September Akita Jalt Meeting: Can Virtual Reality be Used in the L2 for Positive Transfer of Skills from an Intensive English Environment to Reality?
Abstract
This study meant to add to the literature on virtual reality use in EFL education,
examined the feasibility of using virtual reality in an L2 as a tool to positively transfer
skills from virtual reality to a real-world situation. We modeled our research on the
methods of Michalski et al. (2019) in their work on the positive transfer of sports skills to
practical application. We reinforced the method with ideas from Xie et al. (2021) in their
research on common assessment tests and evaluations of positive transfer
from virtual reality. Our method was mainly qualitative as it encompasses interpretivism,
epistemological orientation, and constructionism as its main driving forces (Bryman,
2006). What we discovered was that the cooking skills taught in the L2
through virtual reality did transfer to a real-world situation. In the short-term skills with
detailed knowledge of the process were retained, while in the long-term, retested volunteers retained most of the cooking processes from virtual reality.
Bio:
Jason Tacker is an Assistant professor at Akita Prefectural University. His research interests
involve technology, specifically virtual reality and mixed reality, cultural studies and
student identity/classroom motivations.
The presentation will take place on September 21st through Zoom from 2pm until around 3pm.
Akita JALT Members will be emailed the zoom info.
All others interested in participating please email akita@jalt.org for zoom info.
