ABSTRACT

Speaking is a challenge for most English learners owing to the lack of practicing environments and partners. The virtual reality (VR) technology has changed this situation by providing learners with rich opportunities for practice. In VR-based practicing environments, peer tutoring is a common strategy for promoting peer assistance. However, in conventional VR-based learning, students may merely follow the guidelines and content provided by the teacher without thinking about the meaning and reasons for the practice in the situated contexts, which generally leads to poor learning outcomes. To solve this problem, a progressive question prompt-based peer-tutoring approach in VR contexts (PQP-PTVR) is proposed to assist students’ English-speaking development. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The experimental group used the proposed approach, while the control group learned with the conventional question prompt-based peer-tutoring approach in VR contexts (C-PTVR). The results showed that the experimental group achieved significantly greater improvement in speaking and self-efficacy than the control group. Concerning the participants’ learning behaviors, the experimental group had more interactions and made more attempts to improve their speaking. This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing the PQP-PTVR approach to enhancing learners’ speaking development, improving their interactions and self-efficacy.

摘要

由于缺乏练习环境和伙伴，口语对于大多数英语学习者来说是一个挑战。虚拟现实（VR）技术改变了这一状况，为学习者提供了丰富的实践机会。在基于 VR 的练习环境中，同伴辅导是促进同伴协助的常见策略。然而，在传统的基于VR的学习中，学生可能只是遵循老师提供的指导和内容，而没有思考在情境中练习的意义和原因，这通常会导致学习效果不佳。为了解决这个问题，提出了一种在VR环境下基于渐进式问题提示的同伴辅导方法（PQP-PTVR）来帮助学生的英语口语发展。进行了一项实验来评估所提出方法的有效性。实验组使用所提出的方法，而对照组则在 VR 环境中使用传统的基于问题提示的同伴辅导方法（C-PTVR）进行学习。结果显示，实验组在口语和自我效能感方面取得了显着高于对照组的改善。在参与者的学习行为方面，实​​验组有更多的互动，也有更多的尝试来提高他们的口语能力。本研究提出了 PQP-PTVR 方法来增强学习者的口语发展、改善他们的互动和自我效能，从而对现有文献做出了贡献。结果显示，实验组在口语和自我效能感方面取得了显着高于对照组的改善。在参与者的学习行为方面，实​​验组有更多的互动，也有更多的尝试来提高他们的口语能力。本研究提出了 PQP-PTVR 方法来增强学习者的口语发展、改善他们的互动和自我效能，从而对现有文献做出了贡献。结果显示，实验组在口语和自我效能感方面取得了显着高于对照组的改善。在参与者的学习行为方面，实​​验组有更多的互动，也有更多的尝试来提高他们的口语能力。本研究提出了 PQP-PTVR 方法来增强学习者的口语发展、改善他们的互动和自我效能，从而对现有文献做出了贡献。