Culture and vision in virtual reality narratives

• Published in: Foreign language annals 2020-12, Vol.53 (4), p.733-760
• Main Authors: Mills, Nicole, Courtney, Matthew, Dede, Christopher, Dressen, Arnaud, Gant, Rus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Communication; Communication (Thought Transfer); Communicative Competence (Languages); Community Relations; Computer assisted language learning; Computer Simulation; Cultural Awareness; Cultural differences; Cultural groups; Cultural Literacy; Cultural Traits; Culture; Curricula; Discourse Communities; Environment; Foreign Countries; Foreign language learning; French; French as a second language; Group Membership; Guidelines; Imagination; Instructional design; Instructional Materials; Introductory Courses; Language Acquisition; Language teaching methods; Learner Engagement; Literature Reviews; motivation; Multilingualism; Narratives; National Standards; Photography; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Second Languages; Sense of Community; Students; Teachers; Teaching; teaching culture; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Urban Culture; Virtual reality; vision
• ISSN: 0015-718X; 1944-9720
• DOI: 10.1111/flan.12494

Hansen states that “FL studies must learn to conceive of culture as an open, multi‐voiced and dialogical interaction full of contradictions.” One advocated approach to teach transcultural understanding is through the analysis of cultural narratives. Kearney defines cultural narratives as “the multiple (sometimes competing), conventional storylines that cultural groups produce and use to make sense of and attribute meaning to their shared experiences.” This article will showcase a project in a beginning French course in which four different Parisians from the same quarter were asked to document and share the stories of their lives with a virtual reality (VR) camera. Findings reveal that the VR narratives allowed students to envision, experience, and understand diverse facets of Parisian culture and more vividly imagine their future role as participants in Parisian communities. The Challenge Immersion in virtual reality environments can unite language, place, and community as students experience highly contextualized real‐world environments in visual, auditory, and sensory modalities. How can virtual reality enhance foreign language students' ability to envision and understand the diverse and multifaceted nature of target cultures?