#AugmentedRealityApp

Augmented reality (AR) presents us with so many opportunities for language teaching and learning. If you are not familiar with this concept, perhaps the best example is Pokémon Go!

AR allows us to interact with the physical world around us while our understanding is enhanced through the addition of digital content that is layered on that physical world. This additional content can include any information that might be helpful for a particular experience, such as video, directional guidance, historical content, or a virtual personal guide.

The ability to interact with others while also making sense of this information can result in a variety of meaningful interactive experiences. It can also be done quite easily for those who are willing to experiment a bit. Those who are willing to go a little further can engage students in the creation of compelling, interactive, immersive experiences that support extensive language practice.

Augmented Reality technology adds virtual objects such as 3D objects, video, pictures or sound into your real life environment on a mobile device screen while Virtual Reality places the user in a computer-generated environment. AR has been found to offer great advantages for language learning, namely, motivation, academic success, increased interaction, increased collaboration, higher retention of knowledge. With its feature of visualizing the content in a context-rich environment, AR provides students with “meaningful associations between the content and the real environment” that eventually eases the process of vocabulary learning 

Vocabulary teaching is very suitable for AR technology. With the collaboration of my pre-service English teachers, we transformed a traditional course book unit related to animals into an Augmented Reality enhanced coursebook. Learners were able to bring these animals into life by employing various AR application such as HPReveal, Augment, BlippAR, ZAPWorks, UniteAR, Holo and LayAR.

In short, textbooks, videos, role plays and other activities can help generate interest and interaction but have limitations within language acquisition. Many of these resources lack sufficient context to provide learners with opportunities to attach meaning. By using technology to create augmented reality (AR), foreign language students are able to literally and virtually explore and use language in a real world context. I will focus on using ARIS, software used to develop AR games with iPhones, iPads & iPods. We will incorporate the use of this software into pedagogical scenarios.