Virtual reality offers promising affordances for language learning in the classroom. With virtual reality we can design and create meaningful immersive environments that focus on unique characteristics of the target language practice and culture. VR has the potential to facilitate higher performance in terms of memory and, in turn, language learning.

In this online presentation, Carla Consolini will introduce a virtual reality prototype that immerses language learners in a given situation in their target language. Users of this virtual reality prototype can observe and passively interact with their environment to better understand the target language culture. The presentation will give a short demonstration of the final product, and will provide a summary of the necessary steps for language teachers to replicate this prototype using their own content.

The work described above was supported through a Summer internship sponsored by the Center for Language & Technology and the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.