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emergence of entirely new social formations that have surfaced only in, and through, internet
mediation (for discussions, see Jenkins, 2006; Thorne, 2008a; Thorne & Black, 2008).
The global internet use statistics presented above, supported by sociological research
(e.g., Castells, 2004), suggest that, in many economically developed regions, one would
find it difficult to conduct common professional and interpersonal activities without internet
information and communication tools.
2
In this sense, internet-mediated communication is no
longer a supplement to, or practice arena for, communication in everyday life. Instead, it “is
a high-stakes environment in its own right” (Thorne & Payne, 2005, p. 372). That is, instead
of merely simulating other modes of interaction, technology-mediated communication is, in
and of itself, the real thing that operates as a critically important medium for all kinds of hu-
man interaction. In addition to the changes technology has precipitated in communicative
functioning, there are cognitive implications related to the increased use of digital information
and communication tools as well. Namely, recent research indicates both a qualitative and
physiological shift in cognitive processes based on the prolific use of these tools in everyday
life (e.g., Dror, 2007). Our premise, therefore, is that, in considering the future of computer-
assisted language learning (CALL), we should continue to leverage educationally oriented,
computer-mediated activity, while also remaining aware of the transformational roles many
of these collaborative tools play in meaningful language use, both inside and outside of the
classroom. A corollary is that, in some cases, mastery of high-frequency and high-stakes me-
diated genres of communication should also form the explicit goal of educational practice.
This article reviews current trends in the use of digitally mediated communication and
offers a vision for near-future second and foreign language learning (L2) that utilizes emerg-
ing media as (a) meaningful contexts for L2 language development and (b) a means for add-
ing real world relevance to in-class uses of internet communication tools. In the following
sections, we examine these issues in light of two genres of digital spaces—Web 2.0 technolo-
gies and multiuser, immersive virtual spaces. We first explore a sampling of three Web 2.0
technologies (i.e., wikis, blogs, social bookmarking) as related to transforming the practice
of collaborative content building, dissemination, and categorization. This discussion will uti-
lize specific examples drawn from projects related to L2 learning in Web 2.0 contexts. In the
second half of the article, we consider three types of immersive virtual environments, includ-
ing open social virtualities (e.g., Second Life or There), massively multiplayer online games
(MMOGs) (the most prominent example of which is World of Warcraft), and synthetic im-
mersive environments (SIEs, i.e., visually rendered spaces which combine attributes of open
social virtualities with goal-directed gaming models to address specific learning objectives).
In particular, we will focus on SIEs as they might be used to foster interlanguage pragmatic
development and will briefly report on an existing project in this area. The ultimate goal of
this article is to spark future research and pedagogical innovation in these Web 2.0 and SIE-
related areas in order to arrive at a greater understanding of the complexities involved in the
integration of digital media with language learning in ways that will be most relevant to the
communicative contexts of the 21st century.
WEB 2.0: WIKIS, BLOGS, AND SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
With the introduction of Web 2.0 technologies, we have seen a noteworthy impact on the
manners in which content is created, disseminated, and interpreted in society (Brown & Adler,
2008; Levy & Stone, 2006). Each of the Web 2.0 tools chosen for discussion in this article
plays an important role in the understanding of a new conceptualization of social knowledge.
Wikis (i.e., collaborative, editable web spaces) facilitate the creation of content by
groups of people, often resulting in the production of more accurate, diverse, and thorough
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informational texts. For example, one would be hard pressed to find an internet user not
familiar with Wikipedia
3
(http://www.wikipedia.org, currently reporting “more than 75,000
active contributors and 9,000,000 entries in more than 250 languages,” Wikipedia, November
2007), a site that has been described as “collaborative writing that leverages collective intel-
ligence for knowledge production in the public domain” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007, p. 17).
While the value of the information on Wikipedia has recently been the focus of much debate
(Jaschik, 2007), there is strong evidence that Wikipedia and related resources have trans-
formed the ways in which knowledge is documented and shared on a global scale (Jenkins,
2008).
In conjunction with the collaborative content creation often found in wikis, blogs pro-
vide a new medium of individualized self-expression. A recent count by Technorati estimates
the existence of more than 70 million active blogs with the number growing daily. Further-
more, real-time blogging through, for example, Twitter (http://twitter.com), is taking this
individualized expression a step further by allowing opinions and commentary to be docu-
mented and shared synchronously. With increased access to the production and dissemination
of information comes an increasing need to organize and personalize relevant information
efficiently (Levy & Stone, 2006). Social bookmarking sites, such as del.icio.us (http://del.icio.
us), support this process by allowing users to catalogue, characterize, and share indexical
resources to information.
While space limitations preclude further discussion, we wish to note the growing prom-
inence of social computing networks (e.g., Facebook [http://www.facebook.com] and My
Space [http://www.myspace.com]) and media self-publishing venues (e.g., Flickr [http://
www.flickr.com] and YouTube [http://www.youtube.com]) that allow users to personally con-
nect, socially interact, and share media and activities with one another at a scale that is stag-
gering.
4
Facebook, for example, reports 57 million active users and an average of 250,000
new registered users daily since January 2007.
WEB 2.0 AND L2 LEARNING
In relation to the development of plurilingual competence, Web 2.0 tools support collaborative
and individual text and multimedia production. Relatedly, they foster attention to aspects of
language use that span from appropriate lexical choice to syntactic accuracy and from rhe-
torical style to textual cohesion and genre specificity. Furthermore, they have the potential to
encourage awareness of the use of written language and visual expression as forms of repre-
sentation that are rooted in, often pluralistic, linguistic and cultural conventions.
The aforementioned characteristics of Web 2.0 technologies help explain why reports
on the use of wikis and blogs
5
represent an emerging growth market in the economy of CALL
research (e.g., Ducate & Lomicka, 2005; Kost, 2007; Thorne & Payne, 2005). Importantly,
wikis and blogs are spaces in which students have the potential to move from the conven-
tional epistemic stance of knowledge consumer to that of knowledge producer, and, in so
doing, to shift also from mere participation in an educational community to contributive and
co-constitutive roles in that community. We would underscore, however, that L2 and general
educational uses of these technologies require critical awareness of media literacies and may
provide both new resources as well as precipitate significant challenges to teachers and ad-
ministrators (for a discussion, see Thorne & Reinhardt, 2008). The remainder of this section
reports on work currently underway in the CALL arena related to wikis, blogs, and social book-
marking. Each section further explores the unique role these tools can, and perhaps should,
play in future language learning endeavors. Examples from current projects are included
where available.
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Wikis: Collaborative Content Creation
Originally utilized by computer programmers and system designers, wikis have become popu-
lar venues for collaboration and communication in a variety of contexts, including the educa-
tion arena, at both the K-12 and university levels (Farabaugh, 2007; Farabaugh, Farabaugh
& Freeland, 2005; Kost, 2007; Oskoz & Elola, 2008; Wang et al., 2005). In part, educators’
interest in the use of wikis likely “derives from the facility [they] offer [for] talking to others,
regardless of the distance, and the opportunity [they] provide to gather information. Using
[them], we feel connected, both to the people and to various contexts of our world” (Fara-
baugh, 2007, p. 42). Furthermore, wikis are readily accessible and are low or no cost for
noncommercial (e.g., educational or nonprofit) use.
6
Increasingly, open source (e.g., Moodle)
and commercial (e.g., WebCT/Blackboard) course management systems (CMSs) now include
integrated wiki and blog spaces, making them more readily available to practitioners already
using such systems.
Early reports on the use of wikis in the L2 classroom have been primarily descriptive
and exploratory in nature (Godwin-Jones, 2003; Thorne & Payne, 2005), but a number of
projects currently underway have documented innovative uses of wikis in the L2 classroom.
These include the application of wikis to connect methodology classes among universities (Lo-
micka, Lord, Ducate, & Arnold, 2007), to examine students’ content and composition develop-
ment (Oskoz & Elola, 2008), and to assess learners’ language use as part of their experience
in writing classes (Kost, 2007). From an examination of these studies, as well as the more
general literature on wikis, two attributes of this mediated context emerge as especially appli-
cable to the CALL arena. These include a reconceptualization of authorship as well as changes
to approaches to the writing process as a whole.
The blurring of historical notions of authorship that emerge as a function of collabora-
tive writing in a universal write-access wiki space revises the conventional author-reader rela-
tionship; witness the lack of explicitly defined authorship on sites such as Wikipedia to name
the most prominent example (see Thorne, 2008b, for a discussion). Fully utilizing wikis in the
L2 classroom requires recognition of the learning that can take place through, and as a result
of, the collaborative creation of one final product (Brown & Adler, 2008). This has an impact
not only on the notion of individualized scholarship, but also the created product as a whole.
In terms of assessment and insight into the writing process, a useful feature for lan-
guage educators is the ability to explicitly track all registered user contributions to a wiki
document (e.g., additions, deletions, alterations, etc.). This feature makes visible many as-
pects of the historical evolution of a text as well as the content of individual user contribu-
tions. Learners themselves can use document tracking features to examine the evolution of
a text, potentially enhancing their ability to objectively monitor and control their learning
processes. As stated by Farabaugh, “the discussion tend[s] to be evolving and democratic …
with each participant in turn taking the opportunity to shape the ‘reified’ experience” (2007,
p. 45). In essence, knowledge building is not only focused on developing a final product; also
highlighted are the turn-by-turn dynamics of scholarly authorship within an “open source
epistemology” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007, p. 18).
The collaborative value of wikis is further increased when accompanied by the use of
web-based voice applications such as the commercial tools Skype, Skype TM, or Voice Direct.
Adding a synchronous voice application to the asynchronous collaboration of wikis provides
another layer of complexity and richness to students’ work and increases the level of account-
ability for the participants (Oskoz & Elola, 2008). Collaboration goes beyond the editing of
sentences, organization of paragraphs, and addition of content. Given that the final product
is a representation of all of those involved, the synchronous voice discussion becomes a ne-
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gotiation of ideas, more closely mimicking collaborative scenarios that often happen in the
nonacademic world (e.g., Brown & Adler, 2008; Jenkins, 2006). From a pedagogical point of
view, instructors can design activities that engage learners, both synchronously and asyn-
chronously, to enable collaborative engagement on a more complex level. To take an example
from one of our institutions, students in advanced writing classes in Spanish participate in
research projects in which pairs of students collaborate in the development of content and
language learning related tasks via wiki. While students complete most of the work and the
revisions in the wiki, they have the opportunity to fine tune and discuss any content or lin-
guistic concerns synchronously by using tools such as Voice Direct. Through archival searches
of these online discussions, a record of the collaborative process is created that can be easily
accessed and reviewed.
From a research point of view, the use of wikis, in conjunction with voice (or written)
chat, supplies a large amount of data regarding students’ collaboration across drafts, the
depth of students’ discussions with voice/written chat, and organizational, linguistic and con-
tent related differences between first and final drafts (Oskoz & Elola, 2008). This information
can provide additional insights into the complex L2 writing process, which, in turn, can inform
pedagogical applications in the classroom.
Blogs: Self-expression and (the Potential for) Enhanced Readership
Blogs come in many shapes and sizes and have evolved as a set of “social and informational
phenomena that include mainstream media as well as grassroots and watchdog news re-
porting, thematic and topic-specific amateur and professional observations, business and
commercial information outlets, and, of course, the ‘public’ journaling of one’s ‘private’ life”
(Thorne & Payne, 2005, p. 382). They are free (e.g., Blogger.com [https://www.blogger.com/
start]), easy to create (i.e., often a matter of merely entering content and uploading), and
customizable (making them attractive to advanced users). In addition, they provide a space
in the public domain to which information can be added instantaneously (Richardson, 2006)
and made available to a global audience.
7
Thus, blogs are especially useful for encouraging
individual (and less frequently, group) authorship that is relevant to a larger, interactive com-
munity.
Blogs are receiving increasingly more attention in CALL research and second language
instruction (e.g., Bloch, 2007; Ducate & Lomicka, 2005; Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Fidalgo-Eick,
2006) as primarily individual authoring environments. While blogs are often richly interlinked
with other interactive digital spaces, blogs tend to be highly personal and have been described
as “I, I, me-me-me” environments due to the fact that they are typically controlled by a single
person and explicitly reflect that individual’s point of view (Thorne & Payne, 2005, p. 382).
Their potential to enhance L2 writing skills through meaningful tasks and extended readership
is often the subject of attention.
Despite the individually oriented perspective often associated with blogging, their use
also offers significant opportunities to cultivate interaction. Readers can respond to writers’
entries with comments that can result in de facto threaded discussions (Campbell, 2003).
Student maintenance of individual journals by participating in blog communities, different
from essays written to an unknown or overly narrow audience (e.g., the instructor), provides
students with a sense of authorial purpose (Fidalgo-Eick, 2006). Moreover, blogs can be
used to enhance students’ reading and writing, both in their native language and the target
language(s) (Ducate & Lomicka, 2005). Furthermore, students can access entries on different
topics by experts and other learners as well as explore links referenced within a blog. Learners
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can also read blogs written by individuals around the world, supporting the analysis of—and
interaction with—cultural information viewed as a form of legitimate cultural eavesdropping.
In addition, blogs can be envisioned as a tool for students to develop intercultural
communicative competence, defined as openness to difference and a capacity to contingently
and dynamically interact with members of other speech communities and cultures (e.g., By-
ram, 2000; Belz & Thorne, 2006; Thorne, 2006). In a recent project (Elola & Oskoz, 2008),
blogs were used to connect residential foreign language students with international partners.
Following discussion of a series of tasks related to family, health, art, and urban living, stu-
dents, working primarily in pods of four (two students in the US and two students in Spain)
presented evidence of intercultural competence. Overall, students found the experience to be
successful and both groups perceived that blogging had a positive effect in their intercultural
competence development.
Alternative Forms of Blogging
Current blogging practices involve more than the written word. Three popular forms of mul-
timedia blogging—audioblogging, moblogging, and vloging—include the primary objective of
blogging through multimedia (i.e., audiofiles, pictures, and videos) as an addition to, or re-
placement of, textual postings. Similar to text blog posts, multimedia blogs are organized by
the time and date posted. Moblogging, for its part, allows users to upload pictures taken from
cell phones, PDAs, and digital cameras, presenting an opportunity for real-time documenta-
tion and charting. Finally, vlogs support the addition of video, usually accompanied by text,
images, and additional contextual information. Paraphrasing Godwin-Jones (2005), moblog-
ging and vlogs are particularly compelling at a time in which so many cell phones have built
in digital cameras and the capacity to create video clips. Given the facility to download MP3
or other audio files and the large number of students who own cell phones, these three vari-
ables bring new possibilities and projects to the L2 classroom. For example, in study abroad
contexts, without the need to wait for access to a computer, students upload images and text
directly from their cell phones, thus sharing more vividly and rapidly their experiences with
others, be it family or classmates. These formats have been little explored in L2 education
research but are growing in popularity with campus study abroad offices and organizations (a
Google search on the query “study abroad blogs” returned 277,000 hits, the first 5 pages of
which were nearly all relevant).
Social Bookmarking: The Social Organization of Collective Knowledge
With the explosion of shared content available in these emerging digital spaces, the ability to
categorize and annotate information that is meaningful and relevant to an individual is impor-
tant (Levy & Stone, 2006). However, due to the sheer volume of content available in digital
spaces today, it is impractical (and likely impossible) to effectively manage the information at
a local level (e.g., each individual user). Therefore, while the word “bookmarking” does not
necessarily make us think of collaboration, social bookmarking, in essence, is the collabora-
tive management of digital content. Instead of individually bookmarking each site of collective
interest, social bookmarking allows one to annotate in a minimally designed webpage such as
in del.icio.us URLs to different web pages. Below each URL, the user is able to provide a small
description of the webpage content where the user(s) select words as tags.
8
The benefits of using social bookmarking as a research or instructional tool include: (a)
creating an “outboard memory,” a page that stores links that could otherwise get lost in an ar-
ray of emails and printouts; (b) connecting with people who share the same interests and who
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could become potential collaborators; (c) clustering tags which reveal unique combinations of
an individual’s research themes; (d) creating a multiauthored, bookmarked page that might
ultimately benefit the entire team when working on a project; and (e) providing insights into
the owner (owners’) research (Alexander, 2006). Social bookmarking creates a space where
students can share their personal and professional inquiries. Sites such as del.icio.us provide
the possibility of creating private networks localizable to students in a class, enabling the
creation of a bank of resources to which everybody would have access.
9
The benefits of social
bookmarking go beyond the sharing of information among users. As with the aforementioned
communication environments described above, its benefits are maximized when used in con-
junction with other tools, for example the linking of social bookmarking with blog and wiki
projects.
10
In general, we consider the Web 2.0 tools presented in this article as essential to the
transformation from individual to collective content creation, dissemination, and categoriza-
tion. Future CALL research and L2 pedagogy would benefit from continued exploration of
these tools as serious, relevant contexts for the creation and shaping of knowledge in mean-
ingful, real-world contexts.
ONLINE VIRTUAL WORLDS: OPEN SOCIAL SPACES, MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ON-
LINE GAMES, AND SYNTHENTIC IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
An important area that warrants significant attention in considering the relevance of mediated
contexts are the realms of open social spaces (e.g., Second Life, There, and Active Worlds),
massively multiplayer online gaming spaces (MMOGs) (e.g., World of Warcraft, Everquest,
and Eve Online), and synthetic immersive environments (SIEs) (e.g., Croquelandia and ZON).
The commercial endeavors in this context form a billion dollar empire and engage participants
from all over the world. Recently, educational researchers have begun to assess these inter-
actional spaces and gaming models as beneficial for learning (e.g., de Freitas, 2006; Gee,
2003, 2005; Jenkins & Squire, 2004; National Summit on Educational Gaming, 2005; Prensky,
2001; Steinkuelher, 2004, 2007), and, more specifically, for achieving communicative and
intercultural competence (e.g., Bryant, 2006; García-Carbonell, Montero, Rising, & Watts,
2001; Thorne, 2008c; Thorne & Black, 2007, 2008). Mediated experiences in different online
social and gaming worlds allow users to experiment and interact with a wide variety of norms
of communication and social interaction (e.g., Steinkuehler, 2006). Thus, each type of visu-
ally rendered virtual space presents distinct possibilities for language development based on
the affordances, constraints, and unique interactional opportunities of the space itself. In the
discussion to follow, we first address considerations of communicative norms within various
types of online immersive worlds. We then explore the use of SIEs for L2 learning with specific
reference to a project that targets the complex issue of interlanguage pragmatic develop-
ment.
11
Communicative Norms in Online Virtual Worlds
In thinking about the complex, collaborative nature of immersive spaces, it is critical to ex-
amine not only the features unique to each type of space, but also the communicative norms
and practices associated with their use. Examining why and how construction and negotia-
tion of communicative functions occur in intercultural language learning through computer-
mediated communication (CMC), Thorne (2003) presents a cultural-historical framework for
understanding how internet-based tools mediate communication (see also Lantolf & Thorne,
2006). Based on this framework, Thorne postulates that “digital communication technologies
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have made possible substantive aesthetic shifts in human communicative practices” and ar-
gues that such practices emerge within distinctive cultures-of-use—that is, the unity of local
and contingent aspects of interaction with “the historically sedimented characteristics that ac-
crue to a [computer-mediated-communication] tool from its everyday use” (2003, p. 40). The
historically developed cultures-of-use of a mediated communication environment, involving
norms and expectations of appropriate language use, shape interactional dynamics and, by
extension, the forms of language development and literacy engagement taking place in these
contexts (see also Thorne, 2000).
Historically, the field of second language acquisition has seen an increasing level of im-
portance placed on communicative norms as part of evolving models of communicative com-
petence (Bachman, 1997; Canale & Swain, 1980; Hymes, 1972; Thorne, 2006
12
). Immersive
modalities offer significant opportunities for engaged interaction and language socialization
within specific genres and communicative norms. Attention to the relationship between in-
novative mediated communication technologies and the development of advanced language
skills, such as pragmatics, should be considered, not only in terms of how they function as
learning tools, but also as relevant interactive contexts in and of themselves. Thus, when
considering any mediated environment, it is critical to place value on the inherent norms of
the interactive space itself as well as the application of learned skills to other communicative
contexts.
Full participation in virtually rendered spaces requires pragmatic control of the com-
municative norms local to a specific online community as well as mastery of the interface and
virtual topography. Users of Second Life, for example, must learn a designated set of in-world
features before they are permitted to navigate away from “Orientation Island.” Moreover, to
be a highly skilled player in World of Warcraft, one must not only be able to complete quests,
gain assets, and navigate through three continents of geographic space, but also to interact
with others in an appropriate manner utilizing the norms established by expert players of the
game. This point will be elaborated shortly.
To add further complexity, participants may take on numerous identities in immersive
spaces through careful manipulation of sociopragmatic factors as they carry out and creatively
transform roles they visually embody in the virtual space (Gee, 2003, 2005; Prensky, 2001).
For example, in Second Life, an open social space designed as a simulation of “life,” users can
select the gender of their avatar, design their own clothing, and modify their behavior based
on, for example, location or the presence/absence of other participants. Behavior in Second
Life can be, and should be, tailored to suit a variety of social contexts such as the tropical
island bar, classroom, or commercial, high-power board room of a company on virtual Main
Street. Moreover, experienced players are quite adept at identifying new users based on the
appearance of their avatar (Sadler, 2007).
Players of MMOGs can take this experimentation one step further by selecting a race,
class, or profession. In World of Warcraft, to take an example from the most widely played
MMOG (with over 9,000,000 players worldwide), users begin the game by selecting a race
(which influences geographical area, game-suggested personality, and other social features)
as well as a class (which influences abilities and the manner in which the game is played).
Once this selection has been made, a user’s avatar is then constrained by the societal norms
of that race in Azeroth (the simulated world in which the characters live). For example,
Night Elves are described in the official game documentation as a race having more sophisti-
cated personalities with a tendency to make dry jokes whereas Gnomes are depicted as the
“nerdy” race that is marked with extreme intelligence and mechanical abilities. Each of these
constraints is game suggested, yet user selected and enacted (or not, as is frequently the
case).
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In MMOGs such as World of Warcraft, it is common for users to create two or more
characters (known as ‘alts’ or ‘toons’) in order to experience the game from different perspec-
tives. This seems to indicate that social experimentation is an inherent characteristic of these
spaces. In addition to experimenting with roles and personalities, learners can also experi-
ment in terms of gesture, physical context, audio enhancement, and transferring of assets
within the various types of immersive spaces. As Gee suggests, “[g]ames are an invitation to
play out different sides of our desires, feelings, values, fears, fantasies, and identities” (2005,
p. 70). In relation to language learning, such opportunities for identity play precipitate so-
ciopragmatic considerations that can involve gesture and personal space (e.g., Rosenbloom,
2006), political action (e.g., Sawyer, 2005; Second Life Herald 2006, 2007), critique and co-
construction of “culture” (e.g., Mistral, 2007), caretaking (Kushner, 2006), emotional connec-
tion with others and with the game space (e.g., Slater et al., 2006), sexual encounters (e.g.,
Cheng, 2006), and commerce (e.g., Shamoon, 2006).
Virtual Social Spaces and Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming Spaces
While there is a growing body of research addressing the use of Second Life in education, up
to this point (see de Freitas, 2006, for a review), relatively little research has specifically ad-
dressed the use of MMOGs for L2 language development. In a preliminary analysis of these
issues, Thorne (2008c) analyzes intercultural communication occurring in MMOGs as related
to other internet-mediated communication modalities. A detailed analysis of an interaction
between an expert speaker of English living in the US and an expert speaker of Russian living
in the Ukraine indicates evidence of a number of positive assets for language learning (e.g.,
natural, unscripted interaction, emotional bond with the interlocutor, reciprocal alterations
in expert status, explicit other- and self-correction, extended repair sequences, and exhib-
ited motivation for language learning). Additionally, the interaction represented in this case
study demonstrated numerous complex communicative functions such as solidarity building,
greeting and leave taking, apologizing, and requesting (see also Nardi, Ly, & Harris, 2007).
Despite the limited work in this area, the inherent characteristics of both open virtual spaces
and MMOGs offer numerous potential benefits for the development of complex communicative
skills, such as pragmatics, in a second language.
13
The following section describes a project
currently underway aimed at leveraging the possibilities of immersive spaces for language
learning.
Synthetic Immersive Environments
SIEs represent a unique variety of online immersive space that is carefully designed to func-
tion as a social space while, at the same time, incorporating the beneficial attributes of MMOG
models. In other words, SIEs are engineered spaces which integrate the many benefits of
online gaming to produce explicit, educationally related outcomes in simulated, relevant in-
teractional contexts (Sykes, 2008). SIEs carry significant potential in that they allow creators
to target specific skills and educational objectives, while creating a meaningful collaborative
space in which learners themselves are at the center of their own learning.
A large-scale research project which entails the creation, implementation, and analysis
of the first SIE targeted at attaining advanced L2 skills is currently underway (Sykes, 2008).
The Croquelandia space
14
is an SIE designed for the learning of Spanish pragmatics in which
learners are immersed in a 3-dimensional, graphically rich social space that emulates various
regions of the “real” Spanish-speaking world. During their time in Croquelandia, learners are
engaged in a variety of game-like, goal-directed activities (e.g., quests) designed to provide
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behavior-based corrective feedback to users through interaction with non-player characters
(NPCs), native speakers, and other group members. Learners are able to practice in the SIE
in order to improve their pragmatic competence in a low-risk, yet emotionally engaging, im-
mersive space. Interaction with, and within, this SIE carries the ultimate goal of enhancing
learners’ ability to deal with various pragmatic features of L2 Spanish. Initial learner percep-
tion and outcome data indicate a positive effect of the use of SIEs for pragmatic development.
The following section explores some of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of SIEs
for learning L2 communicative norms, especially considerations relevant to pragmatics.
THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SIES FOR L2 PRAGMATIC LEARNING
Advantages
Considering the complexity of the issues inherent in the internet-mediated communicative
contexts themselves as well as the numerous pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic factors
influencing pragmatic appropriateness, it might appear impossible to harness this technologi-
cal tool for L2 pragmatic learning. However, the whole might be less complex than all of its
individual components. Research has shown that pragmatics is indeed teachable and should
be included in L2 language learning (Cohen, 1996; Kasper, 1997; LoCastro, 2003; Rose &
Kasper, 2001; Rose, 2005). Furthermore, internet-mediated tools offer immense potential
to overcome some of the inherent difficulties in teaching pragmatics (Sykes, 2005). Some of
these difficulties include: (a) individual personality differences and sensitivity to certain con-
textual factors influencing the interaction (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Kasper, 1997), (b) assess-
ment and feedback challenges (Cohen, 2004; Roever, 2004; Salaberry & Cohen, 2006), and
(c) immense variation (dialect, social, individual) (Márquez-Reiter & Placencia, 2005).
One of the biggest advantages of using SIEs for learning pragmatics, as well as other
complex communicative norms and functions, is their flexibility and built-in complexity. In
other words, it is an internet-mediated modality which encourages the use of an integrated
set of complex features to learn about complex language functions (i.e., pragmatics) in a real-
istic amount of time, not something that is merely created for a learning exercise. Gee (2003)
describes the mechanism driving games, which is equally applicable to SIEs,
So here we are with something that is long, hard, and challenging. However,
you cannot play a game if you cannot learn it. … Of course, designers could
keep making them shorter and simpler to facilitate learning. … But, no, in this
case, game designers keep making the games longer and more challenging,
and still manage to get them learned. (p. 6)
This is much like pragmatics. The more you know, the more difficult it becomes, and the lon-
ger it takes to truly master the necessary pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic skills.
15
SIEs
provide a mechanism for making this a possible and realistic endeavor. This complexity also
makes SIEs unique from other types of internet-mediated environments.
Simulated Roles and Identities
As noted in the previous discussion regarding online immersive spaces, one of the most posi-
tive assets for L2 pragmatic learning is the possibility to take on numerous, simulated identi-
ties and participant roles. In doing so, learners are able to experiment and practice pragmatic
functions in diverse social contexts and settings. In SIEs, assumed participant roles move a
step beyond those found in a synchronous CMC environment. Not only can learners simulate
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