Abstract Summary
This study is a sequel to the concept paper in the same symposium, Languaging and translanguaging as co-adaptive relational dynamics for language education. This empirical investigation examines how language learners can gain the four linguistical skills holistically by playing a mixed reality game aimed at mindful interaction with the environment.
Abstract :
The question of how to stem or reverse the tide of ecological destruction is one that has prompted scholars across many disciplines to engage in transdisciplinary research. In this project, we invite simultaneous and sequential bilinguals of English and Chinese to engage in cooperative problem solving of environmental issues simulated by a mixed reality environment; the emerging village of Bizhuwangshang and its surrounding forest ecology and panda reserve.
Our primary concern is using the VR space as a way to explore the network of affordances available to players for gaining all four linguistical skills holistically. We also wanted to see whether players gained any additional macro insights such as an awareness of panda vulnerability or co-adaptation (Cowley, 2017) with their partners and the designed narrative.
Participants, in groups of three, will each select one of four roles: a forest manager, an herbalist, a spiritual healer, or a businessperson. Moving through the game narrative, participants will face challenges presented by different NPCs.They will also be shaped into their roles as experts while identifying and solving problems through coordination and improvisation.
The shaping process will include (1) an in-VR setting, where users will co-learn to become experts in their selected roles and coordinate and co-adopt among themselves and the NPCs featured in the narrative (addressing speaking and listening domains). In addition, there will be (2) an out-of-VR setting, where users will engage with scientific, historical, philosophical, or business articles relevant to solution-finding and the overall narrative (addressing the reading domain). They will also individually write their solutions to environmental predicaments in the form of academic responses, and, finally, they will co-write a report of their solutions with their team members (addressing the writing domain).
