Real language comes to life in Virtual Reality
Researchers who want to investigate speakers' ‘natural language use’ face a challenge. Once participants are aware they are being interviewed, they make different language choices than they would in everyday life. University lecturer Paz Gonzalez, together with colleagues Professor Nivja de Jong, Associate Professor Jenneke van de Wal and student-assistents, thinks they have come up with a solution to this problem. The use of VR glasses should help elicit unconscious, real language from subjects.
Walking around in Virtual Reality
The first study, conducted by Gonzalez with Van de Wal, focuses on language variation. Whereas speakers in traditional research adapt their language to the researcher or try to give a desired answer, this should happen less in virtual reality. 'In this research, I focus on the use of the past tense,' Gonzalez explains. 'Participants are given VR goggles through which they see students who are learning. Some are diligent, while others are chatting away. Then the same students are seen in a test room. The students who were actively learning answer the questions smiling, while the chatty students are struggling.' Throughout the experience, participants are asked to describe what they see in the study session and the test room.
The use of the VR glasses makes the study session feel ‘real’ to the participants, which makes them more likely to use language that is most natural to them. 'An example is a Chilean newscaster who spoke Spanish by default during the broadcast, until an earthquake hit,' Gonzalez says. 'Because of the fear and direct experience, he started talking in his natural language - the Chilean dialect. Gonzalez and her colleagues are trying to mimic that effect in their research. 'Because the participants have to actively walk around in the VR environment, they forget that they are being observed. As a result, their reactions, descriptions and use of language are more natural.’
Wie is de Mol?
A second study, conducted by Gonzalez in collaboration with de Jong, revolves around second language acquisition. While the previous study looked at the real language of the participants, this one revolves around Dutch people learning Spanish. The question in this research is whether the use of virtual reality can elicit freer language and more words than traditional methods.
To find out, Gonzalez and her colleagues have devised a Wie is de Mol?-like game in which participants play candidates from this well-known Dutch TV series. 'In this experiment, participants will also talk to each other to find out who the mole is. The hope is the participants will participate so actively in the process that they will start talking more freely and almost forget that they are being investigated.’