First Advisor

Williams, Mia K.

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

5-1-2017

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Educational Technology Programs, Ed Tech Student Work

Abstract

This study explored the influence of the virtual reality game (VRG) House of Languages on the ESL vocabulary acquisition of intermediate school students and establish how VR technology aids in improving the ESL vocabulary skills. A quasi-experimental design helped determine the impact of the VR use intervention on the learning process over the traditional ESL vocabulary acquisition method. Participation of 64 students divided randomly into an experimental group and control group; each group contained 32 students and their teacher from a local suburban intermediate school in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The findings from this study of independent t-tests at the end of experimental period indicated that students using the VR game House of Languages had greater achievement in learning vocabulary than those using the traditional method in learning vocabulary. The findings of paired t-tests indicated that the students in both the experimental group and control group scored higher in the post-test compared to their pre-test scores. Also, the descriptive statistics used to analyze teacher’ and students’ perceptions surveys indicate a perceived usefulness of VRG in the learning process. In spite of the fact that the participants of this study were intermediate school students, the VR technology made it applicable to primary school and high school students. So, it would be essential to create awareness among the educators that the use of the new VR technology as an effective vocabulary acquisition method in learning process should be engaged in all K12 stages not only to improve the vocabulary acquisition but to go beyond that to enhance the degree of achievement.

Keywords

House of Languages, Samsung Gear VR, Virtual Environment, Virtual Reality, Vocabulary Skills

Extent

138 pages

Local Identifiers

Alfadil_unco_0161D_10558

Rights Statement

Copyright belongs to the author.

Download

Share

COinS