Learning a foreign language requires interaction with language input while involved in a task. Given that problem‐based learning (PBL) offers hands‐on application in realistic contexts, and that ...virtual reality (VR) enables learners to interact with multiple modalities of information, this study examines how the integration of VR technology into PBL contexts affects students' motivation for, problem‐solving during, and vocabulary acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 84 engineering majors who enrolled in a course of English for specific purposes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Students in the experimental group participated in a VR‐assisted PBL context, in which they were to view a PBL scenario using VR technology and then to create VR videos about solving the given problems. Those in the control group participated in a PBL context without the use of VR technology for viewing and solving the identical scenario. After the intervention, all the students wrote a problem‐solving analysis, took a vocabulary knowledge test, completed a learning motivation questionnaire, and participated in individual interviews. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition, and were more motivated to learn English related to their future careers, whereas there was no significant difference in the problem‐solving performance of the two groups. Implications of these findings highlight the value of engaging EFL learners in immersive environments for contextualized learning through the integrated use of VR and PBL.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic?
Virtual reality (VR) technology has been shown to enhance students' knowledge and skills in STEM fields.
Problem‐based learning (PBL) has been widely used in medical education but not so much in foreign language education.
English as a foreign language (EFL) students usually have very limited access to the target language beyond the classroom, thus lack a motivating reason for them to learn English after graduation.
What this paper adds?
The VR‐assisted PBL approach proposed in this study was found to significantly enhance the EFL students' specialized vocabulary knowledge.
The VR‐assisted PBL approach was found to motivate and sustain the EFL students' interest in career English.
Exposing the EFL students to PBL contexts was capable of developing their problem‐solving performance, regardless of VR integration.
Implications for practice and/or policy
The proposed approach has the potential to facilitate student learning in EFL education, particularly English for occupational purposes.
EFL educators may apply the VR‐assisted PBL approach to narrow the gap between language classrooms and workplace contexts by immersing students in authentic contexts that were relevant to their occupational knowledge and workplace English.
The digital technology era has profoundly evolved and changed the ways that people consume and produce information. As language itself is recognized as a multimodal resource for communicative ...purposes, different forms of multimodality have been advocated to nurture students' multiliteracies in educational contexts. This study aims to investigate students' perceived benefits with respect to the process of their multimodal video making. The participants were 69 advanced English as a foreign language undergraduate students who took a course titled Multimedia English for one-semester (18 weeks) at a university in Taiwan. The students were trained to utilize a wide range of multimedia affordances to facilitate their English learning. They were asked to produce a digital video employing multiple modalities for their final project. The collected data for the scope of the paper included students' uploaded reflective essays and videos of their final oral presentations with their PowerPoint slides based upon their overall perceptions regarding their video creation processes and the perceived benefits they experienced. The findings showed that a multitude of students perceived that the video making process nurtured their multiliteracies to different degrees and expanded their awareness of the interplay between different modes of semiotic resources for meaning construction. This study also highlights pedagogical implications for language teachers regarding the provision of opportunities for students to become involved in the creation of multimodal artifacts in developing their multiliteracies.
Background: As the concept of flipped classrooms continues to gain interest across disciplines, more research is needed to strengthen the instructional design by integrating active learning ...strategies and emerging technologies. Among various possibilities, little is known about how game-based learning combined with Augmented Reality (AR) can be effectively infused into language education to establish supportive flipped learning contexts. Objectives: This study thus proposed an AR-enhanced game-based learning (ARGBL) approach, featuring the use of an augmented board game to engage students actively in classroom activities. It further compared the effects of the proposed approach with traditional game-based learning on the students' vocabulary acquisition and creative thinking as they were instructed to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) in flipped classrooms. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted to examine the effectiveness of the proposed approach to promote the students' participation in flipped in-class activities, thereby improving their learning outcomes. Participants were recruited from two classes of the same undergraduate course, one of which was designated as the experimental group to take part in game-based learning activities in class by playing an AR-enhanced board game, and the other as the comparison group to learn by playing a paper-and-pencil game with identical puzzle content. The desired student learning outcomes were measured by pre- and post-intervention vocabulary tests and creative thinking tests, supplemented by individual interviews. Results: Results indicated that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in vocabulary acquisition and creative thinking. They also expressed positive perceptions of the augmented game-based learning experience in the flipped EFL classroom. Take Away: ARGBL can be a promising approach to improving student learning, and it is particularly beneficial to the design of classroom activities in flipped learning contexts due to its affordances for enriched content visualization and active learner engagement through gameplay.
Underpinned by Bhabha, H. K. (2004). The location of culture (2nd ed). Routledge. conceptualizations of the "third space," this study is a qualitative exploration of an attempt to create an ...intervening telecollaborative "third space" for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in a Taiwan university. Students were engaged in language exchange with foreign language learning peers in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and critical reflection on their own cultural norms and values. Data consisted of summative and formative assessments documented in E-portfolios and reflective essays by EFL learners who participated in the telecollaboration. Findings showed that 97% of the EFL learners agreed that telecollaboration should be part of language exchange programs. Through the affordance of the "third space," EFL learners were able not only to practice the target language through interaction, but also to build their confidence by critically engaging with individuals from different linguistic and sociocultural backgrounds and expressing their thoughts and idea. The telecollaboration also enhanced EFL learners' intercultural knowledge beyond generic understandings attached to particular countries and nations. Implications for practice and suggestions for future studies are discussed.
Intracultural learning has been neglected in English curricula in Taiwan since textbooks as an important learning resource have been mainly focused on English linguistic content and developing ...students' language skills and and target culture to develop students' language skill. This study investigated how making VR content helped students enhance their intracultural learning. This study engaged 60 advanced Taiwanese EFL college students in VR content making. The results demonstrated that students developed better intracultural awareness through the features of VR technology including panorama, audio, interaction, and structuring. Further discussions were provided to explain how each of these four features enhanced students' local cultural learning.
Project-based learning (PBL), a learning-by-doing practice, has been used for enhancing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' language skills. However, the extent to which and how EFL ...teachers develop or improve Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) competencies while experiencing PBL remain unexplored. For this study an 18-week PBL project was designed to improve EFL teachers' CALL competencies. A total of 12 EFL prospective teachers were recruited to participate in a sequence of activities: class observations, group discussions, and the design of lesson plans. Pre- and post- TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge) surveys were administered to measure participants' improvement of CALL competencies. Qualitative data, including class observation notes, lesson plans, group discussion records, and reflective essays, were collected to triangulate and complement survey results. The survey results showed that the prospective teachers demonstrated higher levels of CALL competencies after the PBL project. Using the qualitative data, this study explicitly documented the benefits which prospective teachers may obtain and the problems they may face when participating in a PBL project. The findings can help future teacher educators understand how to design and implement effective teaching training for CALL competency development.
In a time of rapid technological change, there is a need to provide students with relevant learning opportunities to support the development of their transferable skills.
Set in a higher education ...context in Taiwan, this study sought to investigate how students perceived their engagement with a task-based, multimedia project within an English as a foreign language (EFL) course.
Participants were 73 third-year undergraduate university students who were engaged in an 18-week task-based video-making project as part of the EFL course. Data, which were analysed qualitatively, included students' reflective essays and post-course transcribed interviews with 15 of the students.
Overall, the students felt that participating in the task-based project had enhanced their literacy competencies through the process of gathering relevant information; supported their learning motivation and engagement as they sought to discover the necessary resources to generate their videos; and fostered their awareness of how they could apply the knowledge and skills they developed in the course to new contexts.
Task-based, digital projects can provide one way of helping students to develop transferable skills. As technology continues to evolve, this study highlights the need to consider more fully, in the context of tertiary education, how best to support students to acquire and hone the competencies that they will require in employment.
Although educational robots are known for their capability to support language learning, how actual interaction processes lead to positive learning outcomes has not been sufficiently examined. To ...explore the instructional design and the interaction effects of robot-assisted language learning (RALL) on learner performance, this study systematically reviewed twenty-two empirical studies published between 2010 and 2020. Through an inclusion/exclusion procedure, general research characteristics such as the context, target language, and research design were identified. Further analysis on oral interaction design, including language teaching methods, interactive learning tasks, interaction processes, interactive agents, and interaction effects showed that the communicative or storytelling approach served as the dominant methods complemented by total physical response and audiolingual methods in RALL oral interactions. The review provides insights on how educational robots can facilitate oral interactions in language classrooms, as well as how such learning tasks can be designed to effectively utilize robotic affordances to fulfill functions that used to be provided by human teachers alone. Future research directions point to a focus on meaning-based communication and intelligibility in oral production among language learners in RALL.
This paper explores the construction and practice of the purposes of teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and Taiwan. The paper begins with a brief overview of contemporary issues ...underlying the education system in both countries. It then investigates the underlying assumption of student achievement before moving on to reconceptualise the purposes of education, and consequently, teacher education with the aims of remedying existing social and cultural gaps in both societies, as well as laying the path for a more diverse society for all. Underpinned within a social constructivist paradigm, the qualitative study explores how teacher education can, and needs to be, more equitable and responsive to the learning outcomes of students - in terms of diversity and difference - in Aotearoa NZ and Taiwan.
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