Design and Implementation of a 3D Multi-User Virtual World for Language Learning

TLDR

Immersive language learning is most effective when learners are surrounded by native speakers, and 3D multi‑user virtual worlds—now supported by open‑source development tools—are increasingly recognized as promising educational environments. The study investigates whether an engaging learning experience can be deployed in a 3D multi‑user virtual world to foster communication skills with minimal teacher involvement. The authors built the experience on situated and cooperative learning principles, extending the Open Wonderland toolkit to add natural text chat with NPCs, object tagging, automated text reading, and activity orchestration to promote collaboration. Preliminary evaluation indicates the experience is very promising.

Abstract

The best way to learn is by having a good teacher and the best language learning takes place when the learner is immersed in an environment where the language is natively spoken. 3D multi-user virtual worlds have been claimed to be useful for learning, and the field of exploiting them for education is becoming more and more active thanks to the availability of open source 3D multi-user virtual world development tools. The research question we wanted to respond to was whether we could deploy an engaging learning experience to foster communication skills within a 3D multi-user virtual world with minimum teacher’s help. We base our instructional design on the combination of two constructivist learning strategies: situated learning and cooperative/collaborative learning. We extend the capabilities of the Open Wonderland development toolkit to provide natural text chatting with non-player characters, textual tagging of virtual objects, automatic reading of texts in learning sequences and the orchestration of learning activities to foster collaboration. Our preliminary evaluation of the experience deems it to be very promising.