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SanjigenJiten: Computer Assisted Language Learning System within a 3D Game Environment
Abstract
Imagine being able to approach any object in the real world and instantly learn how to read and pronounce the name of the object in any other language. This paper proposes the use of a system that simulates this idea by utilizing the video game medium in a way that makes learning a new language simple and fun. The system was designed specifically for the new technologically-inclined generation that might benefit greatly from learning within a game environment. The process of learning a new language with this system strays from previous and conventional methods in that it employs a more visual-spatial approach to learning. Additionally, this system engages the player through the use of industry-standard video game elements such as a 3D environment, controllable main character, item collection system, scoring system, and complex rewards system. By keeping in line with what people expect from standard video games, this game is capable of holding the player's attention for longer periods of time than when compared classes, textbooks, or tutors.
... Different approaches to VR language learning are currently under investigation, with some of the most compelling educational uses of the technology involving VR social platforms that allow language learners from around the world to spontaneously meet and interact with speakers of their target language. Within these virtual contexts, gesturing with motion controllers and interacting with 3D props can provide additional semantic context and help novice learners deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases [9]. ...
... Howland et al. [9] present a learning game targeted towards learners of Japanese that features a 3D environment in which objects can be manipulated freely per the user. When the user interacts with an object, its pronunciation and part of speech are displayed with a translation into the player's native language-hence the application's name "Sanjigen Jiten", which translates to "3D Dictionary" in English. ...
... An obvious limitation of the work is that despite its name, the content is more akin to a lexicon: the number of words that can be queried this way is small and limited to the objects placed in the virtual world by the creator of the application. By providing a software component that can be reused in other applications, we allow developers of educational applications to quickly and easily replicate the main functionality presented in [9] without developing it on their own. In addition, since the dictionary content is not embedded into the application, it can be easily updated with more content. ...
... The DGBLL studies show that teachers worldwide have attempted to combine various in and out of class, as well as individual and group activities. These include: playing outside the lessons (Berns et al., 2013;Howland et al., 2012;Peirce & Wade, 2010), extramural game activity and repeated game play (e.g., playing each chapter five times, Doe, 2014), playing in the classroom according to the instructions of teacher (Guillén-Nieto & Aleson-Carbonell, 2012;Kocaman & Kizilkaya-Cumaoglu, 2014), combining classroom activities with play activities, e.g., game as homework (Neville, 2015) and many others. In most of the game projects, the participating players were given individual activities outside the school. ...
... Cai Miller, and Seneff (2013) and Rayner and Tsourakis (2013) are concerned with the use of language-technological components (such as speech-recognition and synthesis) in serious games. In all the studies on learner opinions investigated, except De Grove, Van Looy, and Mechant (2011), high motivation and very positive learner attitudes towards the serious games were reported (see Doe, 2014;Jantke & Hume, 2015;Howland, Urano, & Hoshino, 2012). The effect of motivation on the attitudes of the learners and the learning success is a most frequently reported factor in the other branches of Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) as well (Akpinar & Turan, 2012;Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005). ...
The interest in Digital Game-Based Language Learning (DGBLL) has increased considerably in recent years although being a relatively new approach. Despite the interest that DGBLL took, the studies in the context of German as a Foreign Language (FL) are quite limited. Moreover, DGBLL in the Turkish context is not prevalent. Due to this gap in the literature, a research project was launched at a big state university in Turkey in 2014 to explore the potentials and limitations of DGBLL. The study focuses specifically on serious games for FL teaching and learning. The aim of the project, in addition to the promotion of linguistic skills of the learners, is to contribute to the development of professional qualifications of the future FL teachers. The present research aims to report on the pilot study of the project. A one group pre-test post-test research design was used in the study. Quantitative data was collected via two opinion questionnaires implemented at the beginning and at the end of the process as well as a receptive vocabulary test. Qualitative data was collected via semi-structuted interviews and game diaries that participants kept. Two serious games for German was selected and used with traditional dictation, transcription and reading comprehension activities. The results of an 11-week gaming activity indicated significant differences between pre- and post-tests in vocabulary. Additionaly, age was found to be an important factor that affects participants’ attitudes towards serious games. The results indicate that the participants found game activities useful for the development of other language skills.
... A game called Influent recently explored this idea, by having the player walk around a 3D environment and learn the vocabulary associated with objects in that environment [23]. This offered an exciting new way to interact with language, but we believe there is potential to enrich context with other aspects such as conversation and narrative. ...
... MicroMandarin, for example, makes use of the user's real world location as a source for vocabulary words [18]. A video game, Influent, uses a 3D environment to teach vocabulary words [23]. This game makes use of visual context to teach vocabulary meanings, but does not provide a set of deep, structured, and layered challenges to motivate the player. ...
Learning a second language is challenging. Becoming fluent requires learning contextual information about how language should be used as well as word meanings and grammar. The majority of existing language learning applications provide only thin context around content. In this paper, we present Crystallize, a collaborative 3D game that provides rich context along with scaffolded learning and engaging gameplay mechanics. Players collaborate through joint tasks, or quests. We present a user study with 42 participants that examined the impact of low and high levels of task interdependence on language learning experience and outcomes. We found that requiring players to help each other led to improved collaborative partner interactions, learning outcomes, and gameplay. A detailed analysis of the chat-logs further revealed that changes in task interdependence affected learning behaviors.
... Simulations are very useful in language learning, as they offer the opportunity to involve users in educational scenarios. Howland et al [21], proposed Influent, a video game that uses a 3D environment to teach vocabulary words. Culbertson et al [22], developed Crystallize, an immersive 3D Japanese language learning video game where the player can collect words, use those words to converse with non-player characters, and collaborate with other players through avatars in joint tasks, or language "quests". ...
... Cheng et al. [8] further developed Crystallize with virtual reality (VR) extension and showed that participants felt more involved in a foreign culture. As another example, a commercial game, Infuent, lets players explore in a 3D simulated environment and learn foreign vocabulary in a naturalistic way [23]. However, most of these games use L1 to provide explicit instructions or translations. ...
... A good summary can be found in [29]. For example, Sanjigenjiten uses a 3D environment to teach vocabulary words [18]. This game makes use of visual context to teach vocabulary meanings, but it does not provide a deep learning progression. ...
Many people want to learn a language but find it difficult to stay engaged. Ideally, we would have language learning tools that can make language learning more enjoyable by simulating immersion in a foreign language environment. Therefore, we adapted Crystallize, a 3D video game for learning Japanese, so that it can be played in virtual reality with the Oculus Rift. Specifically, we explored whether we could leverage virtual reality technology to teach embodied cultural interaction, such as bowing in Japanese greetings. To evaluate the impact of our virtual reality game designs, we conducted a formative user study with 68 participants. We present results showing that the virtual reality design trained players how and when to bow, and that it increased participants' sense of involvement in Japanese culture. Our results suggest that virtual reality technology provides an opportunity to leverage culturally-relevant physical interaction, which can enhance the design of language learning technology and virtual reality games.
... For learning basic skills such as writing, games such as My Japanese Coach have been developed. Another game, Influent [28] teaches vocabulary in a virtual home and has game modes where the player must rush to find items in the home. These games, while they have some motivational framework, lack real or simulated interpersonal interactions. ...
Learning a second language is challenging. Becoming fluent requires learning contextual information about how language should be used as well as word meanings and grammar. The majority of existing language learning applications provide only thin context around content. In this paper, we present work in Crystallize, a language learning game that combines traditional learning approaches with a situated learning paradigm by integrating a spaced-repetition system within a language learning roleplaying game. To facilitate long-term engagement with the game, we added a new quest paradigm, "jobs," that allow a small amount of design effort to generate a large set of highly-scaffolded tasks that grow iteratively. A large-scale evaluation of the language learning game "in the wild" with a diverse set of 186 people revealed that the game was not only engaging players for extended amounts of time but that players learned an average of 8.7 words in an average of 40.5 minutes.
In this paper, I explored the reasons three pre-service teachers gave for why they accept and integrate Minecraft Education Edition into their growing practice. During a six-week online university course on technology in foreign language education, a group of twenty-one pre-service and in-service teachers created weekly Reflexive Digital Story (RDS) Journals to document their technology exploration along with lesson plans and projects that incorporated innovative technologies they wanted to integrate into their practice. Three of the pre-service teachers enrolled in this course became innovators and early adopters in comparison to their peers as they voluntarily integrated Minecraft Education Edition into their coursework. This allowed me to qualitatively analyze their coursework to identify the reasons they integrated the digital game into their developing practice. This work contributes to the field of digital game-based learning, technology acceptance and integration, and the study of teacher education by illuminating the factors that contribute to why pre-service teachers accept and use Virtual Worlds (VWs). I discovered the reasons these pre-service teachers gave for acceptance and use of VW technology embodied the recognition of a need for motivation and engagement in the classroom, beliefs about the social nature of culture and language, and perceptions of VWs as an opportunity to make the impossible possible.
Soft skills training is considered important for employees to be successful at work. Several companies are offering immersive virtual soft skills training with head-mounted displays. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an overview of the research literature within the field of using immersive virtual soft skills learning and training of employees. The results of this preliminary scoping review show that there is a lack of research literature and empirical studies within this topic.
The 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN 2021) is an innovative and interactive virtual gathering for a strengthening global network of researchers and practitioners collaborating to develop the scientific, technical, and applied potential of immersive learning. It is the premier scholarly event focusing on advances in the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other extended reality (XR) technologies to support learners across the full span of learning—from K-12 through higher-education to workbased, informal, and lifelong learning contexts.
Following the success of iLRN 2020, our first fully online and in-VR conference, this year’s
conference was once again based on the iLRN Virtual Campus, powered by ©Virbela, but with a range of activities taking place on various other XR simulation, gaming, and other platforms.
Scholars and professionals working from informal and formal education settings as well as those representing diverse industry sectors are invited to participate in the conference, where they may share their research findings, experiences, and insights; network and establish partnerships to envision and shape the future of XR and immersive technologies for learning; and contribute to the emerging scholarly knowledge base on how these technologies can be used to create experiences that educate, engage, and excite learners.
Educational technologies have started to be integrated in educational activities in an increasing rate with recent technological advancements. Digital games, being one of these materials, are thought to be effective in language learning and teaching field as much as they are in other educational fields. Previous research has shown that pre-service teachers generally have positive attitudes towards digital games, and the ones who have negative attitudes cannot think of any use since they have not encountered any specific example of application. In this respect, Sykes and Reinhardt (2012) claimed five possible key elements in line with game elements and second language learning, which are goals, interaction, feedback, context and motivation. Starting from this point of view, this study aims; first, familiarizing Turkish Pre-service EFL Teachers who were selected based on their attitudes on digital games as high, medium and low attitude with digital game enhanced language learning activities and collect their reflections for the digital game enhanced language learning application they experienced. Also their insights for positive and negative aspects of these activities were also aimed to be studied. In addition, this study also aims investigating participants’ intentions for using digital game enhanced language learning activities in their future teaching practices.
The authors present a novel way of oral language training by embedding the English as a foreign language (EFL) learning process into a generic 3D Cooperative Virtual Reality (VR) Game. Due to lack of time, resources and innovation, the language classroom is limited in its possibilities of promoting authentic communication. Therefore, the researchers investigated how to induce a VR setting with information gaps, for which they designed a template which intrinsically promotes communication and the students' confidence in using EFL. Thereby, VR enables the simulation of real life situations, creating both comfortable and authentic training environments. The game content is based on the internationally approved Graded Examination in Spoken English (GESE) Trinity Exam and can be adapted to the needs of the learners or the given curricula. The empirical analysis shows that the designed game trains the students' communication skills, evoking a high amount of speech and a qualitative linguistic output.
New technologies including digital game-based language learning have increasingly received attention. However, their implementation is far from expected and desired levels due to technical, instructional, financial and sociological barriers. Previous studies suggest that there is a strong need to establish courses in order to support adaptation of game-based learning pedagogy through helping teachers experience digital games themselves before they are expected to use them in teaching. This study was conducted to investigate educational digital games in foreign language teaching, to identify the determining reasons behind the pittfalls in applications and to explore the contribution of a serious game to the development of professional language skills of pre-service teachers. Pre- and post-tests were applied to measure the contribution of the game to the development of their language skills. In addition, a game diary and semi-structured interviews were used to elicit information about the problems pre-service teachers had and their perceptions on the whole process. The analysis of the data illustrated that there was great improvement in pre-service teachers’ professional language skills and attitudes towards using these games while teaching in the future. This is important in foreign language teacher education in terms of enhancing digital game-based language learning pedagogy for teachers.
The authors present a novel way of oral language training by embedding the English as a foreign language (EFL) learning process into a generic 3D Cooperative Virtual Reality (VR) Game. Due to lack of time, resources and innovation, the language classroom is limited in its possibilities of promoting authentic communication. Therefore, the researchers investigated how to induce a VR setting with information gaps, for which they designed a template which intrinsically promotes communication and the students' confidence in using EFL. Thereby, VR enables the simulation of real life situations, creating both comfortable and authentic training environments. The game content is based on the internationally approved Graded Examination in Spoken English (GESE) Trinity Exam and can be adapted to the needs of the learners or the given curricula. The empirical analysis shows that the designed game trains the students' communication skills, evoking a high amount of speech and a qualitative linguistic output.
Many people want to learn a foreign language, but find it challenging to sustain engagement when daily life is disconnected from the target language environment. Ideally, we would have language learning tools that provide the same benefits as being immersed in the target environment. Crystallize takes a first step towards this goal by providing a structured immersive experience. Instead of memorizing vocabulary words and grammar, the player solves linguistic puzzles, interacts with the environment, and infers word meanings from context.
There are quite many commuters who are forced to keep standing on crowded public transportation in Japan, and they often feel fatigue and frustration. Stand Up, Heroes! (SUH) is an EELF-based gamification system to motivate commuters to keep standing. In SUH, they have their own avatars which grow according to their time of standing. As the result of a twelve-week practical evaluation, it is found that SUH can stimulate commuters' motivation during first eight weeks. Growing-up avatars are most effective for stimulation and fun. However, some participants cannot feel fun or stimulation for standing from SUH, because their public transportation which they get on is not so crowded that they can seat on the transportation.
Two questions are examined: (1) What are the features that make computer games so captivating; and (2) How can these features be used to make learning, especially learning with computers, interesting? (MP)
Thinking with images plays a central role in scientific creativity and communication but is neglected in science classrooms. This article reviews the fundamental role of imagery in science and technology and our current knowledge of visual-spatial cognition. A novel analogic and thematic organization of images and visualization within science and technology is proposed that can help in the generation and evaluation of classroom activities and materials, and serve as a focus for professional development programs in visual-spatial thinking for science teachers. Visual-spatial thinking includes vision - using the eyes to identify, locate, and think about objects and ourselves in the world, and imagery - the formation, inspection, transformation, and maintenance of images in the "mind's eye" in the absence of a visual stimulus. A spatial image preserves relationships among a complex set of ideas as a single chunk in working memory, increasing the amount of information that can be maintained in consciousness at a given moment. Vision and imagery are fundamental cognitive processes using specialized pathways in the brain and rely on our memory of prior experience. Visual-spatial thinking develops from birth, together with language and other specialized abilities, through interactions between inherited capabilities and experience. Scientific creativity can be considered as an amalgam of three closely allied mental formats: images; metaphors; and unifying ideas (themes). Combinations of images, analogies, and themes pervade science in the form of "master images" and visualization techniques. A critique of current practice in education contrasts the subservient role of visual-spatial learning with the dominance of the alpha-numeric encoding skills in classroom and textbooks. The lack of coherence in curriculum, pedagogy, and learning theory requires reform that addresses thinking skills, including imagery. Successful integration of information, skills and attitudes into cohesive mental schemata employed by self-aware human beings is a basic goal of education. The current attempt to impose integration using themes is criticized on the grounds that the required underpinning in cognitive skills and content knowledge by teachers and students may be absent. Teaching strategies that employ visual-spatial thinking are reviewed. Master images are recommended as a novel point of departure for a systematic development of programs on visual-spatial thinking in research, teacher education, curriculum, and classroom practice.
Pictures and words were used as stimuli for paired-associate learning of foreign language responses in four trials. Fourth grade boys and girls (N = 42) received Indonesian responses paired with either English word translations or referent line drawings during study trials; half the word pairs were cognates, and half noncognates. Ss were tested for recall of Indonesian responses with both picture and English word stimuli. All three main effects were significant at the .001 level of confidence: more correct Indonesian responses were recalled in the picture-word condition than in the word-word condition, recall for cognates was greater than recall for noncognates, and the number of correctly recalled responses increased over the first three trials and decreased on the fourth trial two weeks later. The research has potential for direct application in the foreign language classroom.
Coverage includes- David "RM" Michael has been a successful independent software developer for over 10 years, working in a variety of industries, including video games. He is the owner of DavidRM Software (www.davidrm.com) and co-owner of Samu Games (www.samugames.com). Michael is the author of The Indie Game Development Survival Guide, and his articles about game design, development, and the game development industry have appeared on GameDev.net (www.gamedev.net) and in the book Game Design Perspectives. His blog about independent games, serious games, and independent software is Joe Indie (www.joeindie.com). Sande Chen has been active in the gaming industry for over five years. She has written for mainstream and industry publications, including Secrets of the Game Business, and was a speaker at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. Her past game credits include Independent Games Festival winner Terminus, Scooby-Doo, and JamDat Scrabble. Chen holds dual degrees in economics and in writing and humanistic studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics, and an M.F.A. in cinema-television from the University of Southern California. In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy in music video direction. She currently works as a freelance writer/game designer. Covers techniques to make entertainment-oriented games richer and provide a deeper experience. The focus on serious games continues to grow--from coverage in the media to conferences and buzz within the game development community. Provides an overview of the major markets for serious games, including current examples and future anticipation.
When discussing the current state of the art with regard to the use of new technologies in the foreign language classroom, two issues tend to come up again and again. On the one hand, it cannot be denied that even today, in the so-called post-communicative era, the effects of traditional instructivist theories of language learning with their transmission-based modes of learning are still somewhat dominant, in particular at the grassroots level. This is all the more surprising, as a discussion of constructivism as an appropriate platform for new approaches to language learning and acquisition seems to have dominated the debate at least on a theoretical level in recent years. On the other hand, it is becoming more and more apparent that the available offline and online software tools offer exciting opportunities for the language classroom that cannot be adequately attended to without calling the paradigm of instruction into question. This paper is an attempt to contribute to the ongoing debate on this crucial issue by offering some key principles that move the discussion further in the direction of constructivist learning theories. A few of the theoretical issues discussed in Germany in the context of CALL and TELL are presented. New information and communication technologies will be touched upon, but the main focus will be an assessment of constructivism as the appropriate paradigm for language learning in the new millennium. In addition, the paper considers using Papert's term constructionism as a basis for putting theory into practice and in order to keep separate the theoretical platform of such an approach and its practical implementation in the knowledge society. On a methodological level, construction of knowledge and information processing are regarded as key activities in language learning. In conclusion, template-based learning is discussed as a possible metaphor for the design of technology-enhanced learning materials for the next millennium aimed at providing learners with constructionist learning scenarios.
AquaMOOSE 3D is a graphical environment designed to support the exploration of 3D mathematical concepts. One of the underlying motivations for the AquaMOOSE project is to leverage the entertainment value of video games to provide a learning environment that engages students in more meaningful ways than are typically seen in the classroom. In this quasi-experimental comparison class study at a suburban high school, we compared the AquaMOOSE intervention to instruction using the traditional curriculum. Our results were disappointing, and call into question our underlying assumptions. In this paper, we will describe factors that contributed and discuss broader implications. Student expectations for the software were high due to the production values seen in commercial video games. In addition, the 3D aspect of the AquaMOOSE software introduced usability concerns and increased content complexity. We also encountered many classic problems of research in the classroom that affected the outcome of the study.
The training potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technology was explored. Thirty-one adults were trained and tested on spatial skill in a VR. They learned a sequence of button and knob responses on a VR console and performed flawlessly on the same console. One-half of the group were trained with a rote strategy; the rest used a meaningful strategy. Response times were equivalent for both groups and decreased significantly over five test trials indicating that learning continued on VR tests. The same subjects practiced navigating through a VR
building, which had three floors with four rooms on each floor. The dependent measure was the number of rooms traversed on routes that differed from training routes. Many subjects completed tests in the fewest rooms possible. All subjects learned configurational knowledge according to the criterion of taking paths that were significantly shorter than that predicted by a random walk as determined by a Monte Carlo analysis. The results were
discussed as a departure point for empirically testing the training potential of VR technology.
Digital Game-Based Learning, by Marc Prensky, is a strategic and tactical guide to the newest trend in e-learning - combining content with video games and computer games to more successfully engage the under-40 "Games Generations," which now make up half of America's work force and all of its students. The book fully explores the concept of Digital Game-Based Learning, including such topics as How Learners Have Changed, Why Digital Game-Based Learning Is Effective, Simulations and Games, How Much It Costs, and How To Convince Management. With over 50 case studies and examples, it graphically illustrates how and why Digital Game-Based Learning is working for learners of all ages in all industries, functions and subjects.
Contemporary research has indicated that students enjoy playing computer games. As a consequence, recreational computer games are becoming an increasingly significant part of student's lives. At the same time, use of educational software in schools is increasing. It has been proposed that playing recreational computer games may facilitate cognitive processes such as forming complex mental representations and making inferences. In this study, a qualitative approach was adopted to determine the cognitive processes students engaged in while playing recreational computer games. This was conducted with a view to determining the validity of incorporating computer game features into educationa software. Twenty-one high school students participated. Results indicated that players practiced complex cognitive processes such as interpreting explicit and implicit information, inductive reasoning, metacognitive analysis, and problem solving.
The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession
- M Flamberg
Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner. The Institute for the Study of Advanced Development
- L K Silverman
- L.K. Silverman
Rosetta StoneTM Findings
- K Nielson
- C Doughty
Cognition and recreational computer games: implications for educational technology
- H K Pillay
- J M Brownlee
- H.K. Pillay
Virtual Reality: An Instructional Medium for Visual-Spatial Tasks
- J W Regian
- W L Shebilske
- J.W. Regian