The effect of virtual reality on EFL writing performance

Year 2018, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 278 - 292, 13.03.2018

Emrah Dolgunsöz , Gürkan Yıldırım Serkan Yıldırım

Abstract

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The effect of virtual reality on EFL writing performance
Today technological developments emerge in a blink of an eye with an astounding speed and each update or development is investigated by educational researchers to contribute educational research and practice.  VR (Virtual Reality), one of these technologies, can be defined as the visual technology in which a person experiences various virtual environments through dedicated hardware and software. Having adopted a Sequential Exploratory Mixed Method, the current research was inspired by the virtual opportunity provided by VR technologies and aimed to examine the effect of VR experience on developing EFL writing skills. 24 freshman EFL students initially attended a semi-structured interview and watched a VR and a 2D traditional video in different time periods. After completing a short writing task, learners were interviewed again for post-experience opinions. The results showed that (1) EFL learners were aware of VR technology, (2) VR experience did not affect short term writing performance but was found to be promising in the long run and (3) a majority of learners enjoyed VR videos but also expressed a number of technical limitations such as low video quality and physical discomfort. VR technologies were also discussed in terms of language teaching research.
Information about Author(s)*
Author 1
Author (Last name, First name)	Dolgunsöz, Emrah
Affiliated institution (University)	Bayburt University
Country	Turkey
Email address	[e-mail]
Department & Rank	Dept. of ELT
Corresponding author (Yes/No) Write only one corresponding author.	Yes
Author 2
Author (Last name, First name)	Yıldırım, Gürkan
Affiliated institution (University)	Bayburt University
Country	Turkey
Email address	[e-mail]
Department & Rank	BÖTE
Corresponding author (Yes/No)
Author 3
Author (Last name, First name)	Yıldırım, Serkan
Affiliated institution (University)	Atatürk University
Country	Turkey
Email address	[e-mail]
Department & Rank	BÖTE
Corresponding author (Yes/No)	No
Author 4
Author (Last name, First name)
Affiliated institution (University)
Country
Email address
Department & Rank
Corresponding author (Yes/No)

Keywords

Virtual reality; language learning; EFL writing; mixed method

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