From parrots to puppet masters : an online role-playing tool for fostering language acquisition

Insufficient exposure to English as a second language, disparities in quality of education and concentration on test-taking strategies mean that language learners sometimes leave school able to do little more than parrot second language formulae. Many learners, especially in monolingual societies such as Hong Kong, do not have sufficient opportunities outside the classroom to use the language. The partial solution that this paper proposes is a new Web-based system for the construction, delivery and management of online language courses. The design principles of this system attempt to meet the needs of a wide range of learner proficiencies and interests through interactions easily created by the instructor, involving animation, speech and other technologies. The purpose of this system is to give learners access to quality instruction and engagement with the languages they are learning at a distance, on demand, and on a life-long basis, as well as to provide teachers with a tool to conduct such online courses. This paper will illustrate an online course, driven by this system, in English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL), based on research into the needs of Chinesespeaking learners. A role-playing activity will be highlighted that encourages the appropriate use of language in social and business contexts, and allows students to practise and demonstrate facility with basic grammar, vocabulary and conversational language devices, as well as ‘higher-order’ pragmatic linguistic skills