1 of 12

Learning foreign languages mediated by digital tools: the case of the virtual reality

Céline Meyran Martínez, PhD fellow

University of Toulouse 2 – Jean Jaurés

FRANCE

May18th, 2021

Educators in VR - Altspace VR

2 of 12

RESEARCH IN LANGUAGE TEACHING-LEARNING

  • 1960-70: BEHAVIORISM (Skinner, Pavlov, Watson): transfer of knowledge
    • Teacher: knowledge holder, speaker, exposes and spills knowledge
    • Students: empty box, passive, acquisition of automatism and memorization by succession of exercises, error absence of learning teacher error
    • Pedagogy: coursework, pedagogy by objectives, stimuli-actions, skills framework, computer-based training, videos
  • 1970-1995: CONSTRUCTIVISM (Piaget): build knowledge
    • Teacher: tutor, educator, co-builder of knowledge, informs, demonstrates, accompanies
    • Students: has knowledge and experience, active, actors in their training, individualization, accountability, error source of information,
    • Pedagogy: individualized formation, differentiated pedagogy, real situations, problems situations, trail and error, role plays, case study, CD-ROM, serious game
  • 1995-today: SOCIOCONSTRUCTIVISM (Vygotsky, Bruner): build knowledge with others
    • Teacher: guide, coach, partner, host
    • Students: autonomous, active, interaction with others, mutual assistance, error learning sign
    • Pedagogy: group work, explicit verbalisation, co-construction, search engines, multimedia, virtual

Céline Meyran Martinez

3 of 12

TECHNOLOGIES IN CLASSROOMS

Céline Meyran Martinez

https://musee-ecole-montceau-71.blogspot.com/2020/06/la-radio-television-scolaire.html

https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/fr-ca/shop/retro-shoebox-cassette-tape-recorder-usb-player?color=001&type=REGULAR&size=ONE%20SIZE&quantity=1

https://www.leprogres.fr/multimedia/2014/09/02/l-ecole-primaire-dans-les-annees-80

https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/fr-ca/shop/retro-shoebox-cassette-tape-recorder-usb-player?color=001&type=REGULAR&size=ONE%20SIZE&quantity=1

https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/853432198111148427/

https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/fr-ca/shop/retro-shoebox-cassette-tape-recorder-usb-player?color=001&type=REGULAR&size=ONE%20SIZE&quantity=1

https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2475635-20190318-paca-region-va-financer-tablettes-manuels-numeriques-lycees-volontaires

Before1980

https://www.ac-strasbourg.fr/pedagogie/dane/usages-pedagogiques-du-numerique/des-exemples-dusage-des-tablettes-et-smartphones/

1980-2000

After 2000

https://www.ladn.eu/tech-a-suivre/data-big-et-smart/tendance-2017-la-realite-mixte/

4 of 12

RESEARCH IN LEARNING IN VIRTUAL REALITY

  • Research on VR has been conducted since the 1980s
    • Vocational training: flight simulators, reconfigure the environment, maintenance training for nuclear power plants
    • Army: training to conduct military vehicles, missile strike, immersion of the soldier in the battlefield
    • Medicine: surgical training, preparation of a surgery, diagnosis
    • Cognitives sciences: test human behavior in spaces subject to unnatural laws, movement and perception in sports, …
  • Research on education in VR is still relatively novel (Kavanagh et al. , 2016)
    • Fields: university, elementary students, instructional training levels (Mikropoullos & Natsis, 2011)
    • What: virtual field trips (Stoddar, 2009; Kundu, 2016; Cliffe, 2017; Parmaxi et al., 2018;), cultural awareness,

Céline Meyran Martinez

5 of 12

LEARNING IN VIRTUAL REALITY IN HIGHSCHOOL

Céline Meyran Martinez

VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS

RELATIONAL SKILLS

SKILL ACQUISITION

History: visit historical sites or refuge camps, relive episodes of war

Geography: visit remote geographic areas

Biology: interaction with an organ, travel in the space, immersion in a tornado

Chemistry: chemical processes

Physical education: visualization of matches in 360

Languages: viewing 360° documentary, immersion in a theatre or novel scene

Professional training: relationship with clients, stress management during speaking)

Languages: practice oral communication, cultural language exchanges

Arts: creation of virtual orchestras

Society: experiencing situations of discrimination

Linguistic: memorization and vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation improvement, interview simulation

Digital: 360° and 3D content design, action programming

Ethics: emotions, empathy

Professional: acquisition of technical gestures, rapidity in emergency situations and precision in rick situations

Sports: acquisition of technical gestures by repetition

6 of 12

RESEARCH IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH VR

  • Content
    • Cartoon in virtual reality: (Legault et al., 2019)
    • Virtual reality games: House of Languages (Alfadil, 2020)
    • 360°: Chernobyl (Dolgunsöz et al., 2018), New-York city (Shih, 2020)
    • EVI: Second life (Warbuton, 2009; Lan et al., 2014; Chen, 2016; Levak & Son, 2017), Open Wonderland (Ibañez et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2017), OpenSimulator (Berns et al., 2013)
  • Skills
    • Memorization (Jeong et al., 2010; Lan et al., 2015; Krokos et al., 2019)
    • Acquisition (Legault et al., 2019; Alfadil et al., 2020)
    • Communication (Si, 2015; Chen, 2016; Xie et al., 2019)
    • Writing (Dolgunsöz et al., 2018)
  • Weakness
    • Distraction (Ebert et al;, 2016; Vázquez et al., 2018; Cheng et al., 2017)
    • Complex usability (Legault et al., 2019)

Céline Meyran Martinez

7 of 12

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & METHODS

  • Purpose: observe and analyze the use of virtual reality tools in English classrooms
  • Sample: French students in vocational training in high school and their teachers (4 high school in Académie de Toulouse - France)
  • Objectives:
    • evaluate oral comprehension
    • study acceptability among students
    • ask teachers about requirements, difficulties and opportunities
  • Methodologies:
    • qualitative: observations – surveys – feedbacks
    • quantitative: quasi-experimentation (variation in the learning situation), statistical analyze
    • longitudinal: 2019-2021

Céline Meyran Martinez

8 of 12

SOME RESULTS

  • Acceptability:
    • VR develops digital skills (managing and manipulating computer data, creating multimedia documents);
    • VR contributes to the deployment of social skills (collaboration, mutual assistance, critical thinking, communication);
    • VR makes senses to student learning;
    • VR motivates students (they are promoted, valued, confident in carrying out learning tasks) (Meyran Martínez & Spanghero-Gaillard, 2020a)
  • Students with more experience using virtual reality tools:
    • are more engaged in the learning task,
    • are more motivated,
    • pay more attention to what they do,
    • have more significant results in lexical learning performance,

to those with little experience using virtual reality tools. (Meyran Martínez & Spanghero-Gaillard, 2020b, 2021)

Céline Meyran Martinez

9 of 12

CONCLUSION

  • Needs to improve results:
    • conduct more targeted research and studies based on actual practices
    • promote collaborations between research and education system
      • further practices in classroom
      • greater accessibility to virtual reality tools
      • supplemental virtual reality applications oriented to education

Céline Meyran Martinez

10 of 12

REFERENCIES

  • Alfadil, M. (2020). Effectiveness of virtual reality game in foreign language vocabulary acquisition. Computers and Education, 153, 1–13. DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2020.1038933
  • Berns, A., Gonzalez-Pardo, A., and Camacho, D. (2013). Game-like language learning in 3-D virtual environments. Computers and Education, 60, 210–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.07.001
  • Chen, J. C. C. (2016). The crossroads of English Language Learners, task-based instruction, and 3D multi-user virtual learning in Second Life. Computers and Education, 102, 152–71. https://doi-org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1080/09588221.2018.1466810
  • Cheng, A., Yang, L., and Andersen, E. (2017). Teaching language and culture with a virtual reality game. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’17, 541–549, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. http://dx-doi.org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1145/3025453.3025857
  • Cliffe, A. D. (2017). A review of the benefits and drawbacks to virtual field guides in today’s Geoscience higher education environment. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0066-x
  • Dolgunsoz, E., Yildirim, G., and Yildirim, S. (2018). The effect of virtual reality on EFT writing performance. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 14, 278–292. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jlls/issue/43213/527893
  • Ebert, D., Gupta, S., and Makedon, F. (2016). Ogma: A virtual reality language acquisition system. Proceedings of the 9th ACM International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, PETRA ’16, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2910674.2910681
  • Ibáñez, M. B., García, J. J., Galán, S., Maroto, D. and Morillo, D. (2011). Design and implementation of a 3D multi-user virtual world for language learning. Educational Technology & Society, 14, 2–10. https://doi-org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1080/09588221.2017.1308383
  • Jeong, H., Motoaki S., Yuko S., Keisuke W., Kaoru H., Shigeru S., and Ryuta K. (2010). Learning second language vocabulary: neural dissociation of situation-based learning and text-based learning. NeuroImage 50 (2), 802–809. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0410-13.2013
  • Kavanagh, S., Luxton-Reilly, A., Wüensche, B., and Plimmer, B. (2016). Creating 360° educational video: a case study. Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction, 34–39. https://doi.org/10.1145/3010915.3011001
  • Krokos, E., Plaisant, C., and Varshney, A. (2019). Virtual memory palaces: Immersion aids recall. Virtual Reality, 23(1):1–15. https://doi-org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1007/s10055-018-0346-3
  • Kundu, S. N. (2016). Designing an effective Virtual Field trip for e-Learning. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 9–13. https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2016.7851762
  • Lan, Y.J., Fang, S.Y., Legault, J. and Li, P. (2015). Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary: context of learning effects. Educational Technology Research and Development, 63, 671–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-015-9380-y

Céline Meyran Martinez

11 of 12

REFERENCIES

  • Legault, J., Zhao, J., Chi, Y.-A., Chen, W., Klippel, A., & Li, P. (2019). Immersive virtual reality as an effective tool for second language vocabulary learning. Languages, 4(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4010013
  • Levak, N., & Son, J. B. (2017). Facilitating second language learners’ listening comprehension with Second Life and Skype. ReCALL, 29, 200–218; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344016000215
  • Meyran Martinez, C. & Spanghero-Gaillard, N. (2020). Évaluation de l’acceptabilité de la réalité virtuelle dans des classes d’anglais langue vivante au lycée [communication]. Colloque PRUNE, Poitiers. https://prune.conference.univ-poitiers.fr/evaluation-de-lacceptabilite-de-la-realite-virtuelle-dans-des-classes-danglais-langue-vivante-au-lycee/
  • Meyran Martinez, C. & Spanghero-Gaillard, N. (2020). Las nuevas prácticas de aprendizaje de idiomas en el caso de la realidad virtual: la adquisición de vocabulario a través del sentimiento de presencia en la realidad virtual [communication]. XXVII Congreso Internacional de Aprendizaje, Valencia, Espagne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmXdl_ATS-Y
  • Meyran Martinez, C. & Spanghero-Gaillard, N. (2021). Réalité virtuelle dans les cours d’anglais: une étude menée dans le cadre d’un projet incubateur auprès d’élèves en lycées professionnles français [résumé de la communication]. 13°Congrès International GLAT 2021, Murcie, Espagne. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vblmirfjxal8vT_oiYQC7YpQ313q7Mcs/view
  • Mikropoulos, T. A., & Natsis, A. (2011). Educational virtual environments: a ten-year review of empirical research (1999–2009). Computers & Education, 56(3), 769–780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.10.020
  • Parmaxi, A., Stylianou, K., & Zaphiris, P. (2018). Enabling social exploration through virtual guidance in Google Expeditions: an exploratory study. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 397–408, Si, Mei. (2015). A virtual space for children to meet and practice Chinese. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 397-408. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75175-7_40
  • Stoddard, J. (2009). Toward a virtual field trip model for the social studies. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(4), 412–438. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/28305/.
  • Vázquez, C., Xia, L., Aikawa, T., and Maes, P. (2018). Words in motion: kinesthetic language learning in virtual reality. Proceedings of the IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), 272–276. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICALT.2018.00069
  • Wang, Yi Fei, Stephen Petrina, and Francis Feng. (2017). VILLAGE—Virtual Immersive Language Learning and Gaming Environment: Immersion and presence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48, 431–450. https://doi-org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1111/bjet.12388 
  • Warburton, S. (2009). Second Life in higher education: assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(3), 414–426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00952.x
  • Xie, Y., Chen, Y., and Ryder, L. H. (2019). Effects of using mobile-based virtual reality on Chinese l2 students’ oral proficiency. Computer Assisted Language Learning,1–21. https://doi-org.gorgone.univ-toulouse.fr/10.1080/09588221.2019.1604551

Céline Meyran Martinez

12 of 12

Thank you for your attention

Céline Meyran Martínez

PhD Fellow from French Ministry of Education

celine.meyran-martinez@univ-tlse2.fr

Céline Meyran Martinez