Sarah Pasfield-Neofitou

Language Learning and Socialization Opportunities in Game Worlds: Trends in First and Second Language Research

Since the growth of online gaming in the mid-2000s, an increasing number of studies have theorised that virtual game worlds provide an optimal environment for language learning – both first language literacy development and second language acquisition. Although online games are often thought of as little more than distractions, a number of studies have demonstrated that there exist myriad opportunities for communication and learning, including language learning, in many games. One of the most popular games, the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft, for example, relies for much of its success on the opportunities it presents for engaging collaboration in navigating the world and taking part in team combat, often mediated via language. While a number of studies have already examined first language socialization processes in games, particularly following the release of World of Warcraft a decade ago, research on opportunities for second language learning opportunities in online games is still emerging, and this area of research will be the focus of this review. Via a meta-analysis of both first and second language studies in areas within and outside of linguistics and language education, this review will explore why virtual game worlds are said to constitute such ideal environments for language learning.

Task-Based Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) in Second Life for Beginner Learners and Educators

Virtual Worlds (VWs), such as those created in Second Life (SL) and similar platforms, have been developed for a range of educational purposes, including second language learning. While such environments have much to offer Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) learners, they remain infrequently used, largely due to the steep learning curve, time and technical skills necessary for development. Such investments are rarely supported or recognised in teachers’ workloads, and yet most educators using VWs start from scratch, rather than building on the existing work of others. Furthermore, there often is a perception that beginner learners are unsuited to online engagement, despite the fact that such novice learners may benefit more than advanced learners who generally have greater access to native speakers, and often spend time immersed in the target culture.

Engagement in Second Life: Language Anxiety and Motivation

Study abroad can provide valuable experience and motivation for language learners. However, practical constraints can prevent participation, and emerging research on students who participate shows that while engagement is a key for a range of factors including foreign language anxiety can cause students to miss out on opportunities to engage in the exchange environment. Virtual worlds are increasingly being harnessed to provide motivation and learning for students in close to authentic settings. Previous research investigating typed interaction between learners and non-player characters in Second Life found students experienced less foreign language anxiety than in the face-to-face classroom. Student perception of the authenticity of such interaction may be correlated with levels of foreign language anxiety and motivation. This chapter explores verbal interaction in the same environment with native speakers to propose a framework of foreign language anxiety and authenticity.

Technologically Mediated Identity: Personal Computers, Online Aliases, and Japanese Robots

Pasfield-Neofitou argues that relationships between technology and identity are multifaceted and complex. Computers have long been used as a metaphor for explaining the human mind and aspects of our identities; likewise, the mind has been utilized as a metaphor to explain the processes of computers. Such interplay is evident throughout our language: we speak of computers having memory, describe ourselves as pinging one another, multitasking, and having fried our brains after a long study session. While we have utilized the human body as a template for understanding the world around us throughout history, the machine has become a metaphor for just about anything in modern society, with ourselves simultaneously the most familiar, and the most unknowable, feature of our world.