The effect of virtual reality on EFL writing performance

Today technological developments emerge in a blink of an eye with an astounding speed and each update or development is investigated by educational researchers to contribute educational research and practice.  VR (Virtual Reality), one of these technologies, can be defined as the visual technology in which a person experiences various virtual environments through dedicated hardware and software. Having adopted a Sequential Exploratory Mixed Method, the current research was inspired by the virtual opportunity provided by VR technologies and aimed to examine the effect of VR experience on developing EFL writing skills. 24 freshman EFL students initially attended a semi-structured interview and watched a VR and a 2D traditional video in different time periods. After completing a short writing task, learners were interviewed again for post-experience opinions. The results showed that (1) EFL learners were aware of VR technology, (2) VR experience did not affect short term writing performance but was found to be promising in the long run and (3) a majority of learners enjoyed VR videos but also expressed a number of technical limitations such as low video quality and physical discomfort. VR technologies were also discussed in terms of language teaching research.

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