A blank canvas...language learning in a 3D world
I've been thinking about how an immersive 3D environment could help language learning. I've worked on a project where we created an entire house and garden as an environment for learning Irish. The learner could click and explore all the objects in the house, and clicking certain objects opened up language learning games or activities.This worked well for the average learner - they could see an object, click to hear how to pronounce the name of the object, and also see a text label.
But we decided what went in the house, what was placed where, what the learner had to learn.
What I'd love to experiment with is a 3D environment that has nothing in it. Just a big white space that the learner enters with an avatar.
The idea is that as the learner learns words, the objects appear in the 3D world. So if they learn the colours of the rainbow, a rainbow appears in the empty space. If they learn the words for sky and grass and trees, these appear. As the learner progresses in the language, the world fills out. The learner makes the world. If they discover how to say 'I have a blue dog and five friendly sisters' then a blue dog and five friendly sisters appear in the world.
And learners could connect with each other via text chat or audio...populating their world with real conversations.
But learning a language isn't just about learning a word and ticking a box. It's also about retention...so in this 3D world, objects could begin to fade if the learner doesn't use the vocabulary...every time they log in they could be presented with a list of endangered objects that they must 'save'.
Right. Who's got a few million in development funding for me?
Labels: 3D worlds, gaeilge, irish, language learning
posted by Michelle Gallen at
8:12 PM
2 Comments:
If we really want children to speak languages like natives, we should connect them with phone pals in distant lands -- at age 2 or 3. Then you'll see really rapid learning...
jay
I love this idea, and really agree! Donald Clarke has blogged about how his kids were using the French version of Habba Hotel to improve their language skills. But Habba Hotel is a social space aimed at older kids who (if we believe the research) have already lost many of their language learning skills. I think there's just something so interesting about the idea of hooking up little kids from two different countries and watching how they learn to communicate! This is a project I'd LOVE to work on!
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