Immersive Virtual Reality as an Effective Tool for Second Language Vocabulary Learning

Learning a second language (L2) presents a significant challenge to many people in adulthood. Platforms for effective L2 instruction have been developed in both academia and the industry. While real-life (RL) immersion is often lauded as a particularly effective L2 learning platform, little is known about the features of immersive contexts that contribute to the L2 learning process. Immersive virtual reality (iVR) offers a flexible platform to simulate an RL immersive learning situation, while allowing the researcher to have tight experimental control for stimulus delivery and learner interaction with the environment. Using a mixed counterbalanced design, the current study examines individual differences in L2 performance during learning of 60 Mandarin Chinese words across two learning sessions, with each participant learning 30 words in iVR and 30 words via word–word (WW) paired association. Behavioral performance was collected immediately after L2 learning via an alternative forced-choice recognition task. Our results indicate a main effect of L2 learning context, such that accuracy on trials learned via iVR was significantly higher as compared to trials learned in the WW condition. These effects are reflected especially in the differential effects of learning contexts, in that less successful learners show a significant benefit of iVR instruction as compared to WW, whereas successful learners do not show a significant benefit of either learning condition. Our findings have broad implications for L2 education, particularly for those who struggle in learning an L2.

[1]  P. Meara,et al.  How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language. , 1995 .

[2]  J. Kroll,et al.  Losing Access to the Native Language While Immersed in a Second Language: Evidence for the Role of Inhibition in Second-Language Learning , 2009, Psychological science.

[3]  Chris Dede,et al.  Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning , 2009, Science.

[4]  B. Axelrod.  Validity of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and Other Very Short Forms of Estimating Intellectual Functioning , 2002, Assessment.

[5]  A. Miyake,et al.  Individual Differences in Second-Language Proficiency , 2006, Psychological science.

[6]  Barbara F. Freed,et al.  LEARNING CONTEXT AND ITS EFFECTS ON SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: Introduction , 2004, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[7]  Richard D. Brecht,et al.  Predictors of Foreign Language Gain during Study Abroad. NFLC Occasional Papers. , 1995 .

[8]  T. Dierks,et al.  Structural brain changes related to bilingualism: does immersion make a difference? , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[9]  J. Cummins.  Interdependence of first-and second-language proficiency in , 1991 .

[10]  Lisa Aziz-Zadeh,et al.  Embodied semantics for actions: Findings from functional brain imaging , 2008, Journal of Physiology-Paris.

[11]  Fiona M. Richardson,et al.  Structural MRI studies of language function in the undamaged brain , 2009, Brain Structure and Function.

[12]  A. Glenberg,et al.  Processing Abstract Language Modulates Motor System Activity , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[13]  P. Costello.  Health and Safety Issues associated with Virtual Reality-A Review of Current Literature , 1997 .

[14]  Jonathan M. Campbell,et al.  Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test , 2010 .

[15]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  Testing the Efficiency and Independence of Attentional Networks , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[16]  Daniel Casasanto,et al.  Flexibility in Embodied Language Understanding , 2011, Front. Psychology.

[17]  Holger Regenbrecht,et al.  Embodied Presence in Virtual Environments , 1999, Visual Representations and Interpretations.

[18]  Christine D. Wilson,et al.  Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems , 2003, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[19]  P. Snyder,et al.  Handedness, Sex, Familial Sinistrality Effects on Spatial Tasks , 1993, Cortex.

[20]  J. S. Johnson,et al.  Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language , 1989, Cognitive Psychology.

[21]  Ping Li,et al.  The emergence of competing modules in bilingualism , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  Anke Berns,et al.  Game-like language learning in 3-D virtual environments , 2013, Comput. Educ..

[23]  Jubin Abutalebi,et al.  Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control , 2007, Journal of Neurolinguistics.

[24]  Thomas Wolbers,et al.  Neural Dynamics of Learning Sound—Action Associations , 2008, PloS one.

[25]  Ping Li,et al.  Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary: context of learning effects , 2015, Educational Technology Research and Development.

[26]  Carl Machover,et al.  Virtual reality , 1994, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[27]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Review Structural Brain Plasticity in Adult Learning and Development , 2022 .

[28]  E. Tunik,et al.  Sensorimotor training in virtual reality: a review. , 2009, NeuroRehabilitation.

[29]  Leslie Jarmon,et al.  Virtual world teaching, experiential learning, and assessment: An interdisciplinary communication course in Second Life , 2009, Comput. Educ..

[30]  Michael F. Bunting,et al.  Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis , 2014, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[31]  Kevin Kok Wai Wong,et al.  A Review of Using Virtual Reality for Learning , 2008, Trans. Edutainment.

[32]  Shigeru Sato,et al.  Learning second language vocabulary: Neural dissociation of situation-based learning and text-based learning , 2010, NeuroImage.

[33]  Barbara F. Freed,et al.  CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND SECOND LANGUAGE FLUENCY IN FRENCH: Comparing Regular Classroom, Study Abroad, and Intensive Domestic Immersion Programs , 2004, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[34]  Mei Si,et al.  A Virtual Space for Children to Meet and Practice Chinese , 2015, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education.

[35]  Jeong-Bae Son,et al.  Facilitating second language learners’ listening comprehension with Second Life and Skype , 2016, ReCALL.

[36]  John O. Willis,et al.  Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition , 2014 .

[37]  Brian MacWhinney,et al.  The logic of the unified model , 2011 .

[38]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge , 1996, Nature.

[39]  P. Milgram,et al.  A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays , 1994 .

[40]  Ping Li,et al.  Age of acquisition: its neural and computational mechanisms. , 2007, Psychological bulletin.

[41]  L. Barsalou.  Grounded cognition. , 2008, Annual review of psychology.

[42]  Ping Li,et al.  Language History Questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience , 2019, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

[43]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Embodied Language: A Review of the Role of the Motor System in Language Comprehension , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[44]  Bradford Z. Mahon,et al.  A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content , 2008, Journal of Physiology-Paris.

[45]  Julian ChengChiang Chen,et al.  The crossroads of English language learners, task-based instruction, and 3D multi-user virtual learning in Second Life , 2016, Comput. Educ..

[46]  Crystal L. Hoyt,et al.  Immersive Virtual Environment Technology as a Methodological Tool for Social Psychology , 2002 .

[47]  B. Lafford,et al.  Getting Into, Through and Out of a Survival Situation: A Comparison of Communicative Strategies Used by Students Studying Spanish Abroad and ‘At Home’ , 1995 .

[48]  Klaus Schwienhorst,et al.  Why Virtual, Why Environments? Implementing Virtual Reality Concepts in Computer-Assisted Language Learning , 2002 .

[49]  Nian-Shing Chen,et al.  Embodied cognition and language learning in virtual environments , 2015 .

[50]  Courtney G. E. Hilderman,et al.  Virtual Reality Therapy for Adults Post-Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Exploring Virtual Environments and Commercial Games in Therapy , 2014, PloS one.

[51]  Ping Li,et al.  Structural brain changes as a function of second language vocabulary training: Effects of learning context , 2019, Brain and Cognition.

[52]  Ping Li,et al.  Visualization Analytics for Second Language Vocabulary Learning in Virtual Worlds , 2017, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[53]  Yifei Wang,et al.  VILLAGE - Virtual Immersive Language Learning and Gaming Environment: Immersion and presence , 2017, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[54]  B. Brooks.  Route learning in a case of amnesia : A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of training in a virtual environment , 1999 .

[55]  Albert Costa,et al.  Bilingualism tunes the anterior cingulate cortex for conflict monitoring. , 2012, Cerebral cortex.

[56]  David Birchfield,et al.  Collaborative Embodied Learning in Mixed Reality Motion-Capture Environments: Two Science Studies , 2014 .

[57]  Carlos Delgado Kloos,et al.  Design and Implementation of a 3D Multi-User Virtual World for Language Learning , 2011, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[58]  Thomas Lowrie,et al.  Measurement of Spatial Ability: Construction and Validation of the Spatial Reasoning Instrument for Middle School Students , 2017 .