• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Dogme for Virtual World Language Learning (Presentation at SLanguages 2009)
At SLanguages 2009 I gave a presentation on Dogme language teaching and its relevance tovirtual world language education. Here is the presentation as text…I have been using virtual worlds such as Second Life for approximately two years and during thistime I have done some interesting and engaging activities with students. However, I have alsobeing looking for methodologies to draw upon to ensure that these activities are pedagogicallysound and beneficial to the students’ learning. More recently I have taken a closer look at DogmeELT as a pedagogy to guide these virtual world activities and Dogme has stood out as anapproach that has much to offer virtual world language learning because of its focus on real lifecommunication as the basis for developing language competencies.This text starts with an overview of the Dogme approach and then continues by mapping out thedifferent ways in which virtual worlds can be used for language learning. These two topics arethen brought together to reflect on how Dogme can guide language teachers in using virtualworlds.
What is Dogme?
Dogme language teaching is a movement; it is a collective of teachers who have been inspired bythe ideas of the Dogme film movement founded by Lars von Trier in 1995. Similar to thefilmmakers, Dogme teachers are looking to return to the essence of a classroom by choosing toreduce or even avoid the use of technological tools and materials. Although virtual worlds arethemselves high tech, a Dogme focus tends to take the activities in the direction of a lower techapproach that concentrates on the experiences that can lead to language emergence (or language acquisition). Followers of Dogme have generally moved away from using textbooks inclass, partly as a desire to include real life materials and partly to reduce the role of third partycontent (text, audio, video) in the language lesson. In a Dogme lesson the students areencouraged to produce the content through their communication. This in turn leads to languagelearning opportunities in their striving to express themselves more clearly, fully and accurately. Assuch, this focus on communication reflects Dogme’s focus on social learning and so places thepedagogy within a constructivist context.
No Syllabus
Whereas a textbook strives to organize the learning into a program of themed units, Dogmeteaching does not follow a syllabus, but instead prefers to allow the students’ needs and intereststo set the pace and direction. In Dogme the syllabus emerges, or indeed is uncovered through theprocess of reflecting upon the language that emerges in class. Dogme language teaching istherefore a process, where the teacher responds to students’ needs rather than preemptivelyplanning for them.
Principles
The Dogme approach is based upon some key principles that were set out by the movement’sfounder, Scott Thornbury (ref). Learning is considered to take place through the interactionamongst the students and between the students and the teachers. This interaction enablesknowledge to be co-constructed by the students rather than transmitted by the teacher to thestudents. In fact, by concentrating on conversation as the vehicle for learning, the knowledge is jointly assembled by the participants in what is termed ’scaffolding’. As such, the teacher’s role ismore akin to a “guide on the side” than that of a “stage on the stage”.As already mentioned, communication is seen as the key vehicle for language learning, becauseit allows for affordances or language learning opportunities to arise in class. In this way languagelearning is considered to be not so much of a process of acquisition (as in second languageacquisition) as more one of emergence: the language emerges from the students’ conversationsin class. These conversations in effect become the primary content in the language lesson, andespecially contribute to the class because they enable the introduction of the students’ beliefs,knowledge and experiences into the learning process. The question of content is particularly
 
interesting in the context of virtual worlds because a virtual world, such as Second Life, offersexperiences far more than it can offer third party content in the way that published materials do.In a conventional (classroom-based), Dogme lesson the content is preferably introduced (at leastin part) by the students themselves. This more proactive role of the students helps to ensure thatthe content is engaging and relevant, which are key attributes to promote the communication thatleads to language emergence and therefore language learning.
Virtual World Language Learning
In order to consider how Dogme can guide virtual world language education, the above overviewwill now be placed within the context of the various ways in which virtual worlds offer opportunitiesfor language learning. I see four main types of experiences that the learner may have in a virtualworld: social, immersive, creative and gaming.1.
Social
: Almost all 3D virtual environments (a notable exception being Google StreetView) are social spaces which allow the opportunity for social interactions for languagelearning. These social experiences could be formal group lessons or casualconversations with unknown residents of a 3D virtual world. This type of experience canbe approached from a Dogme perspective to enable language emergence.2.
Immersive
: All 3D virtual environments can offer users immersive experiences that canstimulate conversation for use in a Dogme lesson. In Second Life this could take the formof a virtual field trip to the moon or to a replica of a real life place such as Barcelona. Theimportant aspect here is that immersive spaces are stimulating and engaging places andthat this can promote the use and therefore development of a foreign language.3.
Creative
: Some virtual worlds, allow the residents to customize their avatars, decoratetheir homes or even build entire cities, as is the case in Second Life. This can be drawnupon in lessons to allow students to describe their constructions and how they relate tothem. If done as a collaborative task the process of building can itself be acommunicative activity. Again, a Dogme approach is able to recognize the pedagogicalvalue of these more creative activities.4.
Gaming
: Many 3D virtual environments are in fact Massively Multiplayer Online Games(MMOGs) that can also be used to further language learning. MMOGs often involveconsiderable negotiation and collaboration amongst players and therefore may also offer scope for Dogme inspired teaching. MMOGs for language learning is a relatively newfield and there are few recorded examples of attempts to incorporate MMOGs in tolanguage education; [name] is one of them. Second Life can also be used for game-likeactivities by virtue of its flexibility. Second Life offers educators to create immersive tasksthat reward the student for the correct answer. In some respects this approach is a 3Dversion of an exercise book and there therefore seems to be limited scope to draw onDogme ideas for guidance with this approach.Although virtual environments are often thought of as being virtual worlds such as Second Life,there are many other 3D virtual spaces that offer many of these experiences. Google Street Viewis a case in point; it allows users to virtually visit real cities and see the buildings from theperspective of someone standing in the street. Google Street View is not a social space, but itallows for 3D virtual immersive experiences not so dissimilar to 3D virtual worlds. Another form of virtual environment is the browser-based 3d virtual space “Hangout” which allows users tocustomize their apartment and invite other avatars to share the space with them. Exit Reality issimilar, but also allows users to surf the web in 3D with their avatar.
Blended Learning
The range of 3D virtual environments allows considerable choice in using a specific tool for thedesired type of experience. In fact distinguishing between the types of experience (social,immersive etc) helps the educator (or indeed the learner) focus on selecting the right tool for the job. And it is therefore likely that a blend of tools (online of offline; 3D or 2D) will be employed. Soblended learning is the most likely format given that virtual environments are excellent for experiential learning yet cannot compete with the flexibility and scope of the 2D web for contentand especially text work.
 
Implications for Dogme teaching with virtual worlds
The immersive, social and creative experiences available with 3D virtual environments can beguided by the Dogme methodology to focus on the students’ own needs and interests and indoing so, to develop their language skills. The above presentations of the Dogme approach andthe opportunities offered by virtual worlds have implications for the likely approach to Dogmeteaching with virtual worlds.Firstly the focus on experience leaves considerable scope for using virtual worlds both in class or drawing on them for homework activities. Since Dogme teaching is most interested in theenabling of communication (for learning), the location of that communication (in-world, in physicalclassrooms or through wiki-based collaboration) is less important. Secondly, given that thestudents’ engagement is key to enabling the conversations that lead to language emergence,they need to have the freedom to choose where they want to go (in a 3D virtual environment) andwhat they will do there.The above implications suggest that a Dogme educator is unlikely to use pre-prepared materialsand exercises in a virtual world. And as such, Dogme in virtual worlds has a light touch totechnology, much as it does in the conventional classroom. A clear advantage of this approach isthat both teachers and students need not be as expert in navigating the complexities of a virtualworld such as Second Life. However, the main strength of Dogme is the natural tendency to focuson the strengths of 3D virtual environments – namely the social, immersive and creativeexperiences.
Dogme Activities in Virtual Worlds
Naturally there is a wide range of activities that could fit into a 3D virtual class inspired by Dogme.A few examples are suggested here…
•
Social experiences such as
meeting other students or even complete strangers
in a3D virtual space can be achieved through interviews, casual conversations, groupdiscussions or even presentations at conferences held in virtual worlds. Someexperiences indicate that social interaction is most productive when it has a clear purpose rather than just conversation practice.
•
Students can be
immersed in a specific environment
, perhaps a place that exists inreal life or somewhere imaginary, to stimulate conversation. This can be done throughencouraging the student to respond to basic questions about the place or to perhaps elicitmore complex responses such as emotional reactions to the 3D environment.
•
A more creative approach can be taken by including the
building of objects
. Perhapsthe construction of a house followed by guided tours or through group activities thatlikewise involve the creation of objects.
•
Using MMOGs such as
World of Warcraft
remains a relatively unexplored field, but itseems likely that there are opportunities to engage students in either communicative andcollaborative tasks or perhaps as a quest-like activity.Role plays may also be done in immersive environments, such as a city tour using Google StreetView. There are various examples of using Second Life for simulated training, such as by theCanadian Border Control and the Iowa emergency preparation. However, given the structuredand planned nature of such training, it seems there may be less scope to apply Dogme ideas.
Dogme Inspired Lesson: an example
Video clips of a Dogme inspired lesson are embedded in the blog post(http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog/dogme-vwll/) to illustrate how 3D virtual worlds (in thiscase Second Life) can be integrated into (offline or 2D online) lessons. These clips show how thestudent is able to identify for himself which vocabulary and structures were key to matching theimages and texts; the student was then able to draw on new or unfamiliar vocabulary to use in hisown terms, when exploring restaurants in Second Life. Learning opportunities (such as
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...