Virginie Privas-Bréauté

Maud Ciekanski

Nicolas Molle

Carmenne Kalyaniwala

Kossi Seto

Presentation at Eurocall

Introduction

In the last decade, Virtual Reality (VR) has been increasingly studied and used for educational purposes [START_REF] Mellet-D'huart | Réalité virtuelle et apprentissage[END_REF][START_REF] Gobin Mignot | Former avec la réalité virtuelle[END_REF]. Whilst this technology is highly adapted for technical skills training such as flying an aircraft or performing surgery, simulations through VR with language learners seem less relevant at first sight.

However, previous work has highlighted numerous potentials, especially for the development of language skills which requires a rich contextualisation to ensure the necessary input and intake processes for aural/oral skills acquisition [START_REF] Pekarek Doehler | L2 Interactional Competence as Increased Ability for Context-sensitive Conduct: A Longitudinal Study of Story-openings[END_REF]. First, the human/machine interactivity allows to give the illusion of reality via sensory-motor elements [START_REF] Fuchs | Virtual reality headsets: a theoretical and pragmatic approach[END_REF]. Then, VR provides immersion, which refers to the stimuli produced by the VR device and their perceived degree of faith to reality. Finally, VR triggers a feeling of presence which is very specific [START_REF] Steuer | Defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence[END_REF][START_REF] Slater | Taking steps: the influence of a walking technique on presence in virtual reality[END_REF][START_REF] Bouvier | La présence en réalité virtuelle, une approche centrée sur l'utilisateur[END_REF]. For [START_REF] Sheridan | Musing on Telepresence and Virtual Presence[END_REF], virtual presence refers to the feeling of being physically present in a synthetic environment.

These three affordances combined, if they are not hindered by latency and sensory-motor inconsistencies, are a strong catalyst for learning by developing a total commitment from the user [START_REF] Molle | La réalité virtuelle comme vecteur d'immersion pour apprendre les langues[END_REF], physically, emotionally, and cognitively, since the learner is totally engaged in the accomplishment of a task. Therefore, the benefits for learning are major: the sensory information input places the learner in an authentic situation which, instead of being a simple observer of his/her learning, will then become the actor of it, without having to resort to his/her imagination. VR also makes it possible to test the reality of a situation without taking any risks, thus building confidence [START_REF] Borona | The use of 3D multi-user virtual environments in computer-assisted second language learning: a systematic literature review[END_REF]. At last, the recording and reversibility of actions are training elements because they allow both feedback and the possibility of (re)testing other strategies under the same conditions. However, unlike specific resources designed for the development of technical vocational skills, there are few VR resources aimed at professions with a significant language component (eg.

tourism trade, real estate trade, rights trade...). We were therefore interested in free mainstream resources that provide a sufficiently rich vocational context for students with specific language objectives. In such situations, specialized discourses are of utmost importance. Our understanding of the expression "specialized discourses" relies upon the definition by Moirand & Tréguer-Felten as discourses constrained by an enunciation situation, which can be related to a professional social place1 and which imply the transmission or exchange of theoretical or practical, declarative or procedural, or even experiential information or knowledge, between enunciators or interactants who have a socio-professional status or a defined social position, and whose message has a precise pragmatic aim2 .

We have sought to identify professional social places virtualized by VR applications, the results of which are presented as a taxonomy for teachers in English Professional Purposes (EPP). As mainstream VR applications are mostly designed for leisure purposes, we will discuss their integration into formal learning through the predominant role of educational scenarios that some applications require if they are used in a language teaching/learning context. We will show the value of VR in supporting situated learning specific to professional situations, as well as their potential for soft skills development. The results open the floor for questions that discuss whether VR applications are indeed a complementary resource among other authentic resources used in the classroom and whether they lead to a renewal of language learning practices.

Specificities of VR settings for EPP

VR may allow students to better immerse themselves in a professional situation by requiring their full attention, with the 360° view facilitated by the wearing of a VR headset [START_REF] Berti | You can almost feel like you are in the place presented': Implementing Virtual Reality in the Language Classroom[END_REF] as described below.

Multimodal professional situated language learning

Beyond the exposure to the language, the communicative situation and the type of discourse influence the "learning opportunities" that learners can seize. Professional situations can constitute in themselves an enabling environment for the development of skills, particularly language skills. If [START_REF] Lave | Situated Learning: Legitimate peripherical participation[END_REF] emphasise the importance of guidance from peers or experts for learning to take place in a situation, [START_REF] Rogoff | Apprenticeship in Thinking[END_REF] shows that situated learning is based on three particular learning modalities: observation, participation and imitation (we will illustrate these learning modalities later on using the example of tourism students in Tables 2 and3).

Moreover, [START_REF] Larsen-Freeman | Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics[END_REF] and [START_REF] Tomasello | Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition[END_REF] highlight the fundamental role of cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies at work in language immersion: focusing attention, understanding the communicative intention of speakers, mobilising formal categories of language, detecting language structures, imitating, identifying novelty, using the support of other interactants (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008: 118).

VR affordances can support the learner's attention because they sustain the development of language professional skills in a very relevant way as explained in [START_REF] Molle | La réalité virtuelle comme vecteur d'immersion pour apprendre les langues[END_REF] by means of interactivity, immersion and the sense of presence provoked by the VR device. VR resources allow learners to use a variety of modes to explore the virtual space: textual, verbal, visual, iconic, graphic, to which are added the haptic and spatial modes which contribute to the feeling of presence. Communication is thus highly multimodal since it mobilises between five and seven different modes depending on the resource. Multimodality favours perceptual-motor activities and contributes to the understanding of the explored place, by placing learners at the centre of their experience. As Norris (2020: 17) reminds us of, the different modes and modalities are interrelated in the users' perception of them ("chains of modes and modalities") and act in support of linguistic and language intakes. Multimodality would participate in users' attention according to different combinations specific to individual strategies and according to communication situations during which learners can modify their "modal density" [START_REF] Norris | Multimodal discourse analysis: a conceptual framework[END_REF], by favouring certain modes and modalities at a given moment of their simulation.

The multimodality of VR settings can particularly enhance the complex aural comprehension process, which is highly cognitive, but also very volatile and based on immediate reactivity.

Aural skills depend on a semantic representation which is very context-dependent and rely on the use of different memory capacities. Those skills also require a significant amount of extralanguage knowledge (ideological, cultural, and encyclopaedic). The contextualization of the learner in the professional setting via hedonomic affordances may then sustain the use of appropriated strategies, in particular socio-affective strategies such as self-reinforcement, cooperation, and so on. Thus, the contextualization that VR environments promote facilitates memory, stimulates gestural and body activity, and arouses emotions. Soft skills thus may enable a better use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and favour the control of the affective dimension accompanying all learning.

Being engaged in a highly sensory and emotional experience

The bodily experience that users have refers to the stimuli produced by the VR device and their perceived degree of fidelity to reality. This produces an embodied experience which associates images and feelings with the more objective elements that are the information to which one is exposed. Recent work in neuroscience shows the interrelation between cognition, emotion, and behavior, with the concepts of emotional thinking and embodiment (Immordino-Yang, 2016).

Although these three elements influence one another, emotion remains the main element as a mediator of cognition and behavior. Furthermore, for embodied cognition theories, the knowledge to be acquired is related to the learner's physical experiences. Cognition would be anchored in the experiences of individuals and their appropriation of the environment in which they are situated. There is thus a very strong link between the body, perception, and action [START_REF] Chaker | User Experience of a 3D Interactive Human Anatomy Learning Tool[END_REF][START_REF] Gadille | The Embodiment Dimension while Learning and Teaching in a Virtual World[END_REF].

Taxonomy of the VR apps and their use in EPP

Context of the study

Many applications found with Oculus (the device we have used in the context of this present study) refer to numerous categories (such as entertainment or games for example) sorted out depending on their genres: educational, documentary and history, simulation, exploration, art and creativity, adventure, action, puzzle, shooter, social, casual, travel. Our choice of an app.

for an English/language course is always guided along two criteria: the application must a.be free of charge, and b. offer authentic communication situations that we can use for professionalizing purposes in humanities and social sciences. The professionalizing courses we provide at the University of Lorraine and in which we have introduced VR settings are, for instance, History, Geography, Tourism, Real estate and Heritage law, Art history, Business and management.

Genres

Numerous applications have been used to facilitate training in both language and communication competences and soft skills. We identified more than 25 resources 12 of which are presented in Table 1, classified along the genres defined by Oculus.

Documentary and history

Simulation

Art All these applications are mainly used individually. Yet, since communication involves having people to interact with, as language teachers, it is important for our team to use these apps differently to imply verbal and non-verbal interactions. In such contexts, users can adopt three kinds of postures: spectators, actors, and spect-actors. It is crucial for us that they adopt all these postures and not only one among them. Furthermore, our goal being professionalizing students, we choose apps that permit to reach this purpose. Indeed, there are very few apps that can both enable students to learn the language and use it in a professional context. So, we choose free and accessible entertaining resources that involve social practices, and we often incorporate an educational scenario, a course design that helps us reach the objectives: professionalize our students and teach/learn English at the same time. Some apps can be considered as modelresources, others as resources that need to be enriched (in this case, we resort to multimodality and scaffolding) and a last category can be seen as resources to produce. Table 3 presents the development of skills through the same apps after course design, therefore after being enriched. Table 3: Applications as regards language and soft skills development after course design.

Development of language, communication, and soft skills

Applications

These possible course designs enable to enrich the resources and train the students in language/communication and soft skills that would serve them in their future jobs. As a matter of fact, we think that it is crucial for language teachers to train students to developing language skills as well as soft skills. In an even more competitive world, employers are particularly sensitive to the capacity of recruits to empathize, lead, take initiatives, collaborate and so on.

Therefore, VR apps provide us with quasi real-life situations in which students/ users can imitate a discourse that might then be reproduced.

Discussion

Our The effects that are targeted with the apps as seen in the example with students in tourism mainly revolve around:

-understanding the guided tour as a social practice to be experienced (as both a tourist and a guide)

-highlighting the important elements of the guide's discourse: mentioning the names of monuments in both languages, at what moment, how to attract attention, the role of anecdotes and the link with them -getting a better understanding of the eco-drive learning elements So, not only does VR allow to create a context in which to act but it also develops an embodiment associating emotions and cognition, essential to a tourist guide as developed here.

Virtual reality, once it has been refashioned, repurposed, and managed by users, VR becomes a catalyst for language learning and even more. The users can act in and on the environment since they can collaborate and interact with the space to transform it. So, they develop soft skills.

Limitations

Our study has shed light on the potentials of VR (triggered by its contextualizing power) as well as its limitations. For instance, the scenarios provided for by the creators of the apps are often poor because they are based on a linear unfolding. So, we need to enrich them and incorporate tasks and problem-solving activities to help students reach professionalizing goals in English.

Our recommendations

Considering what we observed, our recommendations for language teachers aiming at using VR in their courses are as follows:

repurposing the apps to require more agency from the learner/ user and encourage interaction implementing a strong educational scenario depending on what and why we want to use the apps (this is task-dependent, therefore enriching the types of tasks is crucial)

-Using their creativity and relying on their students' creativity

Conclusion

To conclude, Virtual Reality is seen as an asset in language learning: learners are placed in realistic communication situations and have the chance to live extraordinary adventures. As a simulated experience, VR increases learners' cognitive, emotional, and physical engagements.

Despite the limitations to the use of VR in education [START_REF] Chateau | Adding virtual reality to the university self-access language centre: brave new world or passing fad?[END_REF], VR is a promising

  research team has been working on IVE and VR in language training contexts since 2018 and since 2019 we have been looking to integrate the use of VR in the professional paths of LANSOD students in English (law in particular). The interest in terms of research and training is to reflect on the nature of the simulations linked to professions in humanities and in which oral communication skills in context are central. VR thus makes it possible to literally project oneself into the communication situation to be mastered, whether it is a real estate visit or a guided tour as in the example we have developed. It is in this perspective that we have made an inventory of the existing resources on Sansar. The proposed resources are very heterogeneous in their nature, especially in terms of what the user can do (passive user/consumer or active user/actor). Based on what the resource allows the user to do, we have selected a progression articulating the three postures mentioned above: the spectator posture (step 1), the spect-actor posture (step 2) and the actor posture (step 3), as shown in the table.

Table 1 :

 1

	and creativity	Exploration

Genre typology for virtual resources

Genres are not mutually exclusive. For instance, Blitz, in which you board on a plane during the Blitz in 1943, has a documentary and historical objective but can also be classified as an exploration tool.

Table 2

 2

	Applications	Language/	Soft skills developed
		communication skills developed
	Nefertari: Journey to	Listening skills	Management of emotions:
	Eternity		astonishment, anxiety,
	This app. enables users		empathy. As soon as students
	to visit Queen Nefertari's		are equipped with VR
	tomb and listen to		helmets, they are
	explanations in English		overwhelmed with emotions
	about its history.		(be they positive or negative,

presents the apps that any teacher can use with students in tourism classified along the skills we think they develop before course design. They are given as examples for how they can be used in EPP.

Table 2 :

 2 Applications as regards language and soft skills development before course design.

Our emphasis. This so-called "professional social place" is meaningful in a context of VR since Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) can simulate such places.

" Les discours spécialisés sont des discours contraints par une situation d'énonciation, que l'on peut rapporter à un lieu social professionnel, et qui supposent la transmission ou l'échange d'informations ou de connaissances théoriques ou pratiques, déclaratives ou procédurales, voire expérientielles, entre énonciateurs ou des interactants qui ont un statut socio-professionnel ou une position sociale définie et dont le message a une visée pragmatique précise"(Moirand & Tréguer-Felten, 2007 : 12)

device to develop and practice linguistic, cultural, socio-linguistic, pragmatic, and soft skills, so it appears as a good simulation device to add to the teacher's toolbox.

Our present study has also put to the fore the emergence of new competences in language learning/teaching (not developed here) that we can conceptualize as interactive listening and interactive reading (e.g. Amaze), which sheds light to the ongoing developments of VR used in educational contexts and the need to develop other apps for educational purposes.