35.3430, Review: Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics; Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Language Learning: Hsu (2024)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-3430. Wed Dec 04 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.3430, Review: Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics; Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Language Learning: Hsu (2024)

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Date: 03-Dec-2024
From: Chih-Hsin Hsu [hsu.tamuk at gmail.com]
Subject: Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics; Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Language Learning: Hsu (2024)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35.1945

AUTHOR: Ulf Schütze
TITLE: Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Language Learning
SUBTITLE: The need for attention
SERIES TITLE: Bilingual Processing and Acquisition   19
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2024

REVIEWER: Chih-Hsin Hsu

SUMMARY

In Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and language learning:
The need for attention, Ulf Schütze provides a wide-ranging overview
of how new technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial
Intelligence (AI) can transform Second Language Acquisition (SLA).
Targeted toward researchers, educators, and advanced students in
fields like linguistics, psycholinguistics, and educational
technology, the book explores how these technologies may enhance
attention—a key cognitive engagement factor essential for effective
language learning.

The book consists of six chapters. In the first chapter, Schütze
introduces the cognitive and neural foundations of attention and links
these processes to language learning. Drawing on well-established
cognitive theories such as Baddeley’s (2007) working memory model and
Schmidt’s noticing hypothesis (1990, 1995), he frames attention as an
essential mechanism in language acquisition. Schütze then links
attention to key neurocognitive processes, specifically those
involving the perisylvian cortex, limbic system, and anterior
cingulate cortex, which play critical roles in processing both
linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli. This chapter lays the
groundwork for understanding how VR and AI can leverage these
cognitive mechanisms to enhance language learning outcomes.

In Chapters Two and Three, Schütze explores how immersive environments
like VR can effectively capture and sustain attention. He examines the
brain's language processing networks and emphasizes that attention
functions as a crucial gatekeeper for learning. Schütze argues that
VR’s ability to immerse learners in rich, contextually meaningful
environments fosters deeper engagement with language input, thereby
enhancing retention and comprehension. The book positions VR as a
powerful tool for creating simulated language experiences that closely
resemble real-world interactions, giving learners the opportunity to
practice language skills in a multisensory setting that reinforces
memory consolidation.

In Chapters Four and Five, Schütze shifts focus to AI and its
potential to create dynamic, interactive learning environments. He
introduces AI chatbots as a means of practicing conversational skills
in low-pressure situations, enabling learners to engage with language
without the anxiety that often accompanies speaking in more
traditional settings. Schütze emphasizes that AI can offer
personalized learning by adjusting to a learner’s proficiency level,
providing instant feedback, and allowing for self-paced practice. The
AI systems presented are not simply conversational tools but
pedagogical aids designed to simulate real-world dialogue scenarios
and scaffold language acquisition.

In the concluding chapter, Schütze turns to the future of language
learning with VR and AI, calling for more empirical studies to assess
the long-term effects of these technologies on language acquisition.
He underscores the importance of integrating these tools into language
curricula in ways that enhance, rather than replace, traditional
methods. Schütze’s conclusions are forward-thinking and balanced,
recognizing both the potential benefits and the limitations of VR and
AI in the field of education.

EVALUATION

Ulf Schütze's Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and language
learning is a stimulating and interdisciplinary analysis with regard
to the intersection between technology, cognitive neuroscience, and
language education. One of the most obvious strengths of this work is
how Schütze has managed to draw upon these diverse disciplines to
create one compelling argument after another for judging VR and AI's
place within language learning. While laying out attention as the
major cognitive mechanism underlying language acquisition, Schütze
concretely shows how such technologies can enhance learner engagement
in ways that more traditional methods are clearly less well
positioned. One of the most valuable contributions to the book is how
Schütze has provided clear details on how attention functions within
the perspective of language processing. He skillfully links cognitive
theories of attention with the neurophysiological processes involved,
providing a useful framework for language learning. His research into
the language processing areas of the brain, such as the perisylvian
cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex, gives a sound theoretical
basis from which immersive technologies could help create an enhanced
learning experience. Recent studies (e.g., Indrarathne & Kormos, 2018)
confirm that attention plays a crucial role in the processing of
linguistic input and its storage in long-term memory. Thus, relating
these cognitive processes to the practical use of VR and AI, Schütze
supports the inclusion of such tools in language curricula with a
comprehensive, evidence-based argument.

Still, though Schütze has given an in-depth review of the cognitive
aspects of learning, the book needs an in-depth look at the emotional
aspects of language acquisition, too. Research (e.g., Dewaele &
MacIntyre, 2022; Wang & Maclntyre, 2021) in SLA has pointed to the
importance of affective factors, such as enjoyment, anxiety, and
curiosity, in the process of learning. It has underlined that when
sustained, emotional engagement is a factor of motivation and
attention, an issue which VR-like immersive learning environments have
already proven to guarantee. While Schütze briefly refers to the
motivational benefits of VR, a deeper discussion of how emotional
factors interrelate with cognitive processes would provide a fuller
understanding of the ways in which VR and AI might support language
learning.

Let me point out that emphasizing VR as a technology that helps create
immersive language environments befits contemporary studies
demonstrating a good influence of VR on learner motivation, attention,
and retention. For example, Li, Ying, Chen, & Guan (2022), demonstrate
that the level of engagement and retention of new vocabulary among
learners using a VR-based tool is higher as compared to those with
traditional learning methods. In the same line, Tai, Chen, and Todd
(2020) find that mobile VR apps enhance learner autonomy and
motivation, two major variables which are essential in language
acquisition. It is through this that Schütze's claim--that VR develops
a sense of "presence," or the feeling of being situated within a
virtual environment--most readily rings true. Presence enables
learners to engage more effectively with language input and experience
grammar in a contextual setting, not invariable isolation. Through
these immersive experiences, VR establishes itself as an effective
means for real-world communicative competence development.

However, some problems related to VR in language learning require
further elaboration. For example, from the perspective of cognitive
load theory, there is only so much capacity learners have for
processing incoming information, and highly immersive environments
like VR may stretch that capacity to its limits, especially for second
language learners at lower levels of language proficiency. While
Schütze discusses this issue, his consideration of how to overcome
such cognitive overload is brief. More pedagogical suggestions on
simplifying VR environments for beginners and/or gradually increasing
complexity would have strengthened the work. Schütze also mentions the
need to develop educational games for second language learning; he
could logically have provided further specific recommendations on
integrating second language pedagogy into VR- and AI-driven learning
environments as well.
In the context of AI-driven tools, Schütze discusses how this can make
language learning even better, by means of AI chatbots with which
learners can practice conversations in low-pressure sets of
circumstances. This aspect of the book is particularly timely because
the potential uses of AI across education continue to grow. AI
chatbots have opened up possibilities for language learners to
practice the language without any anxiety about making mistakes in
front of their peers.

Having said that, Schütze could go further in terms of the current
limitations AI chatbots are facing. While amazing in their own right,
each of these natural language processing developments is still
challenged by aspects of the language, including non-native accents,
intonation, and complex grammatical structures. For instance, in Du
and Danniel’s (2004) systematic literature review on chatbots for SLA,
the challenges indicate the need for instructional effectiveness,
authenticity, and personalized and tailed design (e.g., in response to
non-native accent recognition and language proficiency levels). In the
same vein, Axelsson, Buschmeier, and Skantze (2022) point out that AI
chatbots often fail to give meaningful feedback on more subtle
features of communication, such as pragmatics or discourse-level
issues, which are critical to communicative competence. Schütze
discusses such limitations only fleetingly, and the further discussion
now of how AI chatbots can be combined with human instruction in order
to offer more elaborated feedback would add considerably to the
argument of this book.

The use of AI-driven tools also concerns the social aspect of language
learning. Although Schütze focuses on aspects related to cognition and
technology in VR and AI, research generally indicates the importance
of social interaction in language acquisition. The social learning
theory, proposed by Vygotsky, holds that language learning is ideally
done when the learner is in meaningful interaction with others. AI
chatbots are not capable of providing rich social dynamics, such as
negotiating meaning, offering authentic feedback, and decoding
non-verbal responses. This would further balance the preoccupation of
the entire volume with technology and cognition through an
appreciation of the social interaction nature of language learning.

Indeed, arguably one of the most valuable contributions Schütze makes
is during his call for more longitudinal studies. While the proof of
the short-term benefits of VR and AI in language learning is
encouraging, further research is required to establish whether they
are effective with respect to long-term washback on language learning.
According to Schütze, it is true to say that the novelty factor of new
technologies may engage learners in the initial stages but may wear
off with time, hence less long-term effectiveness. A study by Tai et
al. (2020) similarly argues that mobile technologies may increase
motivation only in the short run and require careful integration into
language curricula for sustained engagement to take place. What
Schütze called for rather timely and necessary was to conduct more
longitudinal studies in view of a vital gap in the literature on the
topic.

In a nutshell, Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and language
learning deals with an important contribution within the field of
technology-enhanced language learning. Interdisciplinary in approach,
it therefore merges insights garnered from cognitive neuroscience,
psycholinguistics, and educational technology in a way that will be
helpful to educators and researchers interested in probing the
practical potentials of VR and AI in language instruction. As
Schütze's attention is the keystone in SLA, his work also forms a
theoretical backbone of such technologies, while practical
recommendations are at hand for educators willing to integrate VR and
AI into their curricula. While there is certainly room for emotional
and social engagement, cognitive overload, and SLA pedagogy, this book
demonstrates its excellence by covering broad-based insights into how
VR and AI raise attention and improve engagement in language learning.
The call for actual longitude-related research by Schütze is really
timely, given the growth in technology-enhanced language learning. For
anyone interested in the future of second language education,
particularly AI-driven game design, the work of Virtual reality,
artificial intelligence, and language learning looks thoughtfully
ahead to the emerging technologies and how they will reshape the way
we teach and learn languages.

REFERENCES

Axelsson A, Buschmeier, H, & Skantze, G (2022). Modeling feedback in
interaction with conversational agents—A review. Front. Comput. Sci.,
4, 744574. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2022.744574

Dewaele, J.-M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2022) “You can’t start a fire
without a spark”. Enjoyment, anxiety, and the emergence of flow in
foreign language classrooms. Applied Linguistics Review, ISSN
1868-6303. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2021-0123

Du, J. & Daniel, B. (2024). Transforming language education: A
systematic review of AI-powered chatbots for English as a foreign
language speaking practice. Computers and Education: Artificial
Intelligence, 6, 100230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100230.

Fryer, L., & Carpenter, R. (2020). Artificial intelligence chatbots
for second language learning: Insights and challenges. Journal of
Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 33(4), 287-306.

Indrarathne, B., & Kormos, J. (2018). The role of working memory in
processing L2 input: Insights from eye-tracking. Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 21(2), 355–374. doi:10.1017/S1366728917000098

Li, Y., Ying, S., Chen, Q., Guan, J. (2022). An experiential
learning-based virtual reality approach to foster students’ vocabulary
acquisition and learning engagement in English for geography.
Sustainability, 14(22), 15359; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215359

Tai, T. Y., Chen, H. H. J., & Todd, G. (2020). The impact of a virtual
reality app on adolescent EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. Computer
Assisted Language Learning, 35(4), 892–917.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1752735

Wang, L., & Maclntyre, P. D. (2021). Second language listening
comprehension: The role of anxiety and enjoyment in listening
metacognitive awareness. Studies in Second Language Learning and
Teaching, 11(4), 491-515. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.4.2

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dr. Chih-Hsin Hsu is an assistant professor of English/TESOL and the
M.A. TESOL program director at Arkansas Tech University. Dr. Hsu’s
research interests include intercultural communication,
sociolinguistics, applied linguistics for ESL/Bilingual Education
teachers, and ESL/bilingual curriculum design.



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