Abstract
How to deliver a message clearly and accurately is an essential skill for achieving effective communication. Whether speaking in front of a group of people they already know or a crowd of complete strangers, good public speaking skills can demonstrate students’ confidence and knowledge. Good public speaking can also help students articulate their thoughts clearly and effectively. This study intends to use existing technology, virtual reality (VR), to help students overcome their fears and simulate different public speaking scenarios before the official public speech to lower public speaking anxiety. The study was conducted for one semester in public speaking and presentation classes, including a brief introduction to the virtual reality and its software, 2-week VR training, a 10-week application of VR in speaking skill, and final oral presentations, followed by an interview of the participating students. Specifically, in order to investigate to what extent VR in speaking practice affects students’ speaking outcomes and lowers speaking anxiety, two intact classes were recruited as participants. Both classes used the same textbook, teaching materials, and take-home assignments; the only difference was that the experimental class (VR class) used VR for practicing speaking in public, while the control group (non-VR class) practice the same speaking tasks without VR. The VR tool used in this research includes a set of devices used to achieve virtual reality. Specifically, students put on a pair of dark goggles. The goggles immersed students in a simulated virtual world; through the goggles, students see a high-definition image of a virtual audience. A variety of speaking scenarios are available for the students to use. The application selected for the study provides a simulated conference room, a modem auditorium, a meeting room, and a small classroom, with an aim to build students' public speaking confidence in different settings. During the practice, the virtual audience serves as a real audience, with some listeners supporting the presenter’s comments, some showing no interest in the topic, some paying full attention to the speech, and some do not. The students were able to practice eye contact with the virtual audience, deal with sound and visual distractions, face their fear, and learn to deal with it. The data we collected includes students' oral presentation performance, their anxiety level before and after the treatments, interviewing, and video clips of their VR practices. By using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study aims to scrutinize the (counter)effects or applying VR in English conversation classes. The results of the study show that there is no significant difference between the VR and non-VR groups in how much their speaking anxiety is reduced after the VR practice. However, the level of anxiety reduced was greater in the VR group than in the non-VR group. The study also revealed that students' are not as motivated as expected to use VR to practice public speaking. One reason might be these students are undergraduates and they have not been asked to perform formal public speaking such as giving a presentation at an international conference. Thus, they see no needs to reduce anxiety or since they have not had such an experience, they do not anticipate the kind of anxiety such talk will arouse. Furthermore, the study adopted a basic VR device with a limited function of providing a simulated reality. Such a device cannot accommodate more advanced speaking tasks originally designed for the class, for example, peer talk. Future VR research should consider the limitation of the study when design VR-based speaking activities as well as the motivation of the participants.