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One-On-One Foreign Language Speaking Practice in High-Immersion Virtual Reality

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Contextual Language Learning

Part of the book series: Chinese Language Learning Sciences ((CLLS))

Abstract

This autoethnographic study investigated the dynamics of five one-on-one tutoring sessions conducted in high-immersion virtual reality (VR). A lower-intermediate, adult learner of German practiced her foreign language speaking skills in VR with a tutor guiding and assisting her. Both the learner and the tutor visited various VR locations, which offered opportunities for situated learning. A qualitative analysis of the tutor-learner interactions confirmed that social VR applications can offer pedagogically valuable settings for the development of foreign language speaking skills. With a pedagogical mindset, we address affordances of social VR applications, including the authenticity of the settings, and practical implications of using VR as a medium for one-on-one instruction. We also discuss the limitations and technical impediments of using VR, including the lack of facial expression tracking and other nonvocal paralinguistic cues for foreign language instruction.

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Acknowledgements

We want to extend our gratitude to our colleagues, Dr. Liss Kerstin Sylvén and Dr Shannon Sauro, for their advice and suggestions to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    Regina Kaplan-Rakowski

  2. Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, Germany

    Alice Gruber

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  1. Regina Kaplan-Rakowski
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  2. Alice Gruber
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Correspondence to Regina Kaplan-Rakowski .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chinese as a Second Language, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Ju Lan

  2. School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Scott Grant

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Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Gruber, A. (2021). One-On-One Foreign Language Speaking Practice in High-Immersion Virtual Reality. In: Lan, YJ., Grant, S. (eds) Contextual Language Learning. Chinese Language Learning Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3416-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3416-1_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-3416-1

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