Designing Tasks through Second Life for CFL Learners in the UK University

Abstract

The development of technology has brought some alternative means in education. The enabling role of technology has been widely recognized in second language teaching and learning. Second Life (SL) is an online virtual world and is popular with digital natives. Some language educators apply this application to foreign-language teaching in university courses because of its benefits to students’ immersion and focus, imagination, and creativity in language learning. Language learners can immerse themselves in the target language environment to imitate real-world tasks, which promotes the provision of reality-oriented tasks and optimizes task-based language teaching tenets such as learning by doing, authenticity, negotiation of meaning, and exposure to abundant and authentic input. Based on the definition of tasks, the role of SL in foreign-language teaching, and previous pedagogic models and studies on designing tasks with SL, this study proposed two types of SL tasks for Chinese as a foreign-language learner in university settings, along with the rationale behind them. Additionally, challenges in designing tasks in SL were identified. Overall, this study offered valuable insights and guidance for the application of SL in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages in UK universities.