A virtual reality-based collaborative argument mapping approach in the EFL classroom

ABSTRACT

In language learning, it is important to foster students’ computational thinking and improve their skills of building arguments and dialectical structure, teamwork, and decision accuracy. This is especially so in English language courses which aim to promote students’ cultural learning interest, creative thinking, and oral presentation. Collaborative argument mapping is an appropriate strategy to elicit those objectives. However, in the emergency distance learning (EDL) context, when online instruction lacks real-world learning and face-to-face interaction, it is challenging to teach units on cultural issues in authentic contexts. Therefore, in this study, the virtual reality-based collaborative argument mapping approach was developed to address this problem. A quasi-experiment was designed with a total of 45 EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The experimental result showed that the virtual reality-based collaborative argument mapping approach (VR-CAM) improved the students’ English oral presentation more than did the non-virtual reality-based collaborative argument mapping approach (non-VR-CAM). Although the VR-CAM group scored higher than the non-VR-CAM group on cultural learning interest, the two groups did not significantly differ. Furthermore, in the computational and creative thinking aspects, students who learned with VR-CAM performed significantly better than those who learned with non-VR-CAM over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual reality
• argument mapping
• English oral presentation
• English as a foreign language
• collaborative learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China under contract numbers MOST-109-2511-H-011 -004 and MOST-110-2511-H-011 -005.

Notes on contributors

Husni Mubarok

Husni Mubarok is a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. His research interests include mobile learning and flipped classrooms.

Chi-Jen Lin

Chi-Jen Lin is an assistant professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Her research interests include technology-enhanced language learning, game-based language learning, and flipped classrooms.

Gwo-Jen Hwang

Gwo-Jen Hwang is a chair professor at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology as well as a chair professor of the Graduate Institute of Educational Information and Measurement, National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan. His research interests include mobile learning, digital game-based learning, flipped classrooms, and artificial intelligence in education.