Habib W2 Article Review

The effects of Second Life on the motivation of undergraduate students learning a foreign language

Wehner, A. K., Gump, A. W., & Downey, S. (2011).

The aim of the article was to conduct research on the emerging technology of using a virtual world to teach a foreign language. There is not much work done in the past on the motivation levels of the students who experience virtual world.

The research, along with some other things, is primarily based on the idea of ‘total immersion’ where language learners are exposed to the target language as much as possible. The idea is to find out how motivated or de-motivated they feel after that.

Essentially, the learners are divided into two groups: both the groups are taught by the same teacher using the same course material and for exactly the same number of hours. The only difference is that one of the groups will have a simulation environment while the other will not.

The research questions were:

            .  Does Second Life affect the motivation of students learning Spanish as a foreign language? 


            .  Is there a difference in students’ attitude toward Spanish culture between students who use Second Life to enhance their learning experience and those who do not? 


            .  Is there a difference in students’ anxiety toward using Spanish between students who use Second Life to enhance their learning experience and those who do not? 


            .  Is there a difference in students’ interest in learning Spanish as a foreign language between students who use Second Life to enhance their learning experience and those who do not? 


            .  Is there a difference in the students’ motivational intensity toward learning Spanish between students who use Second Life to enhance their learning experience and those who do not? 


The literature for this study revolved around virtual world and its types such as purposeful and general purpose, it suitability for education or language learning and the concept of bringing language acquisition and guided learning closer.

The teaching methodology was to make the learners experience a virtual reality where they interact with native speakers, have their own virtual identities in the culture of the speakers of the target language, use the text chat technology and virtually visit the historical places of the country where the target language is spoken.

The research questions were worded in a broad way on purpose as the researchers aimed to cover as much as they could. For the first two questions, the findings were quite significant and the data showed that the language learners who experienced the virtual world felt more motivated. For the last two questions, the researchers could not find any significant stats.

The Reference:

Wehner, A. K., Gump, A. W., & Downey, S. (2011). The effects of Second Life on the motivation of undergraduate students learning a foreign language. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24(3), 277-289.