to the questions spontaneously without following the scenario and that they
found the correct answer through discussion affected their cognitive presence positively.
For social presence, the role-play activity resulted in highersocial presence than introducing
an innovation since the students studied individually in the introduction of an innovation.

Keywords

Language education, Technology in foreign language learning, Community of inquiry, Second Life, Role playing

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