The Influence of a Virtual Reality Immersive English Classroom on College Students' ICC
TL;DR
A model accounting for immersion, cultural empathy, and ICC shows that immersion plays a core intermediary role in the development of ICC; moreover, behavioral data are moderately correlated with ICC promotion.
Abstract
Through a four-week quasi-experiment, this study explores the influence of virtual reality (VR) immersion teaching on college students' intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The study divided 120 sophomores into a VR group and a traditional teaching group. The results showed that the total score of ICC in the VR group increased, which was significantly higher than that in the control group, especially in cultural awareness and emotional input. Based on the theory of experiential learning and embodied cognition, a model accounting for immersion, cultural empathy, and ICC shows that immersion plays a core intermediary role in the development of ICC; moreover, behavioral data (about such elements as head rotation and voice duration) are moderately correlated with ICC promotion. The reliability of the scale is high (α = 0.93). This paper puts forward a three-step teaching process consisting of situation creation, immediate feedback, and reflection internalization, which provides a practical paradigm for cross-cultural teaching in colleges and universities.