Final draft for the 4th International Conference on Interactivity, Language & Cognition: Educational Enskillment, Event, and Ecology at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, August 2, 2018

1. SOCIAL AND AFFECTIVE
MOTIVATION IN VIRTUAL
WORLD EDUCATIONAL
COMMUNITIES
Jean-Paul DuQuette, Ed.D (University of Macau)
CILC4 2018, University of Hawaii at Manoa
8/2/18

2. INTRODUCTION
• “Most people who learn a
second language well do so as
a result of odd circumstances
and not of sequential teaching.
They go to live with their
grandparents, they travel, or
they fall in love with a
foreigner.”
• Ivan Illich, 1970

3. WHY STUDY ONLINE LEARNING?

4. WHY STUDY LIFELONG LEARNING?
• Economic impact
• Social and personal well-being
• Improved mental health
• Improved neuroplasticity
• Impact on civic engagement
(Field, 2012; Jenkins, Merzenich &
Recanzone, 1990)

5. WHY EXPLORE UNIQUE ONLINE
LEARNING PARADIGMS?
• College students are less
likely to pass the online
version of brick and mortar
classes (Barshay, 2015)
• (Especially) amongst aging
societies, Internet savvy
adults may want a variety of
online learning options.

6. LINDEN LAB’S SECOND LIFE:
AVATAR CHAT AND CONTENT
CREATION

7. CYPRIS CHAT EFL
(DUQUETTE, 2017)

8. INITIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT CYPRIS:
• Who prefers to learn in virtual worlds?
• What attracts them to the
environment?
• How does language learning take
place?
• What keeps them motivated to be
active in a community?

9. THE FIREFLY COMPANION’S GUILD
IN SECOND LIFE

10. INITIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
COMPANIONS GUILD
• What roles do “gamification” and role-
play have in learning in the
community?
• How is religion (Buddhism) integrated
into the group?
• What keeps the community
motivated to participate?

11. SOCIAL INTERACTION FEEDS
MOTIVATION IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
LEARNING COMMUNITIES

12. SOCIAL MOTIVATION IN
COMPULSORY EDUCATION
• “The study of student
motivation is a particularly
fertile ground for analyzing
social motivation, because for
average school pupils, ‘school’
represents primarily a social
arena and not the scene of
academic work.” (Dornyei, p.
33, 2001)

13. MY FOCUS: SOCIAL MOTIVATION IN
TWO NONCOMPULSORY
ONLINE SETTINGS

14. METHODS
• Participant observation
(12/2008 – present)
• Class, event and conversation
recordings
• Semi-structured interviews
• Extraplatform interactions
(Facebook, Ning)
• Responses were clustered thematically

15. SOCIAL MOTIVATION IN CYPRIS
AND THE COMPANIONS GUILD
•Socializing, comradery
& friendship
•Affective motivation
•Spiritual connection
•Ludic motivation and
identity exploration

16. SOCIALIZING, COMRADERY &
FRIENDSHIP
• “This is not fake. There are real people here on the other computer. There is
somebody behind the other screen. And you’re not alone…” Kaede (2016)
• “I think (socializing) is the most important thing. Of course activities or
lessons are very important, but using English is the most important to
improve our English…Why do you learn English? To communicate with
people.” M. (2015)
• “How could I not try to give back some of what the High Priestess gave me when
she let me become an acolyte?” H. (2018)

17. AFFECTIVE MOTIVATION
• Motivation related to feelings of
familial, romantic and sexual affection
(e.g. meimei-jiejie, didi-gege)
• “It’s so full of love and acceptance.” H.
(2018)
• “I came to finally realize more deeply
than ever that I am lovable and deserve
love.” L. (2017)

18. HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS
• “One of the reasons the
emotional bonds of social play
can be so intense is because in
these liminal zones people can
‘let their hair down’” (Pearce,
2009, p. 245).

19. SPIRITUAL MOTIVATION
• Motivation to participate based on
perceived spiritual/religious connection
with others
• Kadampa Buddhism
• Meditation before all classes
• Classes on meditation
• The tea ceremony as ritual
• Buddhawheel game

20. COMMENTS FROM THE GUILD
• “While the Guild hasn't turned me into a Buddhist by any stretch, I do know
I'm operating under a perception of concepts like attachment that I didn't
have before.” (Lysana, private conversation, 13/4/18)
• “The Guild training, particularly the meditation element, gave me a social
self-awareness that my previous meditation training hadn't addressed. Varahi
is not only a gifted teacher but an originator and has effectively created a
new spiritual tradition.” (Beeflin, private conversation, 13/4/18)

21. LUDIC MOTIVATION
•The social and
technological
affordances of the SL
environment
encourage play and
role-play.

22. IDENTITY EXPLORATION THROUGH
ROLE-PLAY
• “It (the Guild) lets me be
what I really am.” H. (2018)

23. MOTIVATION IMPLICATIONS FOR
ONLINE LANGUAGE CLASSES FROM
CYPRIS
• Socializing with avatars in the target
language between formal activities
• Friendship and comradery between
both NNS<>NNS and NS<>NNS
• Motivation to continue in formal and
informal activities as well as authentic
NS activities in-world

24. ADDITIONAL IMPLICATIONS FOR
VIRTUAL EDUCATION COMMUNITIES
FROM THE COMPANION’S GUILD
• ‘Familial’ ties
• Romantic ties
• Ties from shared practice of
meditation/spirituality
• Ties related to gratitude from being
mentored on a volunteer basis
• Ties related to one’s ability to express
one’s preferred identity through role-
play

25. THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
• The social aspect of affective learner
motivation should not be neglected,
and affect is an underexamined
characteristic of intrinsic motivation.
(see Gross, 2006).
• When studying learner motivation in
virtual worlds, study of the community
should take precedence over
technological affordances (e.g. Samsar
and High Fidelity).

26. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
• Online curriculum devs and admins
should consider the importance of
socializing between activities in forums
more compelling than text chat
• Technology stewards developing online
communities for continuing or lifeling
learners need not neglect the social,
emotional, and spiritual needs of
members.

27. AND IF YOU WANT TO STUDY
AVATARS…
• If you want to study the psychological effects of avatar
use, avoid exclusive focus on neurobiological universals
(e.g. what makes a trustworthy-looking avatar?) (see
Adolphs, Tranel, & Damasio, 1998; Kao & Harrell, 2016).
• Instead, focus on case studies of individuals talking about
their intent in designing their avatars or on comparisons
between avatar interactions in text or voice vs. text only
or Skype.

28. PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Fiona Fei: 3, 8, 10, 15, 19, 21,
24, 25, 26, 28
• Mystie Slade: 7

29. REFERENCES
• Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. (1998). The human amygdala in social judgement.
Nature, 393, 470-474.
• Barshay, J. (May 11, 2015). The online paradox at community colleges. The Hechinger Report.
Retrieved from https://hechingerreport.org/the-online-paradox-at-community-colleges/
• DuQuette, J. (2017b). Cypris Village: Language learning in virtual worlds. (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). Temple University: Philadelphia, PA.
• Field, J. (2012). Is lifelong learning making a difference? Research-based evidence on the
impact of adult learning. In D. Aspin, J. Chapman, K. Evans & R. Bagnall (Eds.), Second
International Handbook of Lifelong Learning (pp. 887-897). Retrieved from
https://ec.europa.eu/epale/sites/epale/files/is_lifelong_learning_making_a_difference.pdf
• Gross, D. (2006). The Secret History of Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

30. REFERENCES (2)
• Illich, I. (1970). Deschooling Society. London: Marion Boyars
• Jenkins, W., Merzenich, M., & Recanzone, G. (1990). Neocortical representational dynamics in
adult primates: Implications for neuropsychology. Neuropsychologia, 28(6), 573-584.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(90)90035-M
• Kao, D. & Karrel, D. (August, 2016). Exploring the effects of dynamic avatars on performance
and engagement in educational games. Presented at Games, Learning & Society Conference
2016, Madison: WI. Retrieved from http://groups.csail.mit.edu/icelab/content/exploring-
effects-dynamic-avatar-performance-and-engagement-educational-games
• Pearce, C. (2009). Communities of play: emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual
worlds. Massachusetts: MIT Press.