Language learning in virtual worlds: Research and practice

Virtual Worlds (VWs) are online 3D environments populated by individuals in the form of their avatars. These worlds provide sustained persistent social environments that may be accessed by their users 24 hours a day. For language learners, VWs can provide opportunities to have immediate, visual and affective access to speakers of the language(s) they are learning in a way that is not possible in other online communication formats. This chapter will include two sections. Part one will provide a brief overview of the development of VWs, from their early text-based forms, to the more graphically oriented environments of today such as Second Life™ and a review of the research being performed in this area. The second part of this chapter will examine the use of VWs for language and content learning, based on several research projects by the authors.