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Three-dimensional virtual worlds such as Traveler and [[Active Worlds]], both of which appeared in the 1990s, were the next important development. Traveler included the possibility of audio communication (but not text chat) between avatars who were represented as disembodied heads in a three-dimensional abstract landscape. Svensson (2003) describes the Virtual Wedding Project, in which advanced students of English made use of Active Worlds as an arena for constructivist learning.<ref>Svensson P. (2003) "Virtual worlds as arenas for language learning". In Felix U. (ed.) ''Language learning online: towards best practice'', Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.</ref>
The 3D world of [[Second Life]] was launched in 2003. Initially perceived as another [[role-playing game]] (RPG), it began to attract the interest of language teachers with the launch of the first of the series of SLanguages conferences in 2007.<ref>SLanguages: http://www.slanguages.net/home.php {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113123355/http://www.slanguages.net/home.php |date=13 January 2011 }}</ref> Walker, Davies & Hewer (2011: Section 14.2.1)<ref name=introinternet/> and Molka-Danielsen & Deutschmann (2010)<ref name=molka>Molka-Danielsen, J. & Deutschmann, M. (eds.) (2009) ''Learning and teaching in the virtual world of Second Life'', Trondheim, Norway: Tapir Academic Press.</ref> describe a number of experiments and projects that focus on language learning in Second Life. See also the Wikipedia article [[Virtual world language learning]].
To what extent Second Life and other virtual worlds will become established as important tools for teachers of foreign languages remains to be seen. It has been argued by Dudeney (2010) in his ''That's Life'' blog that Second Life is "too demanding and too unreliable for most educators". The subsequent discussion shows that this view is shared by many teachers, but many others completely disagree.<ref>Second Life – The Long Goodbye: http://slife.dudeney.com/?p=446</ref>
Regardless of the pros and cons of Second Life, language teachers’ interest in virtual worlds continues to grow. The joint EUROCALL/CALICO Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group<ref>EUROCALL/CALICO Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group: http://virtualworldssig.ning.com</ref> was set up in 2009, and there are now many areas in Second Life that are dedicated to language learning and teaching, for example the commercial area for learners of English, which is managed by Language Lab,<ref>LanguageLab: http://www.languagelab.com/en/</ref> and free areas such as the region maintained by the Goethe-Institut<ref>Goethe-Institut: http://www.goethe.de/frm/sec/enindex.htm</ref> and the EduNation Islands.<ref>EduNation Islands: http://edunation-islands.wikispaces.com</ref> There are also examples of simulations created specifically for language education, such as those produced by the EC-funded NIFLAR<ref>Networked Interaction in Foreign Language Acquisition and Research (NIFLAR): http://niflar.ning.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100930093225/http://niflar.ning.com/ |date=30 September 2010 }}</ref> and AVALON<ref>Access to Virtual and Action Learning live ONline (AVALON): http://avalon-project.ning.com/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714183628/http://avalon-project.ning.com/ |date=14 July 2011 }}</ref> projects. NIFLAR is implemented both in Second Life and in [[OpenSimulator|Opensim]].
==Human language technologies==
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