Foreign language education in the Second Life: Student-teacher and context interaction

The current study aims to determine factors affecting the interaction between student, teacher and environment which occurs in Second Life, one of the 3D virtual environments, used for foreign language education by employing three teaching methods. The sample is composed of 12 students attending 10th grade in two different secondary schools in the first term of the 2011-2012 academic year and 2 teachers of English to whom the students are not familiar at all. The participant students were chosen among the volunteers by considering the English course grades and teachers? opinions. The role of the teachers in this educational environment is to guide the students and apply the activities.Because of the nature of the study, case study which is one of the qualitative research methods is adopted. Three different teaching methods were employed for improving English speaking skills of the students. These methods are as follows: making a presentation using innovation, making a discussion using Six Thinking Hats and making dialogues using role-play. During the activities used in these methods, three semi-structured interviews were applied to the students periodically in order to reveal the interaction which occurred between the student and teacher in social environment and in Second Life (media) and a semi-structured interview was employed with the teachers at the end of the study. Therefore, data was collected via interviews, Second Life screen records and survey forms. After the interviews were digitalized, all data were analyzed by using content-analysis method and interpreted by appropriate tables and schemes.The results indicated that Second Life virtual media contributed to students? peer learning in a social environment organized for foreign language education in such a virtual environment, increasing their self-confidence and self-sufficiency owing to the the real experience of speaking a foreign language and helped them to get rid of social oppression. Besides, the Second Life virtual media with its real-like 3D design promoted interest and motivation of the students in course. At the end of the study, the limitations occurring during the study in Second Life teaching media are presented in detail and some suggestions are introduced for researchers who wish to study on this issue.Key Words: Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments, Second Life, Foreign Language Education, E-learning, English, Instructional Technology.