Described as a situation of mutual reliance for the purpose of achieving common goals, positive interdependence constitutes the backbone of collaborative language learning as linguistic interactions unfold in task-based group work (Johnson & Johnson, 2005). However, with the transition of educational systems to hybrid modalities of language learning, technology-based language pedagogies must support students' positive interdependence in remote spaces where isolation and online fatigue might hinder opportunities of language use in mediation and meaning negotiations (Nadler, 2020). On this matter, this paper suggests processes for utilising the interactional affordances of Virtual Reality (VR) in language learning methodologies that blend in-person with online activities to foster students' positive interdependence in the form of mediation strategies and the use of subjunctive and conditional moods. Specifically, this paper presents the results of task-based language interventions conducted on the platform Immerse to enable students to practice mediation strategies in Italian by socially interacting in VR settings in alternations between immersive activities and in-person meetings. In fact, by using participants' exposure to non-immersive versus fully immersive VR learning spaces as variables, evidence of the efficacy of VR for boosting positive interdependence is demonstrated through the results of observations and of pre and post-tests conducted by control and experimental groups consisting of students of Italian as a foreign language. The interventions were structured according to a task-based learning method (Willis, 1996) and data collected with a mixed-methods design (Dörnyei, 2007) consisting of classroom observations, questionnaire analysis and focus group interviews. The project shows that interactional VR affordances can be used to help students situate their foreign language skills in socially relevant contexts through mutual interdependence to reach task-based goals. Furthermore, it addresses the necessity to propose methodological suggestions to conduct hybrid language instruction with VR adopting task-based language learning approaches. Lastly, the study helps to fill a gap in the literature on grammar and mediation practices in VR language learning environments, paving the way for further research in the field of emerging VR technologies for language education.
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R.T. (2005). New Developments in Social Interdependence Theory. Gender, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 131 (4), 285-358. doi: https://doi.org/10.3200/MONO.131.4.285-358
Laal, M. (2013). Positive Interdependence in Collaborative Learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 1433-1437. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.058
Nadler, R. (2020). Understanding "Zoom fatigue": Theorizing spatial dynamics as third skins in computer-mediated communication. Computers and Composition, 58, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2020.102613
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Essex, UK: Longman.
