For today’s reading I must say that was extremely wary when the introduction included the statement that

“We argue that SL Residents participate in an Activity System, engaging in myriad activities (e.g. language classes) which provide structured environments that generate both intended and unintended outcomes (e.g. learning) for participants.1 We found, paradoxically, that although participation in SL is a sedentary activity involving physical isolation, in many ways active participation and virtual travels in SL also enhanced Residents’ intercultural literacy as they connected with other geographically dispersed participants.”

However, that being said, I discovered, to my surprise, some interesting ideas that surface when discussing cultural growth and exchange within Second Life.  The main one being formally scheduled language classes.

After reading the portion of the study that suggests because there is such a diverse demographic of Users on SL, there of course would be number of different languages spoken within the virtual world.  However, what I wasn’t prepared for was the notion that language classes would therefore flourish within this virtual realm as an outcome of that diverse demographic.  ESL classes, as the study states, are on the rise in SL because of the virtual worlds bias toward English as being the dominant language found in SL.  It’s fascinating to me that you can sit down at a computer and possibly explore a new language and even learn to speak it within the confines of a virtual world like SL.    Now I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but the fact that it is happening is extremely interesting to me.  Therefore, I’ll reserve passing judgement on SL for now….

Read the entire article HERE…