ARTICLE REVIEW

http://jaltcall.org/journal/articles/5_2_Ballou.pdf

A Proper citation of the article:
a. Language Learner Experiences in an Online Virtual World
b. Vol. 5, No. 2 Pages 61–70
©2009 jalt call sig
c. Kevin Ballou
Kansai Gaidai University
kballou@kansaigaidai.ac.jp

B Summary of the research

a. (i) The aims : The research seeks to investigate the exploration of language learning in virtual worlds with a look at learner experiences in a fantasy online role-playing game. It is the researcher's aims to discover the nature of language interaction that learners would encounter in these online environment and the value of these experiences for language learners.

(ii) The methodology : The researcher recruited two participants for the purpose of this study after their consent was sought after and confirmed. The participants, then, spent four days playing the fantasy role-playing game, World of Warcraft (WoW) using anonymous accounts set up by the researcher, who also supervised and monitored each gaming session. While the participants explored the online world, the researcher took notes on their progression in the game, as well as the types of language interaction they encountered. Each play session was videotaped for later reference. After each session, which lasted 2–3 hours, the participants wrote in journals about their experience and then joined in a discussion with the researcher, which was videotaped for later review. In total, each participant played the game for approximately 10 hours and spent about 2 hours journaling and discussing their experiences.

(iii) The participants : There were two participants involved in this research. Both were Japanese university students with intermediate English-language proficiency and were from the researcher's regular classes. Participant 1 was a 19-year old male student who had had an experience playing online role-playing games in Japanese, but not in English. Participant 2 was an 18-year old female student who used internet on daily basis though she had no experience playing online games previously.

(iv) The findings : As the researcher intent to investigate the nature of language interaction experienced by non-native English speaker in an English online role-playing game, he divided his observation into two categories, interaction with the virtual environment and interaction with other players. In terms of interaction with the virtual environment, both of the participants used the online dictionary provided to understand some of the vocabulary they were unfamiliar of as well as other online sites to comprehend the game concept. Both of the participants, at the same time, interact with other players of the game through a variety of communication means provided by the game creator. The researcher also concluded that the participants' experiences through the virtual game demonstrated a few positive characteristics of language learning. Among others would be the task-based and collaborative approach in learning, the need to understand the language to play and interact with others and the interactivity of the game itself.

C Reaction towards the research

a. (i) The research appeals to me for a few reasons. For one thing, I am very interested in virtual games myself and it intrigues me on how these virtual online games can be of use in language learning. The research shows a few positive aspects of applying the game in second language teaching. Apart from that, the research was done primarily from the students' perspective of the experience. It demonstrates an overview of the students' perception towards the experience of learning second language through online virtual games, that is mainly positive as they found it appealing and attractive. All in all, it provides me an idea of one of the interesting methods that I could use in teaching.

(ii) In my opinion, the research was very well conducted. The researcher monitored the progression of both of the participants and recorded every gaming sessions as well as the discussion with the researcher. The participants were also required to write a journal, providing an access to and a record of their thoughts and feelings of the overall experience. However, I do have a few suggestions for further studies in investigating the learner experiences of playing online virtual games in the long run as this research was only done in a short term, apart from the study of the negative effects of playing the games, be it during personal time or in language learning process.

(iii) As mentioned before, I strongly believe that the research proposed an interesting and an ideal, if I may add, method of second language acquisition. The teachers can consider applying online virtual world as one of the platform that can be used in improving the students' language skills and proficiency provided that the schools are well-equipped with the equipment needed. Students autonomy and independence can also be promoted through this method as the students are allowed to play and learn from virtual games on their own free time and effort. Nevertheless, the teachers have to be cautious in selecting the appropriate virtual games out of the variety of virtual worlds available online as well as be more thoughtful of the suitability of the method with the students, in planning and the execution of the lessons and the level of support the students may need.