Foreign Language Instruction in a Virtual Environment: - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 317

It is not unusual for learners to take shortcuts and
say things in an easier manner, rather than trying
harder and experimenting with newly learned
words or phrases that have not been mastered yet.

role play learners' motivation is stimulated
and their attention is increased (Schunk,
2008). Consequently, their engagement is
augmented.
[Th5] Controlled-guided activity . According to
Kirschner, Sweller & Clark (2006), guided
activities are more effective because they
do not overload short-term memory. As a
result, they provide more effective learning.

Limitations
In contrast to the claims of Kirschner, Sweller &
Clark (2006), a lack of freedom can be a disadvan-
tage to some of the students. Less controlled, more
spontaneous conversations, where the students
have a choice to say what they want, might make
them feel more motivated and more engaged. We
chose our activity to be more structured because
we wanted to make sure that the students used the
new phrases introduced at the hotel. Moreover,
students become tired more easily when forced
to use externally provided phrases to translate.
They then require increased effort (which, as all
educators know, very few students are likely to
appreciate).

Activity #6 : Apartments:
Find a Difference

Material practiced: furniture vocabulary,
comparisons, adjectives, accusative case, giving
advice.

Description
Students were divided into pairs. Student A was
asked to teleport to Apartment A, while student
B was asked to teleport to Apartment B. The de-
signer of the activity had to make sure that the two
apartments were far away from each other so that
students located in one apartment would not be
able to see the apartment where the other student
was [Th1]. The two apartments were filled with
furniture items labeled in German that students
could interact with, for example, by sitting on a
sofa, lying on a bed, switching on the light, or
playing a TV set [Th2].
After several minutes of exploration, the stu-
dents, through negotiation of meaning, were to
find as many differences and similarities as pos-
sible between the two apartments. The partners
who found the most differences were awarded
with Linden Dollars [Th3]. The negotiation of
meaning took place through the feature of Instant
Messaging.
Alternative: An even better way to conduct this
activity would be to use the voice feature of SL.
Also, rewards other than Linden Dollars could be
chosen by the instructor.

Theoretical Underpinnings: Activity #5

[Th1] Cultural Connection . For a better connection
with a German cultural setting, a medieval
castle was chosen as a site for the hotel. This
setting was intended to enhance the aware-
ness of the historical context of where the
specific language is spoken (Gardner, 2007).
[Th2] Self-pacing . The students were able to
explore the vocabulary at their own pace.
Allowing students' self-pacing may increase
the chances of better learning (Paris & Paris,
2001).
[Th3] Physical Freedom . According to con-
structivism, letting students have physical
freedom creates better learning. Here the
students had freedom to move around and
explore, which is also related to the learner's
autonomy and, consequently, to self-pacing.
[Th4] Role Playing. This modeling allows students
to practice playing roles in situations that
would be otherwise unavailable. Through