VRChat as a Virtual Learning Platform for Enhancing English Listening Skills

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate if the application of the virtual learning (VL) platform, developed VRChat in teaching and developing students’ English listening skills is highly effective. Other different variables namely genders, majors of study, and the number of hours the students spent on the screen were also investigated. The VRChat platform has been employed as a research tool in the study for developing undergraduate students’ English listening skills. The forty students themselves have been purposively randomly selected. They were from different majors of social sciences and sciences, divided 24 females and 16 males. They were studying English course at the university as a compulsory required subject. The students took the test of english for international communication (TOEIC) Listening test as the pre-test at the beginning of the semester and participated in the English language classes to practice for developing their listening skills by typically interacting with the English contents, having discussion in the VRChat platform virtually followed the instructional design with the teacher as a facilitator. The students were later asked to take the TOEIC Listening test again at the end of the semester as the post-test. The data has been analyzed through the t-test and ANOVA. The findings showed that students with different backgrounds have developed their English listening skills. Therefore, applying the VL platform of the VRChat for developing students’ English language skills was highly recommended.