Use VR-based grasping of virtual referent objects to support vocabulary learning in low language aptitude learners¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 2 studies (2 causal), q2–q3 · 1 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's pedagogical outlook proposes that, with affordable VR devices, "vocabulary learning with VR objects could support LLA learners in an efficient way", allowing ubiquitous, accessible training "at any time in facilitation of multilingualism" and personalized programs that take a learner's aptitude and individual learning needs into account. The strategy operationalizes the study's AVOG condition: learners view and hear L2 words with referent objects and grasp the virtual objects during training.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A VR environment in which learners can grasp virtual objects corresponding to the meanings of the to-be-learned words, as in the study's Deep Space cave

Constraints¶

• Findings are specifically applicable to the learning of L2 concrete words with meanings already well-understood in the learner's L1, per the article's stated limitation

Target Learners¶

• Adult low language aptitude foreign-language learners

Target Learning Goals¶

• Retention of foreign language vocabulary

Affordances¶

• Procedural Declarative Account Sensorimotor L2 Benefits

Claims¶

• Grasping virtual objects benefits low language aptitude learners but not high language aptitude learners relative to audiovisual baseline [+W]
• Grasping virtual objects during L2 vocabulary learning enhances test performance relative to audiovisual-only learning [+W]
• Simply viewing virtual referent objects during L2 learning enhances retention relative to audiovisual-only learning, for both aptitude groups [+W]
• Effectiveness of pedagogical tools depends on learners' initial grasp of the object of learning (aptitude–treatment interaction) [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Manuela Macedonia, Brian Mathias, Astrid E. Lehner, Susanne M. Reiterer, Claudia Repetto. (2023). Grasping Virtual Objects Benefits Lower Aptitude Learners' Acquisition of Foreign Language Vocabulary. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09835-0