Collaborative language learning game as a device independent application

Abstract

Today's network landscape is consisting of quite different network technologies, a wide range of end-devices with large scale of capabilities and power, and immense quantity of information and data represented in different formats. A lot of efforts are being done in order to establish open, scalable and seamless integration of various technologies and content presentation for different devices including mobile considering individual situation of the end user. This is very difficult because various kinds of devices used by different users or in different times/parallel by the same user which are not predictable and have to be recognized by the system in order to identify device capabilities. Not only the devices but also Content and User Interfaces are big issues because they could include different kinds of data format like text, image, audio, video, 3D Virtual Reality data and other upcoming formats possibly used by web 3.0. According to Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) after a certain age it is not easy for most of the people to learn a new language since the responsible part of the brain for a new language acquisition becomes more fixed. Moreover language acquisition needs a lot of interaction with other people to practice the language. For an adult person it is very difficult because they have a lot of other stuff to do in their social and professional life. So they need a tool which will support them to learn a new language by providing a chance to practice the desired language very often without requiring a lot of time and they should be able to use the tool in their own existing devices like mobile phone. Language Learning Game (LLG) is an example of such a tool. It is a device independent application where different kinds of devices and data formats are presented, as the content of a flashcard used for collaborative learning. The main idea of this game is to create a short story in a foreign language by exploiting mobile devices. The story is developed by a group of participants by exchanging sentences/data via a flashcard system. This way the participants can learn from each other by sharing their individual knowledge without the need of a constant support from a tutor and without the fear of making mistakes, because the group members are anonymous.