CAN WE USE SECOND LIFE FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION?

Abstract

Over the last few years there has been an increased interest in Multi-User VirtualEnvironments (MUVEs), or virtual worlds, by instructional designers and developers. One of these MUVEs is a very well known world, Second Life (SL).There are many instructional activities taking place in Second Life and languagelearning, English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learning is just one of them.Gartner Inc. (2007) says that 80 percent of active internet users will have a“Second Life” in the virtual world by the end of 2011. In this paper, the researchesand use of SL in language instruction is examined and some suggestions are offeredto both instructors and designers on how they can leverage of SL especially in higher education settings

Keywords

• Virtual environment
• language learning (EFL)
• higher education

DİL ÖĞRENME ARACI OLARAK İKİNCİ YAŞAM (YDÖ)

Öz

Son zamanlarda çok kullanıcılı sanal ortamlara, diğer bir deyişle sanal dünyalarakarşı öğretim tasarımcıları ve eğitmenler tarafından giderek artan bir ilgi olduğuçok açıktır. Bu ortamlardan biri de, herkes tarafından bilinen İkinci Yaşam (SecondLife’tır). İkinci Yaşam’da birçok öğretimsel aktiviteler mevcuttur ve dil öğrenimi,özellikle yabancı dil öğrenimi olarak (YDÖ) İngilizce öğrenme bunlardan sadecebiridir. Gartner Inc. (2007) 2011 yılının sonuna kadar aktif olarak internet kullanankullanıcıların %80’inin İkinci Yaşam da yer alacağını belirtmiştir. Bu makalede iseİkinci Yaşam ile ilgili araştırmalar ve İkinci Yaşam’ın dil öğretiminde kullanılmasıincelenmiş ve öğretim tasarımcılarına ve eğitmenlere İkinci Yaşam’dan özellikleyüksek öğretimde nasıl faydalanabilecekleri hakkında bazı öneriler getirilmiştir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• dil
• dil öğrenme
• YDO

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