Believing virtual reality is a promising tool for learning languages, companies, colleges invest
After two years of lessons and little progress, he enrolled in an Arabic-immersion program in Jordan where he hung out with a Bedouin woman six hours a day. And then he moved into a house in a Syrian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon with six men who didn’t speak English.
“And guess what happened? I learned Arabic,” he says. “Because I’d go to a hookah bar and practice. I’d go play soccer and practice.”
Mark Warschauer, the director of UC Irvine's Digital Learning Lab who founded the journal Language Learning and Technology in 1997, says studies show that effective language learning involves a combination of structured instruction and immersive practice.
As an academic, Warschauer once advised a study looking at how users could improve their Spanish playing Spanish-language versions “World of Warcraft.” There has also been research on language-learning in 3D virtual worlds like “Second Life.”
“Virtual reality is the only type of technology that truly allows immersion,” says Dylan Walch, Immerse’s VR engineer. “In VR, if we put you in a conference room and ask you to give a presentation onstage, it simulates the emotions and anxiety you feel for public speaking. And because we can simulate that in a safe environment with a tutor that’s patient, that’s such a powerful thing.”
Because Mandarin-language speakers who want to learn English form the biggest language market by far, Immerse launched in Taiwan, targeting international companies that want their employees to be able to do business in English. Current clients include a management consulting firm, a semiconductor production company, and an accounting firm.
Users are sent VR headsets. Each English teacher, who can be based anywhere in the world, can instruct up to five students at a time, and once they (and their avatars) enter virtual reality for their lesson, the teacher takes them on an adventure.
“If you’re going on a business trip, I can take you to the airport and we can practice ordering a ticket, checking out the flight time,” says Walch. “And if you say something incorrectly, I can type in front of you and show you in real time.”
The reality is that virtual reality is not quite mainstream yet.
Most people who own their own VR headsets are still gamers, says Taber, and none of his clients had used the technology before.
See the full story here: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/tn-wknd-et-virtual-reality-language-20190404-story.html