8 VR English Learning Apps for the Learners of Tomorrow
Virtual reality allows us to travel to and engage with imaginary worlds without leaving the comfort of our home.
Just imagine what this could do for our English learning!
We’ll show you how virtual reality can open up a whole new world for language learners, as well as eight incredible virtual reality tools every English student should know about.
Contents
- What Is Virtual Reality?
- How Can Virtual Reality Improve Your English?
- 8 Virtual Reality Tools to Instantly Explore a World of English Learning
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
What Is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality (VR) refers to technology that immerses you in a simulated world—meaning a world that copies the appearance and feel of the “real” world. It’s a general term for all types of media that digitally place you in a real location, imaginary scenario or situation that uses a mixture of both.
A main characteristic (something that sets it apart from the rest) of virtual reality learning is that it’s interactive. This means you can alter (change) what happens in your virtual world by moving, changing and engaging with these simulated environments.
Augmented reality and mixed reality are two different types of virtual reality experiences.
When exploring augmented reality, you can see imaginary things that simply overlay (place one thing on top of another) content from the real world. Remember Pokemon Go? That’s a great example of an augmented reality application.
Mixed reality combines the real and the unreal, and lets you alter both. This means the actions you take in a mixed reality world influence both your real and fake surroundings. If you want to read more about mixed reality, here’s a great article about it.
How Can Virtual Reality Improve Your English?
Get immersed in English without traveling
Let’s say you’re learning American English and wish to practice your accent. Instead of spending lots of time and energy finding Americans to speak with or locating specific videos, blogs or audiobooks, why not just “go” to America?
And no, you don’t need expensive plane tickets and accommodations. Virtual reality makes it possible for you to “visit” the U.S. and be part of situations where the American accent is all around you—without taking a step out of your bedroom!
Because VR allows you to regularly interact with others entirely in English, you can improve your English quickly and make your language lessons a lot more interesting.
You can also get English immersion through all kinds of media even outside of VR, with countless shows, games and videos available to you. For example, the language learning program` FluentU uses authentic media to teach the language.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
Perfect your nonverbal communication
You don’t only communicate with words in English. Body language and facial expressions are types of nonverbal communication—that is, this is how English speakers use to express themselves clearly and accurately without words.
Because of the nature of nonverbal communication, you normally only learn it when you’re face-to-face with an English speaker. But now, virtual reality lets you see and interact with other people anytime you go online. You can practice your nonverbal communication in something that feels like a real-world scenario. You don’t even have to wait for a real English-speaking person to approach you!
Practice without feeling intimidated (scared)
Putting yourself out there to speak English with others can be scary when you’re learning. Virtual reality helps you overcome this fear by simulating (imitating) such real-world experiences. You can practice in a safe and supportive environment that feels like the real thing.
Then, when it’s time to go out and use English in the real world, you’ll be confident enough to apply your skills.
8 Virtual Reality Tools to Instantly Explore a World of English Learning
Ready to dive into the world of virtual reality? Explore these resources and enjoy learning English like never before.
1. VirtualSpeech
Price: The app is free, but the English course is paid
Available on: Meta Quest | Viveport
Looking to improve your English and take your career to the next level? VirtualSpeech is the resource for you. This program’s VR courses focus on business English and help you build the confidence to get that competitive edge in the workplace.
Practice your job interview skills, conversations with English-speaking clients or workplace meetings in a virtual world. By building skills in a virtual environment that feels exactly like the real thing, you’ll be prepared for when the situation actually does occur in the office.
VirtualSpeech combines VR videos with tutorials to bring you informative lessons in specific locations. They use technology like voice analysis to help you improve your pronunciation and become a better speaker in English.
Don’t have a headset? No worries. VirtualSpeech sends you a VR headset when you enroll in one of their courses!
2. Engage VR
Price: Free trial available
Available on: Website
You can also learn English from educators, communicate with other learners and explore a rich and interesting world of language. There’s a free version of the app you can try as an individual user, but if you want to make use of all of the app’s features, the Enterprise version will be more suitable for your purposes.
3. ClassVR
ClassVR is an educational VR platform with hundreds of immersive lessons about culture and language.
These include English language lessons, as well as topics that are relevant to daily life in English-speaking countries and other regions (like shopping, school, weddings and more). You’ll get up-close, interactive visuals with a virtual reality headset—explore the Olympic Park in London, a Canadian Christmas festival and more!
ClassVR also offers augmented and mixed reality programs that bring worksheets and textbooks to life. Adding this extra dimension to typical learning resources can seriously improve your motivation to keep studying.
4. Mondly VR
Price: $14.99
Available on: Meta Quest | Steam
If you’ve ever used the Mondly language learning app before, then you’re in luck: they also have a VR app you can try out.
You can go through their virtual world and practical real-life conversations with VR characters like ordering a drink, saying “hello” and more. Don’t worry if you’re not sure what to say: the app will display a few responses you can choose from. And if you want to hear how each response is pronounced, just click the audio icon next to them.
In case you’ve never used Mondly before or need a quick preview of what it offers, here’s a comprehensive review you can check out.
5. VRChat
Price: Free to play
Available on: Meta Quest | Steam | Rift | Viveport
When you see the word “chat,” you probably think of typing messages into a box and hitting the “Send” button. Despite its name, VRChat isn’t just a virtual reality version of chatting: it’s a fun, massively multiplayer game.
If you’re not into going on adventures and fighting other players, you can always just stay true to this game’s name and, well, chat with other players. Talk to them about the virtual worlds you’ve created within the game—and, most importantly, practice your English. You may even pick up some gaming slang along the way and sound even more like a native speaker.
6. Language Lab
Price: Free to play
Available on: Meta Quest | Steam
Like VRChat, Language Lab is a free-to-play VR game, although it emphasizes the language learning aspect more than the social one. If you’re at the A1 (beginner) to B1 (lower intermediate) level, you can take advantage of Language Lab’s five- to 10-minute language lessons.
Since this is a VR app, though, the lessons won’t only consist of teachers talking at you. You’ll be going through a 3D environment where you’ll be chatting with virtual characters, opening doors and doing other things you’d do in real life. In case you need a little more help, you have the option to turn on subtitles to help you identify objects and more.
Best of all, Language Lab is regularly updated with new content, so you’ll never run out of things to do!
7. ImmerseMe
Price: $300 per year; see monthly pricing here
Available on: Website
As you can see, this is the most expensive option on the list—and for good reason.
You can choose from one of three levels (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) and go through hundreds of interactive scenarios in English. You can also participate in their annual games and see your name on the ImmerseMe Hall of Fame!
It’s used by language teachers from all over the world, which probably accounts for the high price tag. If you want to see a demo version of ImmerseMe, click here and follow the instructions under the section “Individual – Interested in a Demo?”
8. Fulldive
Price: Free
Who says you need expensive equipment to make the most of what VR has to offer? All you have to do is create your own printable controller, download this app to your device and you’re set!
Unlike the other apps on this list, Fulldive doesn’t allow you to interact with virtual characters. Instead, it transforms select videos from YouTube, Facebook, etc. into immersive 3D environments to make them feel more alive and real to you.
If you’re using this for language learning purposes, you can play a clip of an easy English video you’re studying, imagine yourself as one (or more!) of the characters speaking in the video and shadow them.
With new programs and resources for English learners being created constantly, you’ll have more and more opportunities to improve your language learning in the digital world. Check out any of the above and make your learning fun and immersive!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials, as you can see here:
If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.
FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.
For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or from the Google Play store.
