The Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality on Increasing Willingness to Communicate, Oral Performance, and Reducing Speaking Anxiety for EFL Elementary Students

Abstract

The rapid progress of technology and the development of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is shown to assist learners in practicing English speaking abilities because it helps provide an immersive environment for learners to engage in social interaction. Without leaving the classroom or traveling outside of native nations, learners can gain experience to practice the dialogue they learn at school that transcends regional boundaries with VR. However, many current studies on IVR mainly focus on adults in higher education. Also, the investigation on the use of IVR in enhancing second language speaking is still scarce. Thus, the effect of using VR on EFL elementary students is worthy of investigation. This study investigates the effects of IVR on increasing willingness to communicate (WTC), enhancing oral performance, and reducing speaking anxiety for EFL elementary students. This 10-week study invited 60 Taiwanese fifth-grade students from a rural school for topics about food. The students were randomly assigned to the IVR glasses (Oculus Quest 2) group, desktop VR group, and control group (on-stage role play), respectively. Data sets include (1) pretest and posttest of questionnaires (including WTC, speaking anxiety, and presence) (2) pre-test and posttest of food ordering (3) video and audio recordings of students’ role-play. The implication of using IVR glasses and the direction of future research are discussed.

Keywords

audio recordings, English speaking, role play