Presented at JALTCALL 2019 Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo

1. WHY THEY LEARN ENGLISH IN
A VIRTUAL WORLD
Jean-Paul DuQuette, Ed.D
University of Macau
JALT2019

2. WHO IS THIS PRESENTATION FOR?
• Teachers who are thinking of using
virtual worlds platforms like Second
Life, High Fidelity or Sansar in their
language classes.
• Admins who are considering adding a
social component to online coursework
• Technology stewards interested in
starting/joining/researching virtual
world learning communities

3. I STUDY ONLINE LIFELONG LEARNING
COMMUNITIES IN VIRTUAL
WORLDS…WHY?

4. WHY STUDY ONLINE LEARNING
COMMUNITIES?
• To explore the pre-OASIS “Wild
West Era” of Internet education
• To test rubrics for online
evaluation of self-study / self-
access groups (Wenger, White &
Smith, 2009)
• To improve online class
components (since college
students are less likely to pass
the online versions of brick and
mortar classes (Barshay, 2015))

5. WHY STUDY LIFELONG LEARNING?
• Economic impact
• Social and personal well-being
• Improved mental health
• Improved neuroplasticity
• Impact on civic engagement
• Online groups can service
geographically isolated, disabled or
homebound members.
(Field, 2012; Jenkins, Merzenich &
Recanzone, 1990)

6. WHY EXPLORE VIRTUAL ONLINE
LEARNING PARADIGMS?
• When today’s Internet-savvy adults
wish to enrich themselves, they may
want a variety of online learning
options.
• Virtual worlds have affordances that
other platforms do not.

7. MY CONCERNS
• Who prefers to learn in
virtual worlds?
• What attracts them to the
environment?
• What keeps members
motivated to be active in a
community?
• What can teachers/admins
infer from this?

8. LINDEN LAB’S SECOND LIFE:
AVATAR CHAT AND CONTENT
CREATION

9. CYPRIS CHAT EFL
(DUQUETTE, 2017)
• Founded in 2008
• Conducts volunteer EFL
(and now JFL) classes and
maintains a ‘socializing
space’
• Peak membership 500 in
2011
• Now about 50 active
members

10. THE BÓ'ÀI HÓNGLIÁN FIREFLY
COMPANION’S GUILD
• A role-playing finishing school loosely
based on the Firefly TV series
• Rank-based grading system
• 2 year curriculum
• Classes in role-playing, communication,
poetry, Buddhism, Japanese, Chinese,
etc.
• ‘Reverse gamification’

11. METHODS
• Participant observation (Cypris
12/2008-present; CG 1/2016 – present)
• Qualitative and ethnographic
• Dozens of class, meeting and event
recordings
• One-on-one interviews
• Extraplatform interactions
(Facebook, Ning, etc.)

12. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
• Virtual world ethnography
(Boellstorff, Nardi, Pearce & Taylor,
2012)
• Digital Habitats
(Wenger, White & Smith, 2009)
• Practice-oriented spirituality
(Grieve, 2017; Wuthnow, 1998)
• Transmedia as religious world
building
(Wagner, 2012)

13. SO YET AGAIN…WHY DO THEY LEARN IN
VIRTUAL WORLDS AND WHAT DOES THAT
MEAN FOR TEACHERS AND ADMINS?

14. FIRST, WHO THEY ARE
Cypris members
• Internet first adopters
• Skewing middle-aged to seniors (30s-
60s)
• A core of Japan and Korea based
members and staff
• Few commonalities beyond desire to
communicate in English and a lack of
local opportunities to do so
• Members do not role-play in Cypris
Companion’s Guild members
• Science-fiction and fantasy fans
• Also skewing middle-aged to seniors
(30s-60s)
• Members split between US and UK
primarily
• Interest or experience with role-playing
in SL

15. WHAT FACTORS MOST ATTRACTED
PARTICIPANTS TO A VIRTUAL
ENVIRONMENT?

16. I. SOCIAL MOTIVATION IN CYPRIS
AND THE COMPANIONS GUILD
•1. Socializing,
comradery & friendship
•2. Affective motivation
•3. Ludic motivation and
identity exploration

17. 1. SOCIALIZING, COMRADERY &
FRIENDSHIP
• “This is not fake. There are real people here on the other computer. There is
somebody behind the other screen. And you’re not alone…” Kaede (2016)
• “I think (socializing) is the most important thing. Of course activities or
lessons are very important, but using English is the most important to
improve our English…Why do you learn English? To communicate with
people.” M. (2015)

18. SOCIALIZING, NOT COURSEWORK,
PROVIDES THE ‘GLUE’
• Socializing with avatars in the target
language between formal activities
• Friendship and comradery between
both NNS<>NNS and NS<>NNS
• Motivation to continue in formal and
informal activities as well as authentic
NS activities in-world

19. 2. AFFECTIVE MOTIVATION:
HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS
• “One of the reasons the
emotional bonds of social play
can be so intense is because in
these liminal zones people can
‘let their hair down’” (Pearce,
2009, p. 245).

20. AFFECTIVE MOTIVATION
• Motivation related to feelings of
familial and romantic association (e.g.
meimei-jiejie, didi-gege)
• “It’s so full of love and acceptance.” H.
(2018)
• “I came to finally realize more deeply
than ever that I am lovable and deserve
love.” L. (2017)

21. 3. LUDIC MOTIVATION
•Levelling up through
tags, titles and virtual
clothes
•Playing to learn and
learning to play.

22. II. IDENTITY EXPLORATION THROUGH
ROLE-PLAY AND AVATAR DESIGN
• “It (the Guild) lets me be
what I really am.” H. (2018)
• Judgement free gender-
bending and self-
expression

23. III. BROWSER/ECONOMIC
AFFORDANCES
• Multimodal communication
• Improved spatial learning
• Free platform, free classes
• Learning from home
• Default anonymity/privacy

24. IMPLICATIONS FOR VW LEARNING

25. VIRTUAL WORLD LEARNING IS NOT
FOR EVERYONE
• Do not assume “the kids love this stuff”
because they play games
• Willingness to communicate (with
classmates and/or strangers) is a must
• Students need to be somewhat tech
savvy and sympathetic to the idea of
“value-added inconvenience”

26. THE PRIMACY OF SOCIALIZING
• Online curriculum devs and admins
should consider the importance of
socializing between activities in forums
more compelling than text chat or
message boards.
• Risk an open system or risk losing out
on the benefits of the environment for
authentic language use.
• The advantages of using preexisting
communities.

27. GAMIFICATION AND PLAY IN
VIRTUAL WORLDS EDUCATION
• Gold stars + increased
responsibility
• Expressing oneself through
avatar customization and
use outside the group,
but…

28. SOCIAL AFFORDANCES OVER
GRAPHICAL ONES
• Multi-modal communication is easier, but…
• Avatar use is fun and can improve
confidence, but…
• ‘Levelling up’ in the group can motivate
you but…
• Authentic inter/extra-class
communication/socializing was
overwhelmingly identified in self-report
as the most important factor in
maintaining extended participation.
• It’s not the platform, it’s the people.

29. REFERENCES
• Barshay, J. (May 11, 2015). The online paradox at community colleges. The Hechinger
Report. Retrieved from https://hechingerreport.org/the-online-paradox-at-community-
colleges
• Boelstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C. & Taylor, T.L. (2012). Ethnography and virtual worlds: A
handbook of method. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• DuQuette, J. (2017b). Cypris Village: Language learning in virtual worlds. (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). Temple University: Philadelphia, PA.
• Field, J. (2012). Is lifelong learning making a difference? Research-based evidence on the
impact of adult learning. In D. Aspin, J. Chapman, K. Evans & R. Bagnall (Eds.), Second
International Handbook of Lifelong Learning (pp. 887-897). Retrieved from
https://ec.europa.eu/epale/sites/epale/files/is_lifelong_learning_making_a_difference.pdf
• Grieve, G.P. (2017). Cyber Zen: Imagining authentic Buddhist identity, community, and
practices in the virtual world of Second Life. New York: Routledge.
• Gross, D. (2006). The Secret History of Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

30. REFERENCES (2)
• Jenkins, W., Merzenich, M., & Recanzone, G. (1990). Neocortical
representational dynamics in adult primates: Implications for
neuropsychology. Neuropsychologia, 28(6), 573-584.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(90)90035-M
• Pearce, C. (2009). Communities of play: emergent cultures in multiplayer
games and virtual worlds. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
• Wagner, R. (2012). Godwired: Religion, ritual and virtual reality. New York:
Routledge.
• Wenger, E., White, N. & Smith, J. (2009). Digital habitats: stewarding
technology for communities. Portland., OR: CPSquare.

31. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• From Cypris: Mike McKay (Professor Merryman) (founder) and Mystie Slade
(founding member; manager)
• From the Companion’s Guild: Varahi Lusch and Beeflin Grut
• Photos
• Slides 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 22, 27 taken by Jean-Paul DuQuette
• Slides 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 16, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 28 by FionaFei
• Slide 8 taken by Mystie Slade
• Slide 23 taken by Haiiroman
• Slide 24 taken by Aby MacMaccee