A new project is exploring the use of virtual reality and artificial intelligence in language acquisition for adult immigrants through simulated environment that mirrors real-life situations.
Adla Hitou is shamelessly showcasing her stellar work experience as she tries to convince the interviewer to hire her.
The Syrian newcomer answers every question that’s tossed her way.
“Give me that $3-trillion job,” she says, before bursting into laughter.
The assertive and fun-loving Hitou undertaking this mock job interview in virtual reality seems like an entirely different person from the timid mother of two who normally only whispers to others in her real-world classroom.
“I don’t feel nervous speaking in English in the virtual world because I just disappear. When I talk, I’m not afraid to make mistakes anymore. I just feel more confident,” says the 51-year-old Mississaugan, a former pharmacist who resettled in Canada in 2018 via Lebanon.
That’s music to the ears of the researchers behind an innovative pilot project that explores the use of virtual reality (VR) to improve newcomers’ spoken English — both their conversational skills and their confidence — through simulated environments that mirror real-life situations.
Funded by the federal Immigration Department and the University of Toronto Mississauga, the three-year, $550,000 project was developed by the university’s department of language studies in partnership with the Syrian Canadian Foundation.
“Learning a language is a social experience. Students need to be together and interact with one another in a more natural context. We wanted a place where students can go into a virtual environment where they are able to practise their target language as if they were in a shopping mall or in a doctor’s office,” said Paul Alexander, the project’s assistant principal investigator.
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