About the Project

Language Chatsim was a collaboration between EML, UBC IT, the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies, and the English Language Institute. It focused on developing a language learning application using virtual reality, with users being able to practice speaking English or German in a safe and virtual environment. The project’s avatar was connected to a chatbot built using Google’s DialogFlow to allow for a natural response to the users’ input, expanding access to language learners by not requiring a practice partner.

The overall project goal was to harness the immersive benefits of VR to enhance the quality and rate of language learning. The project could later be expanded to involve full modules covering the core skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening across different levels of linguistic proficiency in a range of different languages. The immediate goal of this prototype, however, was to demonstrate VR’s language education potential by teaching 10 lexical items in German and English.

When it comes to learning foreign languages, immersion has been heralded as providing “educational benefit” par excellence. This VR prototype used Virtual Reality Machine Learning (VRML) to create cultural environments, harnessing the educational benefit of cultural immersion without the foreign language learner needing to leave their own home.

Objective

There were two closely related questions we were trying to answer through this project: how do we provide students with more effective teaching and learning, and can we effectively apply VR technologies to that end. Students learning an additional language in their first language environment whether in UBC or foreign university contexts, do not have access to the benefits of a target language immersion environment. By using VR, this prototype was able to provide the benefits of language immersion in a digital space, thereby providing more a more effective teaching and learning environment and expanding the rate of language aquisition.

The Team

Faculty

• Jason Lieblang, PhD, Senior Instructor of German
• Andrew Scales, Director of English Language Institute

Staff

• Brian Wilson, Curriculum Manager (Vantage College)
• Geoff Luk, UBC IT
• Rosario Aguila, UBC IT
• John Bratlien, UBC IT
• Armenak Grigoryan, UBC IT
• Alma Ortiz, UBC IT

Students

• William Beltran, Developer, (February 2019 – May 2019)
• Matthew Davison, Developer, Current Project Lead (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Morgan Mo, Developer, Current Tech Lead (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Gary Zhang, Developer (May 2019 – August 2019)
• John Song, Developer (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Alice Tang, Designer (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Hugo Kwan, Designer (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Faye Yu, Designer (May 2019 – August 2019)
• Matthew Davison, Developer, Project Lead (May 2019 – December 2019)
• Julia Chu, Technical Lead (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Sandy Co, Design Lead (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• W Chung, Designer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Dante Cerron, Developer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)

Student Volunteers

• Jazica Chan, Designer (September 2019 – April 2020)
• Xuning Wang, Designer (January 2020 – April 2020)
• Sandy Co, Designer (September 2019 – December 2019)
• Felicia Chan, Designer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Julia Chu, Developer (September 2019 – December 2019)
• Kyle Mas, Developer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Luke Nguyen, Developer (September 2019 – December 2019)
• Cindy Shi, Developer (September 2019 – December 2019)
• Veronica Chen, Developer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Nikko Angelo Dumrique, Developer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)
• Clare Chen, Developer (Jan 2020 – April 2020)