Will Second Life help me survive in Italy? by Carmela Dell'Aria

Will Second Life速 help me survive in Italy?

an SL速 course for DIT students Second Life is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. This presentation is not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research

Who we are Susanna Nocchi

Carmela Dell‟Aria

Second Life name: Su Nacht

Second Life name: Misy Ferraris

Carmela Dell’Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Contents

• My interest: Culture and Intercultural Competence • SL® course design, data collection and analysis • Evaluation

• Results

Carmela Dell’Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Italia:spaghetti mandolino tarallucci e vino?

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

What prompted my interest WHAT IS CULTURE? “A universe of information and operative linguistic and non-linguistic communication rituals that gives coherence, continuity, and distinction to a communal way of life” (Kim, 2001) WHAT IS ICC? knowledge, skills, attitudes and critical cultural awareness necessary to communicate interculturally

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

The reality • Lack of interest/time to deal with Intercultural Communicative Competence despite Council of Europe recommendations: «… the teaching of foreign languages needs to cover the development of the learners' readiness to open up to difference and its negotiation[…] This field of study targets intercultural communication» (Willems, 2002) • No intercultural awareness (not even after the Erasmus experience) • Difficulties to get in contact with native speakers Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Research questions – Carmela QUESTIONS: 1. How can I manage a mixed ability class so that all students can take part in the activities? 2. Which activities can I plan? 3. Can quizzes and games be tools for helping students to practice Italian? 4. Which elements need to be improved so that learning can be fun? AIMS: •to analyse critically methodology and activities in order to evaluate what needs to be changed or improved; • to observe which characteristics of SL® can be used to build activities which allow students to improve their intercultural communicative competence; • to evaluate “how” and “how much” quiz and games give new opportunity to practice Italian and “if” students feel involved when they are learning by playing. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Research questions - Susanna • 1: What are the affordances provided by virtual worlds that can be exploited for the development of ICC and which learning tasks can be used to exploit such affordances? • 2: What do learners „do‟ while performing the different tasks set to them? • 3: Through the observation and analysis of the students‟ behaviour while performing the tasks, can we draw criteria for the design and implementation of tasks for the development of ICC and ideas of best practice? Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Virtual Worlds - affordances Affordances: “relationships between the properties of an educational intervention and the characteristics of the learner that enable certain kinds of learning to take place” (Lee, 2009, p.151). Affordances I have noticed in SL®: • • • • • • •

Sense of presence Constructivist environment Real-time interaction Variable nature of communication Availability of different communities Visual impact Simulation/Role-play environment

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Description of study •

GROUP: Third-level Irish students of Italian in the International Business and Languages (IBL) degree in DIT, who will spend their third year in Italy as part of their degree. None of the students had had prior experience with Second Life

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INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES: to get students acquainted with some of the situations they may encounter during their Erasmus experience in Italy, provide them with domain related vocabulary and to immerse them in an Italian setting with native Italian speakers.

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PARTNER INSTITUTES: University of Palermo, University of Venice, Ca‟ Foscari, Dublin Institute of Technology

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TARGET LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: Italian

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STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE COMPETENCE: mixed ability, A1 to B1 lower of CEFR

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NATIVE SPEAKERS: the two lecturers, four of Ms. Dell‟Aria‟s university students, an external observer who watched video recordings and analysed data. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Description of the SL course ®

• The SL® course was part of a year-long module aimed at preparing the students for their Erasmus year. • 6 sessions of about 60-90 minutes, once a week over 3 months, during the second teaching term. Each session portrayed a different situation, took place within a different environment and provided various tasks. • The SL® sessions accounted for 40% of the assessment for the module. • During the course the Irish students interacted with 4 Italian students. Specific pair or group tasks were allocated for the development of language competence and IC awareness. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Course structure

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Types of tasks used in the course Role – plays /Simulation

Quizzes and games

Interaction with objects (learning by doing)

Listening comprehension

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Strategies

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Research design and data collection Research design: •

Phase 1: instructional design; Phase 2: implementation of the syllabus in SL® by the two lecturers; Phase 3: separate data analysis and interpretation. Data Collection:

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collaborative wiki with information, reading material, vocabulary, videos and questionnaires

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two online questionnaires at the start of the experience

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a few questions about their experience with the Internet and their expectations regarding the course

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recordings of sessions. Records of text-chats where kept, when needed

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final questionnaire for each session

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two final questionnaires at the end of the course.

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individual semi-structured interview with the researcher. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Theoretical framework - Carmela Action Theory • Investigations conducted by and for the people taking the action, on their own action to inform their future actions. Action Theory is • a strategy for personal and professional development • A strategy of production and knowlegment • A metacognitive strategy Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Data Collection Plan - Carmela Research Question

Source 1

How can I manage a mixed ability class so that all students can take part in the activities?

Interviews Surveys Tests

Which activities can I plan?

Simulation role-play Games 3D quest

Source 2 Analysis of students‟ data

Use of SL

® affordances

Source 3 Data Triangulation

® tools and scripting

Creativity

Can quizzes and games be tools for helping students to practise Italian?

Student work (RL and 3D portfolios) Documentary evidence (archival data)

Recordings (audio/video) Photographs Direct Observation checkists

Diaries Logs journals Focus groups wiki‟s posts

Which elements need to be improved so that learning can be fun?

Number of students Avatar‟s identity Negotiation of meaning Learn to learn

Technical aspects (computer‟s hraphic cards and Internet connection)

Students‟ 3D Portfolio

® shutdown

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Theoretical Framework - Susanna CHAT – Cultural Historical Activity Theory • set of basic principles providing a broad conceptual framework for describing structure, development, and context of activities. AT puts an emphasis on the pivotal role of mediation in shaping both activity and human cognition. • activity is instigated by a motive and seeks an outcome. The realisation of the activity occurs through goal directed conscious actions, carried out by an individual or by a group and made of operations, non-conscious concrete ways of executing an action. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Role-play as an activity •

Subject: the individual student performing the task.

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Object of the activity and intended learning outcomes: to communicate effectively with the native speaker and give or obtain relevant information from him/her, reinforcing vocabulary and learning new lexical items specific to the domain related to each of the role-plays, acquiring awareness of culturally specific behaviour such as use of register, importance of certain personal information, learning about specific cultural aspects of the foreign society (the way the university is organised, the different police forces, the health service etc), boost the students‟ confidence and easiness communicating in the foreign language.

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Tools and mediating artefacts: computer, software, internet connection, audio hardware, such as headphones and microphone, languages used, both in written and in oral form and the avatar itself. All the objects with which the subject interacted during the task; in the case of our role-plays, those objects where mostly realistic representations of Italian bureaucratic forms. Other mediating artefacts mentioned by the students in the course of their interviews, such as dictionaries or online support. The interlocutor is also a tool available to the subject for the completion of the task.

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Community: Irish students and DIT lecturer. The other Italian lecturer was sometimes part of the community and in some tasks, the interlocutor of the subject, that is a mediating tool. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Observing moments of disruption • 62 moments of disruption were observed during the 6 role-plays, technical and in communication; these were grouped into 6 different types. Type of disruption

Number of occurrences

Technical breakdown

Disruption due to incorrect use of the 1 software

Comprehension problems

Choice of incorrect term/phrase

Poor lexical competence

Use of wrong register

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

At the police reporting a crime B. : “Quando mi chiedi una domanda.” (“When you ask me a question” using the

informal (TU) way of addressing) An., the police officer, :

“Dovrebbe darmi del Lei, sono un agente.” (“You should address me formally, I am a policeman”)

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

At the bank opening an account M: “Ha una busta paga?” (“Do you have a pay slip?”). Student fails to recognise the words „busta paga‟ and replies: “Scusa?” (“Sorry?”) M. repeats : “Ha una busta paga?” (“Do you have a pay slip?”) and subsequently elaborates on it: “Per aprire un conto deve avere una busta paga, cioè deve avere un lavoro e uno stipendio”. (“In order to open a bank account you must have a pay slip that is. you have to have a job and an income”.) B. : “Ah, ok ok, sì sì, ce l‟ho” (“Yes yes, I have it”) M. : “L’ha portato qui con sé?” (“Did you bring it with you?”) B.: “Sì, sì, ce l‟ho” (“Yes, yes, I have it”)

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

At the university enrolling A. approaches the employee at the orientation/information office: “Ciao” (informal way of saying Hello) An., the employee, answers using the correct form: “Buonasera, posso aiutarLa?” (“Hello, can I help you?”) A. continues the interaction using the correct form: “Buonasera”

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Evaluation of course - 1 Effective in • increasing motivation and autonomy • developing language skills

• involving silent students through Italian students as players and through games • taking into consideration the individual student’s preference and pace • getting students to communicate with native Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology speakers

Evaluation of course - 2 Critical points • difference from the initial project • shorter duration • difficulty to collect students‟ feedback • students didn‟t access the wiki as expected or visited SL® outside the sessions • technical problems caused sometimes breakdowns in communication and a certain amount of stress and waste of time. Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Overall Results 1 •

affordances of SL® increased motivation and interest in students. The mediation supplied by the Italian native speakers was pivotal to the success of the course

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an AT analysis of the role-plays highlighted moments of IC awareness and showed how useful this type of task can be for ICC development

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games were clearly good skill practice providing engagement, motivation and fun

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availability of peer support

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active participation was observed

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positive atmosphere through learning by discovering

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Results 2

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use of right tools for comprehension

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progressive increase of students’ engagement related to growing activity in the sessions

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repeated references to both reading and writing experiences and to the time required for thetasks

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deeper students’ insight into the tasks

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students gained a stronger language competence in a shorter time

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students became more aware of the TL culture

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improved TL fluency

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students engaged in real communication

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology

Conclusions on the SL® course • the scope of the SL® course was to get students acquainted with aspects of the TL culture and improve their language competence and fluency. The researchers feel that both aims can be fulfilled by this type of course • in several occasions it was noticed that a disruption in communication had created the potential for a moment of intercultural awareness • sometimes the disruption caused the „opening‟ of the question to the group, shifting the individual action to a group action, and creating an interesting pedagogical moment. This proved that interactivity may not be enough to ensure learning and the effectiveness of guided interaction

Carmela Dell‟Aria/Università di Palermo – Susanna Nocchi/Dublin Institute of Technology