There are currently a handful of VR and spatial desktop options for learning languages in an immersive environment. The article talks about immersion camps and how they are built on the idea that languages are best learned through culture. By immersing students in the culture of the target language by learning the customs and traditions, students, in theory, will be able to learn the language faster and have longer lasting connections with the language. Immersion camps are not always accessible for would be learners and some potential learners may not be comfortable with an in person immersion camp for various reasons. The article introduces some VR and spatial desktop options that can allow for immersion in a language in the metaverse.
Author Archives: seth armitage
M2 P4 Metaverse and language learning: Preparing for an immersive future
The metaverse seems to be the next big thing in the internet realm, but will take time to implement. There are a number of companies working on their own version of a metaverse. The metaverse may be a place where language learning can thrive by facilitating a way to learn through the 4Cs (critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication). In the metaverse language learners would be able to work together in the same space to solve problems. The example used in this article is a language lesson in the kitchen where learners can walk around in a kitchen to discover what ingredients are available and work together to create a dish. In fully immersive VR using VR goggles the learners would use their bodies in real life to make their avatars gesture and interact with their peers. Below is a video demonstrating how students can interact in a VR program called Immerse.
Metaverse and language learning: Preparing for an immersive future
M2 P3 Reimagining Language Lessons for Immersive Learning in Virtual Reality
The benefits and limitations of language learning in immersive environments using virtual reality technology are still being worked through and discovered. In this article what they found worked well for language teaching in virtual reality were lessons that involve kinaesthetic learning and ones that use spatial affordances to interact. Kinaesthetic learning seems to have benefits of long term language retention. This is one area where XR learning can be really impactful. Learners will be able to experience a simulated real life situation in the targeted language and be able to practice repeatedly until they are comfortable to practice those skills in a real life situation. XR learning could take a lot of anxiety away from some learners who are not confident enough to practice out loud with peers or in real life situations.
Reimagining Language Lessons for Immersive Learning in Virtual Reality
M2 P2 How Will Extended Reality Impact Language Learning?
XR technology is a developing technology and when it comes to using XR for learning languages, the technology is not yet where it needs to be. This article talks about how important AI and chatbot technology is to making a completely immersive environment and for XR technology to reach its potential as a language learning tool. Chatbot technology is advancing rapidly; however, that technology is focused on widely used languages such as English. Indigenous languages face an uphill battle to have AI chatbot technology developed for those languages, but not impossible.
https://www.extendedrealitylearning.com/how-will-xr-impact-language-training/
M2 P1 Indigenous Digital Skills Training Program Which Teaches Kids How to Bring Indigenous Cultural Knowledge, History and Language to Life Through Augmented Reality, Minecraft and Python Coding
I find this idea of a training program that enables Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids to connect with and learn from elders about cultural knowledge, history and language, while learning digital skills in technologies like augmented reality, animation and coding to be fascinating. I see this as a potential to not only teach children valuable digital skills while simultaneously learning from elders about Indigenous culture, history and language, but also as a way to build up XR language learning content that could help teach learners down the road. For example, I attended a Secwepemc language immersion school called Chief Atahm School and if a training program like this was included in the curriculum, the students could be contributing to Secwépemc language learning content while also gaining valuable skills that can help them in a growing area of employment. Some of the students that go through the training program and have learned Secwepemctsin at Chief Atahm School would have the skills to continue to work in language revitalization using XR technology after they have graduated high school. This could be part of creating the infrastructure to develop the required skills and talent to produce XR language learning content to help preserve and revitalize Secwépemc language and culture.
M1 P5 XR Indigenous Language & Culture
Below is a link to an episode of a podcast talking to a Mohawk woman doing very interesting work in the XR space with a focus on revitalizing language and culture. She is also creating virtual spaces for language learners to drop in and speak in the language. I find this idea fascinating and a great way for people to share knowledge.
M1 P4 Indigenous Peoples Teach the World First Nations Wisdom Through Technology
I believe that mixed reality can be a way to teach language and culture that can incorporate Indigenous place based knowledge into the teachings.When using technology to teach and share language and culture, many of the cultural nuances and knowledge of the land can be lost in translation. Using technology such as Microsoft’s Hololens mixed reality headset, may have the potential to be a game changer for teaching and sharing Indigenous knowledge. An Indigenous language learner may be able to see the world around them as their ancestors did. Learning place names and plant knowledge could be an immersive experience through mixed reality technology and a way to help preserve precious language and knowledge.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/indigenous-people-augmented-reality/
M1 P3 Blockchain and Indigenous Data Sovereignty
Another area of interest I have is Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Using blockchain to ensure that sensitive information reaches the intended audience has the potential to alleviate many concerns that different Indigenous groups may have in regards to recording and documenting culturally sensitive information. Indigenous people may be more willing to record and disseminate culturally sensitive information digitally if there were secure options to do so. For example, the Plains Apache family that Prins (2002) had worked with were reluctant to film the ritual of the medicine bundle as they deemed it too sensitive to be recorded. If blockchain was an available technology at the time, the Plains Apache family may have felt more secure about recording that culturally sensitive ceremony if they knew that it would only be viewed by an audience they were comfortable sharing it with.
Prins, Harald E.L., “Visual Media and the Primitivist Perplex: Colonial Fantasies, Indigenous Imagination, and Advocacy in North America,” in Media Worlds: Anthropology on a New Terrain, eds. Faye D. Ginsburg, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, 58- 74.
M1 P2 Teaching an Indigenous Language Using Social VR at Georgian College
As a person teaching an Indigenous language, I find the potential for VR and XR to be used as tools for teaching Indigenous languages to be quite fascinating. I think there is a lot of potential to enhance the learning experiences of students by using these XR technologies. In person language classes are a great way to learn; however, students interested in learning their Indigenous language are often not located near where the classes are held. XR technologies offer a potential to bring a learning experience that is more tangible to the online learner. As XR technology improves, there may be potential to teach plant names or place names while the learner is in a Mixed Reality environment that allows the learner to ‘see’ and ‘interact’ with the plants and or place names. The article below shows how Georgian College is now using VR to teach Anishnaabemowin. The youtube video link is from the Immersive Learning Research Network World Conference 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ryQS0QpTQ
Teaching an Indigenous Language Using Social VR at Georgian College
M1 P1 How AI is Helping Revitalize Indigenous Languages
This article is one example of Indigenous people are using technology to help preserve their language. The Maori people are using AI and machine learning as a way to automate the transcription of thousands of hours of Maori language archives to enhance access to Maori media. They aim to bring the Maori language and other Indigenous languages to voice operated digital assistants like Siri. An additional point of importance in the article is the call for data sovereignty for all Indigenous cultures. The non-profit media organization Te Hiku, the organization behind the development of the app using AI and machine learning, states that “Data is the new land. Having had our land taken off us, and the experience of language loss in our family, we take data sovereignty very seriously.”
https://www.itu.int/hub/2022/08/ai-indigenous-languages-maori-te-reo/