University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Saying ‘au revoir’ to anxiety in a heartbeat: the benefits of virtual reality for language learning.

Thrasher, Tricia K

Content Files
THRASHER-DISSERTATION-2022.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115533

Description

Title
Saying ‘au revoir’ to anxiety in a heartbeat: the benefits of virtual reality for language learning.
Author(s)
Thrasher, Tricia K
Issue Date
2022-04-14
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Mroz, Aurore
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Mroz, Aurore
Committee Member(s)
  • Sadler, Randall
  • Fagyal, Zsuzsanna
  • Dolcos, Florin
  • Barlaz, Marissa
Department of Study
French and Italian
Discipline
French
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
virtual reality, foreign language anxiety, French, oral production, physiological anxiety
Abstract
Computer Assisted Language Learning researchers have been exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) for foreign language learning. Studies have shown that language learners enjoy VR and that it can lead to lower foreign language anxiety (FLA) (Chien et al., 2019; Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 & 2021; Huang et al., 2021; Kaplan & Wojdynski, 2018; Liaw, 2019; Peixoto et al., 2021; York et al., 2021). However, this exploratory research has relied solely on participants’ feedback and has yet to empirically measure learners’ anxiety (both self-reported and physiological) in VR environments. Moreover, it has yet to establish whether the lower anxiety that VR affords actually leads to better language performance. Lastly, there has also been a call to examine how students’ peer-to-peer interactions during interpersonal tasks differ in VR compared to other learning environments (Lan et al., 2015; Parmaxi, 2020). This study addressed these gaps by examining how French learners’ self-reported and physiological anxiety (measured via heart rate) fluctuated across three learning environments: VR, Zoom, and a face-to-face classroom. It also examined how lower anxiety impacted learners’ oral production at the levels of pronunciation, fluency, and complexity during peer-to-peer speaking tasks. Thirty-eight (N = 38) learners of French enrolled in a course designed to develop Advanced French oral proficiency participated in this study. At the onset, participants’ background and baseline self-reported anxiety were established via a background and foreign language anxiety questionnaire. Participants then completed six rounds of comparable 20-minute three-way peer-to-peer interpersonal consensus building tasks in French over a 12-week period in three different environments: two in a classroom, two in Zoom and two in the social VR application, vTime XR. All tasks were video recorded for further analyses. Participants’ heart rate was continuously tracked during each task using Polar OH1 heart rate monitors. Immediately after each task, participants self-reported their anxiety via a questionnaire. Upon completing the final task, semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand participants’ perceptions of the three learning environments. Participants’ self-reported anxiety data and physiological measures indicated that learners, particularly those who were more anxious initially, were less anxious overall in virtual spaces. Participants were also found to be more comprehensible, intelligible, and fluent in VR and when they were less anxious, confirming the beneficial impact of VR for language learning and the need to alleviate anxiety in learners to enable them to be more successful. Furthermore, analyses of how focus group participants’ heart rates evolved throughout activities in response to their unfolding conversations and the surrounding environment brought to light various factors within each learning environment that both alleviated and worsened anxiety. Finally, participants’ insights into how they experienced the three environments indicated that learners were overall more at ease in the virtual environments, but that they perceived many drawbacks of using Zoom and found that VR more closely resembled in-person interactions and provided a contextually relevant setting, suggesting that it could offer a better solution to online learning.
Graduation Semester
2022-05
Type of Resource
Thesis
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115533
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2022 Tricia Thrasher

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