Eco-dialogical learning and translanguaging in open-ended 3D virtual learning environments: Where place, time, and objects matter

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between design, learning, and translanguaging in a 3D collaborative virtual learning environment for adolescent learners of Chinese and English.We designed an open-ended space congruent with ecological and dialogical perspectives on second language acquisition. In such a space, sense-making is contingent on the relational dynamics of place, activities, and artefacts. These spaces encourage meaning-making in situ, manipulation of virtual objects within places, and coordination among players. Our investigation looked at how learners of Chinese and English collaborated on a project in which they decorated a virtual living room. The findings suggest that socioculturally bounded places afford unique learning opportunities. Firstly, learning occurred through referencing, which is the mutual clarification of a virtual object's meaning, position, and function, in relatively stabilised places, such as a museum, and secondly, learning occurred through coordination between verbal instruction and object manipulation in more adaptive places, which we call eco-dialogical learning. We also found a strong relationship between translanguaging and object manipulation. We conclude the paper from the perspective of how the eco-dialogical model resulted in designs that promoted cognition and interactivity.

Multimodality and translanguaging in negotiation of meaning

“…Although translanguaging and code-switching have been largely researched in language classrooms (Adinolfi & Astruc, 2017;Canagarajah, 2011;García & Kleyn, 2016;García & Lin, 2016;Kramsch & Huffmaster, 2015;Liebscher & Dailey-O'Cain, 2005), and in CMC (Kötter, 2003;Rao et al, 2016;Zheng et al, 2017), research on translanguaging in online SCMC and VEs is scarce. This section details the few studies which have examined different aspects of translanguaging in oral and written interactive tasks in online or hybrid settings.…”

Mobile Augmented Reality and Language‐Related Episodes

“…Studies indicate that AR games and activities create opportunities for collaborative engagement and problem solving by providing location‐specific information, virtual dialogue, prompts, and uses of media such as images and video (Hellermann, Thorne, & Fodor; ; Holden & Sykes, ; Perry, ; Thorne, Hellermann, Jones, & Lester, ; Zheng et al., ). Although existing research has examined language learning in AR games from the eco‐dialogical perspective (i.e., learning while doing and language as action in specific places; e.g., Zheng et al., ; Zheng, Schmidt, Hu, Liu, & Hsu, ), how game players explicitly orient to language has not yet been investigated (though this has been called for by some researchers, e.g., Sert & Balaman, ). The analysis of interactional data in our current study is informed by a long trajectory of work pioneered by Merrill Swain and colleagues, particularly their insights and methodological contributions involving LREs, collaborative dialogue, and languaging.…”

Pedagogical Approaches in the Knowledge Society: The Flipped Classroom Method for the Development of Creativity and Dialogical Learning

“…In this sense, teamwork plays a key role as one of the basic skills that are intrinsically implemented through the flipped classroom [2,13). The thread linking teamwork and dialogical learning is set in the way in which dialogue arises [21,22], in an almost forced way in a teamwork environment fostered by the flipped classroom [24].…”

“…Therefore, the interactions allowed by the flipped classroom foster egalitarian dialogue within the classroom context, thanks to teamwork. In this sense, participating in a peer group fixes the conditions for all students from the same starting point [23], thus enhancing an egalitarian dialogue that has a positive impact on learning improvement [24].…”