Shih-Ting Chu

Scholars have emphasized the importance of situating learners in authentic learning contexts. Nevertheless, it is sometimes challenging to provide learners with real contexts owing to various reasons, such as safety or economic consideration. The advent of virtual reality (VR) has provided the opportunity to enable learners to experience and interact in authentic contexts. On the other hand, researchers have pinpointed that, during the VR learning process, a student’s attempt or engagement levels play an important role in their knowledge gains. That is, without a clear goal, their learning outcomes could be disappointing. Hence, the present study proposes a goal-oriented reflection strategy-based VR (GRS-VR) model. Moreover, a VR-based learning system is developed based on the model. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an English-speaking course at a junior high school. Two classes of ninth graders were recruited in this study: one class was an experimental group adopting the GRS-VR learning approach, while the other was a control group adopting the conventional VR (C-VR) learning approach. The results indicated that the experimental group had significantly better English oral performance, learning motivation and reflective thinking than the C-VR group.

In recent years, several studies have reported the potential of employing digital games in EFL (English as Foreign Language) courses to promote students' learning motivation. However, scholars have pointed out that students generally lack self‐learning ability, which is the key to the success of learning a foreign language. Therefore, it is crucial to foster students' self‐learning ability during the game‐based learning process. In this study, an expert system was developed to facilitate self‐regulated learning in digital game‐based learning contexts. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a quasi‐experimental design was employed in a university English course. The experimental group students learned with the self‐regulated English vocabulary game (SR‐EVG) approach, while the control group students learned with the conventional English vocabulary game (C‐EVG) approach. The experimental results indicated that the use of the SR‐EVG approach could improve learners' English vocabulary achievement and self‐regulation compared with the C‐EVG approach without increasing students' English learning anxiety. Moreover, through qualitative interviews, it was found that students who used the SR‐EVG approach would focus on their learning due to goal‐setting in the game and would pay more attention to the learning strategies they used. Practitioner notes: What is already known about this topic Digital game‐based learning situates students in a realistic situational environment, enabling students to learn by experiencing and interacting with the situations. Without appropriate scaffolding during digital game‐based learning, students may become overly focused on the game, or perform many non‐learning behaviors Self‐regulated learning refers to students’ ability to learn on their own via goal setting, strategic planning, self‐monitoring, and self‐adjustment. What this paper adds An expert system‐guided self‐regulated learning approach was proposed to facilitate EFL students’ performance in digital gaming contexts Due to goal‐setting step, students using the proposed approach would focus on their learning and pay more attention to the learning strategies they used. Implications for practice and/or policy It is potentially worth using the expert system‐guided self‐regulated learning approach in EFL training to facilitate students’ performances and perceptions. The proposed approach can further analyze and compare the students’ gaming and learning behaviors in the digital gaming contexts.