An exploratory study on practising listening comprehension skills in high‐immersion virtual reality

Abstract Holding learners' attention is challenging, especially when they are asked to listen to long passages. High‐immersion virtual reality (VR) can immerse learners in listening tasks, even in such complex languages as Chinese. This exploratory study examined the effect of VR on 43 Chinese language learners' listening comprehension, enjoyment, sense of presence, and cognitive load. Participants were self‐selected into two groups without knowing the purpose of the study or the details of their activity. The experimental group ( n 1 = 23) experienced an interactive multimedia story in VR, and the comparison group ( n 2 = 20) watched a screencast video recording of the same story. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that VR may have a positive effect on the development of listening skills. Compared with the video group, the VR group had significantly higher listening comprehension scores, reported significantly more enjoyment and sense of presence, and reported experiencing less cognitive load. Thus, the findings suggest that VR could be used as a pedagogical tool to enhance foreign language listening skills. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Practising listening skills is key for language development. Virtual reality (VR) is motivational and engaging. Research on practising listening skills in VR is scarce. What this paper adds VR can be beneficial for practising listening skills. Language learners highly enjoy practising listening in VR. Interactivity can improve engagement and support listening comprehension. Implications for practice and/or policy Learners should be provided pretraining and scaffolding prior to using VR. The duration of VR activities should be considered. Interactivity in VR may increase its effectiveness in attending listening tasks.