SECOND LIFE: A THREE-DIMENIONAL VIRTUAL WORLD FOR DEVELOPING THAI EFL LEARNERS’ ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research aims to investigate if applying the Second life, a virtual platform, in the English communication classroom is highly effective. Other factors such as the gender differences, the difference of majors of study, and the number of hours spent on computers were also investigated. The Second life has been employed as a research tool in the study for developing English as a foreign language undergraduate students’ English communication skills. The samples of this study were 40 undergraduate students from two different majors, social sciences and science, divided into16 males and 24 females. They were studying English course at the university as a compulsory subject. The students took the TOEIC test as the pre-test before the semester starts. They were, then, asked to practice their English communication skills by typically interacting with the English contents, having discussion in the Second Life platform virtually outside of the classroom. After the TOEIC test was taken again at the end of the semester as the post-test and the data has been analyzed by t-test and ANOVA, the findings show that students with different backgrounds which were genders, fields of study, and hours of spending the computers have indifferent mean scores in their communication skills. It means all the students have developed their English communication skills. Applying the Second Life in English Communication classroom for EFL learners is highly recommended.