VR environment improves foreign language learning

The usual methods of teaching give way to innovating methods that may confuse us a bit. However, it would be a mistake not to take into account the new scientific knowledge which is to serve people.

Virtual reality (VR) technology is becoming increasingly available for use in various areas of our lives. For now, this technology has opened up new possibilities for linguistic researches. Namely, for the teaching method of foreign languages. Despite of the fact that the researches are still going and the technology is improving, VR is becoming an active assistant to teachers, students and school children almost all over the world.

In this article, we are going to review the results of four researches about using VR technologies in language learning.Research universities in the USA and China have demonstrated the enormous potential of such researches. We also have drawn our own conclusions based on researches and interviews from the Internet. And we hope you find this material interesting and useful.

STUDY #1

Lulwa Bordcosh, the Academic Director of LASC in California (American Language and Culture School, Los Angeles) in his message at the Better Learning conference in Cambridge confirmed that virtual reality (VR) facilitates language learning and significantly improves student learning outcomes.

During the experiment, the focus group of students performed the same tasks in two formats: according to the classical method or with the VR equipment. For measure of impact from technological effect was used amount of information that students learned during their class. The assessment of the VR class group came top in results list.

Students memorized a larger vocabulary, including some uncommon terms, which always complicates the task of memorizing. Also, VR group students had more concentration and involvement in the lesson than students from a regular group (for more details see the video below), due to the immersion technology.

Lulwa concludes: “ Students were not just learning English, they experienced it, and with the technology that is at our disposal there is no need to confine our students to the four walls of the classroom “.

VR brings the following benefits into the learning process :Self-focused, enabling students to navigate freely; Self-directed, allowing students to choose what they want to learn; Multi-sensory, increasing students’ engagement.

STUDY #2

The study of Yeonhee Cho from Syracuse University (USA) (How Spatial Presence in VR Affects Memory Retention and Motivation on Second Language Learning: A Comparison of Desktop and Immersive VR-based learning) tested the effects of VR space for language learning. In a memory experiment got the results from two groups, 32 students each.

“This investigation confirmed that VR affects language learning due to the so-called spatial memory of a person. It just starts to work actively due to immersion in virtual reality. We get the effect of dynamic uptake of content, which leads to a rapid increase in vocabulary and memorization of pronunciation rules. VR technology is a valuable innovative tool for modeling various scenarios, including for educational purposes. And thanks to investigation with students, researchers have confirmed that VR simulations increase the ability to memorize at times better from normal indicators”.

More at: https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1205&context=thesis

STUDY #3

The research group from the University of Maryland (USA) have also done investigative work about our topic. It was one of the first extensive analysis how to use virtual technology in education. On one side the immersive environment as effect of real presence. On the other traditional devices, such as a two-dimensional desktop computer or handheld tablet. At the same time this technical equipments only a short time ago were the state of the art.

And as can be easily guessed the researchers found that people better remember information if it is presented to them in a virtual environment.

Authors said: “We found that the use of virtual memory palaces in HMD condition improves recall accuracy when compared to using a traditional desktop condition. The study had 40 participants memorize and recall faces on two display–interaction modalities for two virtual memory palaces, with two different sets of faces. The HMD condition was found to have 8.8% improvement in recall accuracy compared to the desktop condition, and this was found to be statistically significant. This suggests an exciting opportunity for the role of immersive virtual environments in assisting in recall.”

More at: https://obj.umiacs.umd.edu/virtual_reality_study/10.1007-s10055-018-0346-3.pdf

STUDY #4

Beijing Normal University and the Vive Immersive Labs experiment avouch that VR facilitates language learning and improves student learning outcomes. The participants in the investigation were randomly divided into two groups (one using the VR version and the other using the PC version as common study software).

Among the participants were first years from non-English specialties at Peking University. In two groups of 22 people. The average age of the subjects was 19 years. The experiment lasted 2 weeks. Each participant took four academic modules of English lessons. The interval between classes was from 2 to 3 days. The content and quality of the knowledge was verified by independent testing.

Students in VR group have increased self-expectation in speaking, reduced the degree of learning anxiety indicating that the sense of immediacy in VR is better enhancing the confidence and interest of students in oral English learning. Students in the VR group have significantly longer recording duration and higher accuracy scores after the experiment, suggesting that VR can improve the performance of oral English learning.

Conclusion:

The virtual reality (VR) technologies are becoming more open to our daily requirements. As we have seen above, this area has break new ground for teaching foreign languages. For example, in the USA and other countries, research is still continue, however, today the effect of real presence or VR-simulation has been successfully used in schools.

The effect is obvious: students’ abilities increase significantly. Now we can face the future and talk about the gripping learning process, as well as the stimulation of students’ self-confidence and capabilities of the educational process broadly defined. That’s why VR is becoming an active assistant to teachers and students all over the world. It has been prove scientifically that memorization improves significantly by simulating real presence or otherwise speaking immersive inclusion.

Quoting Mr. Li of Vive Immersive Labs: “VR is a tool that will help traditional learning, not replace it. Only a combination of old and new can improve real education in a healthy way.”

Let’s hope that new opportunities for training will be able to match modern criteria from top to bottom. And this high technology is disseminate widely in schools and STEM centers around the world.

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