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Teaching Language and Culture with a Virtual Reality Game

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Many people want to learn a language but find it difficult to stay engaged. Ideally, we would have language learning tools that can make language learning more enjoyable by simulating immersion in a foreign language environment. Therefore, we adapted Crystallize, a 3D video game for learning Japanese, so that it can be played in virtual reality with the Oculus Rift. Specifically, we explored whether we could leverage virtual reality technology to teach embodied cultural interaction, such as bowing in Japanese greetings. To evaluate the impact of our virtual reality game designs, we conducted a formative user study with 68 participants. We present results showing that the virtual reality design trained players how and when to bow, and that it increased participants' sense of involvement in Japanese culture. Our results suggest that virtual reality technology provides an opportunity to leverage culturally-relevant physical interaction, which can enhance the design of language learning technology and virtual reality games.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2017
    7138 pages
    ISBN:9781450346559
    DOI:10.1145/3025453
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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    Published: 02 May 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. language learning
    2. video games
    3. virtual reality

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    • (2024)Explorations in the proto-metaverse: EFL learners’ experiences and perceptions of immersive virtual reality for language learningThe EuroCALL Review10.4995/eurocall.2024.1894631:2(4-16)Online publication date: 16-Dec-2024
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