Virtual Reality for Language Learning

This was the first project I did in the Games & Play squad, or the Play and Learn squad as it was called back then. Before this project, I was developing mostly tangible projects. While gaming was a huge hobby of mine, I never considered merging this hobby with my work, until this project at least.

This project, a design-research project, focused on using virtual reality to create an immersive language experience. The idea being that being fully immersed in another language helps learning it. The game was quite open, giving players a chance to explore and pick up a number of objects. When picking up an object, its name would be displayed, so you could learn what each object is.

The research question was “Can Virtual Reality (VR) benefit vocabulary learning in terms retention and motivation in a junior high school environment”.

To answer this question, 3 different groups were tested. One group used a traditional learning method, words on a paper, one group played a PC game (keyboard and mouse) where they encountered the words as they played the game, and the last group played the same game in VR. Though no strong differences arose, clearly kids enjoyed the PC and VR games a lot more.

My main contributions to this project were in developing the game we used to perform the study. The prototype was made in the Unity game engine, using C#. The 3D models used were purchased online. My team and I used them to build the world.

Already in this project, I enjoyed adding little details to the game. Playful secrets, like the ability to burn down paintings using a lit torch. This wasn’t necessary to complete the game, just a fun reward for those who explored the world and its features.

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