Immersive Virtual Reality and language development in children

For LRNT 526 Team 1 decided to concentrate on the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to teach communication skills in educational settings. The use of VR as a teaching tool has been an interest of mine before. The first encounter with VR use was focused on virtual world realities (VWR), examining its pros and cons, using the debate of ‘Real World Versus Virtual World’ (Fahrenbruch & Wimmer, 2018). The debate uncovered some interesting findings, including the limitations of VRW. One of the limitations was described by Justice and Kahai (2010), stating that virtual worlds enhance learner satisfaction but result in lower cognitive learning. They concluded that “affective outcomes are not correlated with cognitive outcomes” (p. 7), pointing out a concern for educational settings. In VWR the user is restricted to what they see on the computer screen, rather than being completely immersed in a virtual environment with the use of a headset (Mils and Noyes, 1999). Immersive virtual reality (IVR) affords the learner this first person experience in a computer controlled environment (Salamin, Tadi, Blanke, Vexo, & Thalmann, 2010) creating a multitude of new opportunities for its use in education.

In the role of the instructor in a blended program, a renewed interest in VR, specifically IVR and the opportunities it offers to learners, has resurfaced. The use of IVR to teach skills, such as guiding behaviour in young children, has been discussed as an opportunity for online and face to face students within the faculty of early childhood care and education. Creating a risk-free and accessible environment (Mantovani et al. 2010) to practice this skill set would be a great asset to the program. Guiding children’s behaviour requires excellent communication skills, the ability to rephrase expectations into a positive statement and the skill to be a listener and facilitator towards problem-solving (BC Health, 2014). Acquiring these skills in the field can take a long time, using children as the recipients of the less than perfect skill sets of educators in training.  IVR can provide a training environment that could be adjusted to specific situations (Mantovani et al., 2010; Carlson, 2017) such as child development stages, cultural backgrounds, and specialized support needs, creating a training ground for the development of excellent communication skills for educators in training in a multitude of situations.

Research into the use of IVR to enhance communication skills in learners uncovered a number of research about the effects of IVR when used with children. IVR has effectively been used in the development of expressive language skills in children (Ryokai, Vaucelle & Cassell, 2003), receptive language skills in children with autism ( Nasser et. al., 2018) and the development of expressive language skills in children who are deaf and hard of hearing (Eden, 2014). Despite all these success stories of IVR use with children, concern about possible adverse effects of this technology use with children exists. Bailey and Bailenson (2017) express their apprehension, reporting that little is known about the effects of IVR on children outside of medical intervention. Segovia and Bailenson (2009) studied the use of IVR with children and its effect on their memories, concluding that “third parties may be able to elicit false memories without the consent or mental effort of an individual” (p. 388), opening a discussion around the ethical use of IVR technology with children. As young children are the focus of my day to day work, more research into this area will be of great interest.

To continue research into the field of IVR use in building communication skills in children, these areas will be examined: IVRs ability to develop expressive and receptive communication skills in young children and the possible adverse effects of IVR use on children’s overall development, because the positive skill development of one area should not override the possible adverse effects on another. Has anyone come across any articles about this area of research? Alternatively, feel free to share thoughts and opinions on this topic. Maybe you have experience using IVR with children and if so, share why and how you use it. Your feedback and your questions will help the process to dive deeper into this topic and hopefully help to uncover some useful information, as educators of young children try to understand the affordances of IVR.

References

Bailey, J. O., & Bailenson, J. N. (2017). Considering virtual reality in children’s lives. Journal of Children and Media, 2798, 1–7. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2016.1268779

BC Health (2014). Guiding Children’s Behaviour. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/child-day-care/guiding_childrens_behaviour_april_2017.pdf

Carlson, J. (July, 2017).Virtual reality lessons can help students become better real-life teachers [web site]. Retrieved from https://ed.psu.edu/news/2017-07-09-news/virtual-reality

Eden, S. (2014). Virtual intervention to improve storytelling ability among deaf and hard-of-hearing children. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 29(3), 369–385. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2014.909177

Fahrenbruch, A. & Wimmer, J. (2018). Real world Versus Virtual World Debate [you tube]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Rd3HcF2XfE4

Jestice, R. J. & Kahai, S. (2010).The effectiveness of virtual worlds for education: an empirical study. AMCIS 2010 Proceedings. 512. Retrieved from http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2010/512

Mantovani, F., Castelnuovo, G., Gaggioli, A., & Riva, G. (2003). Virtual reality training for health-care professionals. Cyberpsychology & Behavior : The Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society,6(4), 389-95. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=05e26a24-7dbf-44fa-b4ab-7105abddc5c2%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=#db=bth&AN=10921075

Mills, S., & Noyes, J. (1999). Virtual reality : an overview of User-related Design Issues Virtual reality : User Issues in Interacting With Computers,(11), 375–386. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.848.308&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Nasser, M., Robert, S., Karla, C. P., James, C. W., Welch, K. C., & Graham, J. H. (2018). Small-Group Technology-Assisted Instruction : Virtual Teacher and Robot Peer for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(11), 3816–3830. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3654-2

Ryokai, K., Vaucelle, C., & Cassell, J. (2003). Virtual peers as partners in storytelling and literacy learning, (January), 195–208. Retrieved from http://www.justinecassell.com/CC_Winter05/pdfs/ryokai_virtual.pdf

Salamin, P., Thalmann, D., & Vexo, F. (2006). The benefits of third-person perspective in virtual and augmented reality? Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.72.8772&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Segovia, K. Y., & Bailenson, J. N. (2009). Virtually true: Children’s acquisition of false memories in virtual reality. Media Psychology, 12, 371–393. doi:10.1080/15213260903287267

Yohoprashant (2018). augmented -reality-346859. Retrieved from                                              https://pixabay.com/photos/augmented-reality-vr-virtual-reality-3468596/