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A systematic review of foreign language learning with immersive technologies (2001-2020)

• Rebecca M. Hein 1,2 ,  ,  , 
• Carolin Wienrich 2 , 
• Marc E. Latoschik 1
• 1. Human-Computer Interaction, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg
• 2. Human-Technique Systems, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Oswald-Külpe-Weg 82, D-97074 Würzburg
• Received: 30 January 2021 Accepted: 12 April 2021 Published: 16 April 2021
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This study provides a systematic literature review of research (2001–2020) in the field of teaching and learning a foreign language and intercultural learning using immersive technologies. Based on 2507 sources, 54 articles were selected according to a predefined selection criteria. The review is aimed at providing information about which immersive interventions are being used for foreign language learning and teaching and where potential research gaps exist. The papers were analyzed and coded according to the following categories: (1) investigation form and education level, (2) degree of immersion, and technology used, (3) predictors, and (4) criterions. The review identified key research findings relating the use of immersive technologies for learning and teaching a foreign language and intercultural learning at cognitive, affective, and conative levels. The findings revealed research gaps in the area of teachers as a target group, and virtual reality (VR) as a fully immersive intervention form. Furthermore, the studies reviewed rarely examined behavior, and implicit measurements related to inter- and trans-cultural learning and teaching. Inter- and transcultural learning and teaching especially is an underrepresented investigation subject. Finally, concrete suggestions for future research are given. The systematic review contributes to the challenge of interdisciplinary cooperation between pedagogy, foreign language didactics, and Human-Computer Interaction to achieve innovative teaching-learning formats and a successful digital transformation.

• foreign language learning and teaching ,
• intercultural learning and teaching ,
• immersive technologies ,
• education ,
• human-computer interaction ,
• systematic literature review

Citation: Rebecca M. Hein, Carolin Wienrich, Marc E. Latoschik. A systematic review of foreign language learning with immersive technologies (2001-2020)[J]. AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering, 2021, 5(2): 117-145. doi: 10.3934/electreng.2021007

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• Figure 1. The PRISMA flow diagram for the systematic review detailing the database searches, the number of abstracts screened, the full texts retrieved, and the number of papers included
• Figure 2. The table shows the distribution of the investigation form in relation to the education level of the participants
• Figure 3. This pie-chart shows the reviewed predictors from the studies divided into six categories, and their frequency (in %)
• Figure 4. This pie chart shows the criterions, or responding dependent variables, that were examined in the studies reviewed. These were grouped into nine superordinate categories
• Figure 5. This plot shows the existing combination pairs of predictors and criterions of the reviewed studies and their frequencies

• DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2693337
• Corpus ID: 61527296

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A Systematic Review of Research on High-Immersion Virtual Reality for Language Learning

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• Published: 18 April 2022
• Volume 66 , pages 810–824, ( 2022 )

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• Tetyana Kucher Dhimolea 1 ,
• Regina Kaplan-Rakowski 1 &
• Lin Lin 1  

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Virtual reality (VR) can be beneficial for learning and for increasing learners’ engagement and motivation. However, aggregations of studies on language learning in high-immersion VR are scarce. This paper offers a systematic review of existing research on VR-based language learning, encompassing 32 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2020. The study yielded three main language-related findings: (1) multiple exposures to VR are necessary for effective learning; (2) VR is beneficial for contextual vocabulary learning; and (3) perceptions of language learning in VR are positive, but its effectiveness is inconclusive. We also describe VR technology trends, VR content used in language learning, and learners’ perceptions of learning languages in VR. This systematic review is useful for language educators, researchers, and VR app developers.

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Dhimolea, T.K., Kaplan-Rakowski, R. & Lin, L. A Systematic Review of Research on High-Immersion Virtual Reality for Language Learning. TechTrends 66 , 810–824 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-022-00717-w

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A Systematic Review of Research on High-Immersion Virtual Reality for Language Learning

35 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2021 Last revised: 19 Apr 2022

Tetyana Dhimolea

University of North Texas

Regina Kaplan-Rakowski

Date Written: June 9, 2021

Virtual reality (VR) can be beneficial for learning and for increasing learners’ engagement and motivation. However, aggregations of studies on language learning in high-immersion VR are scarce. This paper offers a systematic review of existing research on VR-based language learning, encompassing 32 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2020. The study yielded three main language-related findings: (1) multiple exposures to VR are necessary for effective learning; (2) VR is beneficial for contextual vocabulary learning; and (3) perceptions of language learning in VR are positive, but its effectiveness is inconclusive. We also describe VR technology trends, VR content used in language learning, and learners’ perceptions of learning languages in VR. This systematic review is useful for language educators, researchers, and VR app developers.

Keywords: Virtual reality, Immersion, Language learning, CALL, Systematic review

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What Research Tells Us About Immersion

By Tara Williams Fortune

Over nearly half a century, research on language immersion education has heralded benefits such as academic achievement, language and literacy development in two or more languages, and cognitive skills. This research also exposes some of the challenges that accompany the immersion model, with its multilayered agenda of language, literacy and intercultural skills development during subject matter learning.

Benefits of Language Immersion

Academic and Educational

Without question, the issue investigated most often in research on language immersion education is students’ ability to perform academically on standardized tests administered in English. This question emerges again and again in direct response to stakeholder concerns that development of a language other than English may jeopardize basic schooling goals, high levels of oral and written communication skills in English, and grade-appropriate academic achievement. The research response to this question is longstanding and consistent: English-proficient immersion students are capable of achieving as well as, and in some cases better than, non-immersion peers on standardized measures of reading and math.

This finding applies to students from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, as well as diverse cognitive and linguistic abilities. Moreover, academic achievement on tests administered in English occurs regardless of the second language being learned. In other words, whether learning through alphabetic languages (Spanish, Hawaiian, French, etc.) or character-based languages (Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese), English-proficient students will keep pace academically with peers in English-medium programs.

It is important to acknowledge that early studies carried out in one-way total immersion programs, where English may not be introduced until grades 2–5, show evidence of a temporary lag in specific English language skills such as spelling, capitalization, punctuation, word knowledge, and word discrimination. That said, these studies also find that within a year or two after instruction in English language arts begins, the lag disappears. There were no long-term negative repercussions to English language or literacy development.

Does this same finding apply to students in two-way immersion (TWI) settings whose first language is other than English? In the past fifteen to twenty years, U.S. researchers found that English learners’ academic achievement also attained the programs’ goals. By the upper elementary, or in some cases early secondary grades, English learners from different ethnicities, language backgrounds, socioeconomic levels, and developmental profiles perform at least as well as same background peers being schooled in English only. Most English learners in TWI come from Latino families whose home language is Spanish. As an ethnic minority in the United States, Latinos are both the fastest-growing student population and the group with the highest rate of school failure. Research in Spanish/English TWI contexts points to higher grade point averages and increased enrollment in post-secondary education for this student group, compared to Latino peers participating in other types of educational programs such as transitional bilingual education and various forms of English-medium education.

Although the vast majority of TWI research has been carried out in Spanish/English settings, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary recently reported results from a study of two Chinese/English TWI programs. Students in grades 4–8 whose home language was Chinese tested at or above their grade level, and the same as or well above peers with similar demographic profiles participating in non-TWI programs. Leary’s findings align with those of other TWI programs.

Language and Literacy

The immersion approach first gained traction in North America because educators believed in its potential to move students further towards bilingualism and biliteracy. Immersion language programs took root in areas such as St. Lambert, Canada, and Miami, Florida, where educators felt that more than one language was necessary for children’s future economic and social prosperity. Program designers wagered that making the second language the sole medium for teaching core subject content, instead of teaching the second language separately, would result in more students reaching higher levels of proficiency. These early immersion programs started by committing half or more of the school day for teachers and students to work only in the second language. Students were socialized to adopt the new language for all classroom communication and subject learning.

This approach to second-language and literacy development has proven itself to be the most successful school-based language program model available. English-proficient immersion students typically achieve higher levels of minority (non-English) language proficiency when compared with students in other types of language programs. Immersion students who begin the program as English speakers consistently develop native-like levels of comprehension, such as listening and reading skills, in their second language. They also display fluency and confidence when using it. Further, the more time spent learning through the non-English language, the higher the level of proficiency attained.

Initial concerns about the possible detriment to English language and literacy development were eventually laid to rest. English-proficient immersion students who achieved relatively high levels of second-language proficiency also acquired higher levels of English language skills and metalinguistic awareness—that is, the ability to think about how various parts of a language function. Researchers posit that metalinguistic skills positively impact learning to read in alphabetic languages, because they facilitate the development of critical literacy sub-skills such as phonological awareness and knowledge of letter-sound correspondences for word decoding. The important relationship between phonological awareness and successful reading abilities is clearly established. However, we now also have evidence that instructional time invested in developing important decoding sub-skills in an immersion student’s second language can transfer and benefit decoding sub-skills in their first language.

Research about the relationship between character-based and English literacy sub-skills continues to grow. To date, evidence points to the transfer of phonological processing skills for children whose first language is Chinese and are learning to read in English as a second language. Studies also indicate a relationship between visual-orthographic skills in Chinese, the ability to visually distinguish basic orthographic patterns such as correct positioning of semantic radicals in compound characters, and English reading and spelling. Much remains to be learned in these areas, however, when it comes to English-proficient children in Mandarin immersion programs who are acquiring literacy in Chinese and English.

In TWI programs, research illuminates what Lindholm-Leary and E. R. Howard referred to as a “native-speaker effect.” In a nutshell, the “native-speaker effect” describes the tendency of native speakers of a language to outperform second language learners of the same language on standardized measures administered in the native speakers’ language. For example, if Spanish proficients and Spanish learners are evaluated using standardized Spanish-medium tools, Spanish proficients outperform Spanish learners. Similar outcomes occurred when tests were given in English and Mandarin.

In general, research finds that immersion students whose first language is not English become more bal¬anced bilinguals and develop higher levels of bilingualism and biliteracy when compared with English-proficient students or home language peers participating in other educational programming. For example, Kim Potowski found that the oral and written language skills of English learners in TWI were only slightly behind those of recent Spanish-speaking arrivals and significantly better than their English-proficient peers. English learners’ higher bilingual proficiency levels are also linked to higher levels of reading achievement in English, increased academic language proficiency, and successful schooling experiences in general.

Cognitive Skill Development

There’s a well-established positive relationship between basic thinking skills and being a fully proficient bilingual who maintains regular use of both languages. Fully proficient bilinguals outperform monolinguals in the areas of divergent thinking, pattern recognition, and problem solving.

Bilingual children develop the ability to solve problems that contain conflicting or misleading cues at an earlier age, and they can decipher them more quickly than mono¬linguals. When doing so, they demonstrate an advantage with selective attention and greater executive or inhibitory control. Fully proficient bilingual children have also been found to exhibit enhanced sensitivity to verbal and non-verbal cues and to show greater attention to their listeners’ needs relative to monolingual children. Further, bilingual students display greater facility in learning additional languages when compared with monolinguals.

While much evidence supports the benefits associated with full and active bilingualism, the relationship between language immersion education and long-term cognitive benefits is less well-understood. Some research does indicate greater cognitive flexibility and better nonverbal problem-solving abilities among English-proficient language immersion students.

Decades ago, Dr. Jim Cummins cautioned about the need for a certain threshold level of second language proficiency before cognitive skills might be positively impacted. Accordingly, children who develop “partial bilingualism” in a second language may or may not experience cognitive benefits. While some studies report positive cognitive effects for partial or emerging bilinguals, Dr. Ellen Bialystock concurs that it is bilingual children with a more balanced and competent mastery of both languages who will predictably exhibit the positive cognitive consequences of bilingualism.

Economic and Sociocultural

Increasingly, proficiency in a second language and intercultural competency skills open up employment possibilities. Many sectors require increasing involvement in the global economy, from international businesses and tourism to communications and the diplomatic corps. High-level, high-paying employment will demand competence in more than one language. In the United States, world language abilities are increasingly important to national security, economic competitiveness, delivery of health care, and law enforcement.

Beyond economics are the countless advantages that bi-and multilingual individuals enjoy by being able to com¬municate with a much wider range of people from many different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Knowledge of other languages enriches travel experiences and allows people to experience other societies and cultures more meaningfully. Besides access to foreign media, literature, and the arts, bi- and multilingual people can simply connect and converse more freely. Becoming bilingual leads to new ways of conceptualizing yourself and others. It expands your worldview, so that you not only know more, you know differently.

Challenges Faced by Language Immersion

Designing, implementing, and providing ongoing support for language immersion education is no easy task. Pressing challenges include staffing, curriculum development and program articulation. Program administrators struggle to find high-quality, licensed teachers who can demonstrate advanced levels of oral and written proficiency in the chosen language. Once teachers are hired, the search begins for developmentally appropriate curriculum, materials, and resources that meet local district and state standards. Elementary-level challenges are met with additional secondary-level issues such as scheduling and balancing students’ educational priorities as the program moves up and through the middle and high school years.

Inadequate teacher preparation for immersion programs remains a challenge in this field. Teachers need specialized professional development support to meet the complex task of concurrently addressing content, language, and literacy development in an integrated, subject-matter-driven language program. However, teacher educators and immersion specialists who can provide useful and relevant professional learning experiences for the immersion staff are in short supply. In addition to professional development related to curriculum design and pedagogical techniques, both native and non-native teachers report the need for ongoing support for their own proficiency in the immersion language.

Chinese teachers whose educational experiences took place in more traditional, teacher-centered classrooms are aware of significant cultural differences and participant expectations. For example, US schools place a strong emphasis on social skills and language for communica¬tive purposes. Children expect learner-centered activities with real-life tasks. Chinese teachers often hold a different set of expectations for students and thus, they frequently need support for classroom management strategies and techniques.

Immersion teachers face significant hurdles in the sheer range of learner differences. The impact of students’ variations in language proficiency, literacy development, learning support available at home, achievement abilities, learning styles, and special needs grows exponentially when teaching and learning occur in two languages. Educators and parents struggle to identify and implement research-based policies and practices for learners who have language, literacy, and learning difficulties. Many immersion programs lack the necessary resources and bilingual specialists to provide appropriate instructional support, assessment, and interventions.

Promoting student understanding of more abstract and complex concepts becomes increasingly difficult in the upper elementary grades and beyond. Some upper-elementary immersion teachers, in particular those who teach in partial or fifty-fifty programs, report difficulties in teaching advanced-level subject matter because students’ cognitive development is at a higher level than their proficiency in the second language. This challenge becomes more pronounced in programs where the immer¬sion language is character-based, since literacy development is more time-consuming and demanding.

One of the greatest challenges for immersion teachers is to keep their students using the second language, especially when working and talking amongst themselves. This challenge is particularly pronounced once the children have moved beyond the primary grades. For instance, studies in both one-way and two-way immersion classes point to fifth-grade students using English more frequently than their non-English language. Facilitating student use of the immersion language in ways that promote ongoing language development is an uphill battle for teachers.

Finally, outcome-oriented research reveals that immersion students, especially those who begin the program as native English speakers, don’t quite achieve native-like levels of speaking and writing skills. Studies consistently find that English-speaking immersion students’ oral language lacks grammatical accuracy, lexical specificity, native pronunciation, and is less complex and sociolinguistically appropriate when compared with the language native speakers of the second language produce. Further, students’ use of the immersion language appears to become increasingly anglicized over time, and can be marked by a more formal academic discourse style. Even in high-performing immersion programs, advancing students’ second language proficiency beyond the intermediate levels remains a sought-after goal.

This paper was originally published in Chinese Language Learning in the Early Grades . To see the full publications, and all footnotes, please download the report . 

• Open access
• Published: 04 October 2023

The impact of high-immersion virtual reality on foreign language anxiety

• Regina Kaplan-Rakowski   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6769-7784 1 &
• Alice Gruber 2  

Smart Learning Environments volume  10 , Article number:  46 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Public speaking, especially in a foreign language, is associated with increased anxiety. Research has shown the potential of virtual reality (VR) for simulating real-life experiences, allowing for public speaking practice in an ecological and safe environment. This between-subjects study investigated the effect of VR on foreign language anxiety (FLA) in public speaking practice. Intermediate learners of English participated in eight public speaking sessions over a three-month period, yielding 160 research observations. The experimental intervention took place in high-immersion VR with subjects wearing a VR headset and speaking in front of virtual audience. In the control intervention, subjects used a videoconferencing platform (Zoom) to speak in front of a real-life audience. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that practicing speaking in VR was associated with statistically significant lower FLA scores, compared with speaking practice using Zoom. The study found that VR technology had a positive effect on practicing public speaking in a foreign language. The research findings have practical implications for professionals and curriculum designers in various domains where public speaking skills are essential. For example, incorporating VR-based public speaking practice can benefit professionals preparing for a job interview, an elevator pitch, or a conference presentation. Curriculum designers can consider integrating VR simulations into language courses to provide students with realistic public speaking experiences. This approach can help students overcome language barriers, reduce anxiety, and develop their communication skills in a controlled and supportive environment.

Introduction

Public speaking is an essential skill for many professionals (Kuai et al., 2020 ), yet speaking or presenting in public is associated with elevated levels of anxiety (Smith & Sodano, 2011 ). Speaking in public can trigger fear and the expectation of negative feedback from others (Schlenker & Leary, 1982 ). Public speaking anxiety is also common to language learners who are concerned about being misunderstood or ridiculed, due to their accent, limited vocabulary, or grammatical errors. This particular type of anxiety is called foreign language anxiety (FLA), and it has been investigated extensively in language learning research (see Jin et al., 2021 ; Li et al., 2021 ), seeking to help language learners reduce FLA or learn how to cope with it.

Some evidence exists that the use of technology can help reduce FLA (Stupar-Rutenfrans et al., 2017 ). Decreased speaking anxiety, relative to face-to-face interactions, may be due to technology creating a shield or comfort zone. Facing a real person while speaking may evoke undesirable emotions, including anxiety. Examples of technologies used by language educators for speaking practice are videoconferencing tools (e.g., Zoom, Skype), virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life), and high-immersion virtual reality (VR; e.g., Vtime XR, Immerse). The factors influencing the level of anxiety vary depending on which technology is used and, for instance, whether the speaking takes place in front of a real person, on Zoom, or in front of a virtual human in VR. Which platform, video-based or VR, is more effective for public speaking practice for language learners remains unknown.

Recent advances in VR technology and its growing availability have provided researchers with a novel experimental method, combining high ecological validity with experimental control (Parsons, 2015 ). VR mimics real world interactions, simultaneously sustaining experimental control needed for neurophysiological data collection (Tromp et al., 2018 ). The VR technology further offers new ways to practice public speaking, including speaking in a foreign language with the intention to reduce FLA.

This paper reports on an empirical, between-subjects design study of public speaking in a foreign language, which investigated settings that could reduce speakers’ FLA. The research question examined differences between using VR (the treatment group) and Zoom (the control group). The impact of VR on public speaking in a foreign language compared with an online format (e.g., Zoom) that was measured based on multiple VR interventions is understudied. Therefore, findings and implications of this study contribute to the body of knowledge in the educational technology, computer-assisted language learning, and VR-assisted language learning.

Literature review

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a rapidly developing technology that allows users to experience simulations of real-life experiences. Two main types of VR exist (Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2019 ; Makransky & Petersen, 2021 ; Xie et al., 2019 ). One is low-immersion VR, with experiences taking place on a desktop monitor. The other is high-immersion VR, with experiences occurring within “a computer-generated 360° virtual space that can be perceived as being spatially realistic, due to the high immersion afforded by a head-mounted device” (Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2019 , p. 552). The main distinction between the two types of VR lies within the degree of immersion available. High-immersion VR offers a higher sense of presence, and authenticity compared with low-immersion VR. In this study, we focus solely on high-immersion VR.

Immersion happens when users get involved in VR to such a point that they lose their awareness of time and the real world (Radianti et al., 2020 ). Some researchers posit that immersion is a technological capability of VR, with objective assessment being possible (Slater & Wilbur, 1997 ). The technological view is that the degree of immersion experienced by the user is determined by technological attributes, such as display resolution (Bowman & McMahan, 2007 ). From a psychological viewpoint, the degree of immersion is individualistic but simultaneously based on, as well as restricted by, technological attributes of the VR system (Mütterlein, 2018 ).

According to Slater ( 2018 ), presence can be defined as “the illusion of being there, notwithstanding that you know for sure that you are not” (p. 432). The sense of presence is elevated when a VR scenario triggers emotions (Diemer, et al., 2015 ). The illusion of presence is mainly a perceptual, not a cognitive, concept because VR triggers the perceptual system first, and the cognitive system reacts subsequently (Slater, 2018 ).

Slater ( 2009 ) showed that when a virtual human and a real human look at each other, the real human has a physical response, such as a change of heart rate, which is an indication that the particular situation triggered internal feelings. Similarly, some participants may feel that their experience is really happening; that is, a plausibility illusion takes place (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Slater, 2009 ). Consequently, participants’ responses reflect real-life behavior. For instance, a learner speaking in front of virtual classmates and addressing them with “Hello, class” is an indication that the learner is reacting to the situation as if the classmates were real (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ).

Virtual reality and language learning

Until 2015, literature on VR and computer-assisted language learning mainly covered studies on learning in the virtual world Second Life (e.g., Lin & Lan, 2015 ; Melchor-Couto, 2017 ), which is low-immersion VR. A synthesis of literature on VR for foreign language learning from 2015 to 2018 shows a wealth of studies on low-immersion VR, but a limited number regarding the use of high-immersion VR (Dhimolea et al., 2022 ). Technological advances have offered VR that is increasingly immersive and authentic, prompting foreign language learning researchers to explore the effect of using high-immersion VR for language learning (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Gruber et al., 2023 ; Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2021 ; Lan & Grant, 2021 ; Papin & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2022 ; Taguchi, 2021 ; Thrasher, 2022 ).

Various language-specific aspects in VR settings have been explored, for example, vocabulary (Alfadil, 2020 ; Papin & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2022 ; Vázquez et al., 2018 ), listening (Tai et al., 2020 ; Ye & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2023 ), reading (Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2022 , 2023 ), writing (Barrett et al., 2021 ; Dolgunsöz et al., 2018 ), and culture (Cheng et al., 2017 ). Developing speaking skills in VR has also gained attention (Dooly et al., 2023 ; Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2021 ; Nobrega & Rozenfeld, 2019 ; Thrasher, 2022 ; Xie et al., 2019 ). Another step forward was an exploration of how VR could improve communicative skills (Dooly et al., 2023 ; Yang et al., 2020 ) and contributions of ways to reduce FLA (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Thrasher, 2022 ; York et al., 2021 ).

Foreign language anxiety

Foreign language anxiety is referred to as “the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with second language contexts, including speaking, listening, and learning” (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994 , p. 284). Language scholars have invested substantial effort into studying FLA (e.g., Horwitz et al., 1986 ; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991 ; Zhang, 2019 ). FLA is a common phenomenon, negatively influencing second language acquisition (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993 ) and considered potentially face-threatening for language learners (Dörnyei, 2001 ). Horwitz ( 2017 ) pointed out that individuals experiencing language anxiety have the trait of feeling state anxiety when learning or using a language. Sometimes a mere thought of having to use a foreign language may trigger anxiety. State anxiety is the level of anxiety a person feels from moment to moment while trait anxiety describes relatively consistent individual variations in anxiety propensity (Spielberger et al., 1970 ). A meta-analysis (Botes et al., 2020 ) of studies on the impact of FLA on academic performance confirmed earlier research (Teimouri et al., 2019 ) that anxiety affects achievement in all language skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking). The impact of FLA on speaking exists in both in-person and online settings (Pichette, 2009 ; Russell, 2018 ).

Virtual reality and foreign language speaking anxiety

Researchers have made substantial efforts to study the effect of different computer-mediated communication modalities on FLA (Melchor-Couto, 2017 ). The means employed included audio and videoconferencing platforms (Hampel & Baber, 2003 ) and virtual worlds (Dickey, 2005 ). Study results using low-immersion VR have been inconsistent regarding the effectiveness of computer-mediated communication on FLA (Toyama & Yamazaki, 2021 ). The general finding of the studies testing the impact of low-immersion VR on FLA is that interacting in a virtual environment allows for shielding through a personal avatar (Kruk, 2020 ). Given that high-immersion VR can immerse learners in authentic learning settings (Kaplan-Rakowski & Gruber, 2021 ), VR has become an additional viable platform for language learners to practice speaking.

In computer-generated VR, users interact with avatars. VR offers language learners an environment in which they can make mistakes without feeling embarrassed because they are represented by an avatar and do not show their face. As a result, language learners are more likely to be willing to speak (Yang et al., 2020 ) and the anonymity in VR is likely to reduce FLA. This affordance of VR sets it apart from videoconferencing platforms which, when web cameras are activated, expose speakers’ real faces.

To our knowledge, as of 2023, only three studies investigated how high-immersion VR impacts FLA: Gruber and Kaplan-Rakowski ( 2020 ), Thrasher ( 2022 ), and York et al., 2021 . In a qualitative study by Gruber and Kaplan-Rakowski ( 2020 ), 12 university students gave eight presentations in a foreign language (English) in VR. The intention of the study was to explore the potential of risk-free VR technology to simulate a high-anxiety setting such as a virtual classroom. The researchers studied subjects’ perceptions of the VR environment, the behavior of the virtual humans, the realism of the experiences, and the subjects’ attitudes toward the VR speaking practice. Through the analysis of post-intervention semi-structured interviews, the researchers concluded that speaking practice in VR has the potential to reduce FLA because the subjects perceived the sense of presence and the plausibility illusion of high-immersion VR as useful aspects of speaking practice.

Intermediate learners ( N  = 25) of French in the study by Thrasher ( 2022 ) completed oral production tasks over eight weeks. One group interacted in VR while another group interacted in a face-to-face format. The analysis of scores based on self-reported FLA questionnaires provided preliminary evidence that speaking in VR alleviates levels of FLA, making VR an attractive platform for language practice.

York et al. ( 2021 ) tested differences in the level of FLA of Japanese undergraduate learners of English ( N  = 30) while they practiced speaking using audio, video, or VR. The analysis of FLA and post-experiment questionnaires yielded no statistically significant differences between the conditions. Each condition equally diminished FLA, with learners reporting to be most entertained and motivated by the VR condition.

In sum, the existing studies (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Thrasher, 2022 ; York et al., 2021 ) show that high-immersion VR is a promising setting for language learners to practice public speaking and reduce their FLA. The study by Gruber and Kaplan-Rakowski ( 2020 ) was limited to qualitative analysis of interviews, focusing on public speaking in a foreign language in VR. The study design did not include a control group. We complement their study by adding a quantitative analysis of subjects’ self-reported measures of FLA, comparing them with a control group speaking on Zoom.

The study by Thrasher ( 2022 ) was of an exploratory nature and the types of interventions differed from ours. Thrasher compared VR versus face-to-face interventions, while our study compared VR versus Zoom interventions, making both studies contribute to research in a unique and complementary way.

While in York et al. ( 2021 ) subjects spoke only once, our subjects had multiple exposures to VR speaking practice. A systematic review of language research in VR by Dhimolea et al. ( 2022 ) showed that learners need multiple exposures to VR content to detect significant differences between conditions. In our study, the subjects participated in four speaking sessions, giving two presentations per session, which provided a total of eight opportunities to practice speaking and to measure FLA. In addition, we contribute with a rigorous methodology by employing a fixed effects regression model that is capable of correcting for within-subject and within-session patterns.

Drawing on the existing literature on potential affordances of VR for reducing FLA (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Thrasher, 2022 ; York et al., 2021 ), and on the theoretical foundations of immersion along with the sense of presence, this study explored the potential of VR to create a viable environment for language learners to engage in speaking practice. The main research question guiding our study was: “Is practicing speaking in high-immersion VR associated with lower FLA scores, as compared with practicing speaking using a videoconferencing tool, Zoom?” In this study, we use “Zoom” as a generic term for videoconferencing.

Zoom is a collaborative, videoconferencing platform that facilitates online meetings. It allows for synchronous communication where individuals can interact using video, sound, and chat. Zoom imitates face-to-face interactions as both verbal and nonverbal cues can be used for communication. Language learners can use Zoom for synchronous speaking practice, for instance, in intercultural online collaborations, where language learners can negotiate for meaning and practice conversational skills with their language partners. Research on online synchronous speaking practice and its impact on FLA (Fondo & Jacobetty, 2020 ) is growing. However, little empirical research exists on FLA when using Zoom for practicing public speaking in a foreign language. Unlike in VR, interlocutors on Zoom are typically humans who are synchronously in the virtual room. The presence of other humans might negatively influence speakers’ anxiety levels.

We hypothesize that speaking in VR in front of virtual humans reduces anxiety because practicing in front of virtual humans, instead of real people, provides a comfort zone for learners to make mistakes which might reduce embarrassment or a feeling of humiliation.

This experimental, between-subjects study used a repeated measures research design yielding quantitative data on subjects’ ( N  = 20) self-reported FLA . The subjects in the experimental group ( n 1  = 12) practiced speaking in a foreign language in high-immersion VR (see Fig.  1 ), while the subjects in the control group ( n 2  = 8) practiced public speaking on Zoom. Both groups practiced speaking on eight occasions over a three-month period. The FLA questionnaire scores served as a dependent variable, and the independent variable was the speaking setting (VR versus Zoom). The study generated 160 observations, drawn from 20 subjects and 8 presentations. The regression modeling included fixed effects to account for repeated observations of each subject (Wooldridge, 2002 ).

Participant speaking in front of virtual humans

Participants

The study was advertised via newsletter and e-mail to approximately 600 students from Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences in Spring 2019. The researcher contacted the study volunteers on a first-come-first-serve-basis, and then followed with scheduling the volunteers’ speaking practice sessions. Initially, we targeted a sample of about 30 learners. However, only 20 learners were able to fulfil the requirement of attending all the public speaking sessions.

The experimental condition was applied to 12 subjects (10 male, two female) consisting of ten native speakers of German, one of French, and one of Korean. The control condition was applied to eight students (three male, five female) from the same university in different study programs. The participants’ mean age was 21.12 and they had studied English for 10 years on average. The proficiency level of English ranged from B1 to B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference. The study followed the ethics standards as stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. The participants received monetary incentives for completing all the study steps.

Participants in both the VR and the Zoom conditions followed comparable procedures. They completed the same number and types of questionnaires and spoke on the same topics for the same duration. What differed was the setting (either VR or Zoom) where they spoke. VR sessions took place in a VR laboratory at the university. Zoom sessions took place remotely.

After signing consent forms, all study participants proceeded with the following seven steps:

Completing a demographic questionnaire,

Completing a pre-intervention FLA questionnaire,

Speaking on topic #1,

Completing a post-intervention FLA questionnaire after discussing topic #1,

Speaking on topic #2,

Completing a post-intervention FLA questionnaire after discussing topic #2.

Interviews.

Steps 2–7 constitute a session. The sessions with each participant were scheduled individually. Under both VR and Zoom conditions, participants did not receive any prompts or preparation time. Instead, in a straightforward manner, the researcher initiated the intervention with “Could you talk about [topic #1]?”.

Approximately two minutes into speaking, the researcher said, “Now, could you talk about [topic #2]?” One topic differed from session to session and was intended to be unexpected so as to induce foreign language speaking anxiety. The other topic remained constant throughout the sessions.

All 20 subjects participated in four sessions, each scheduled on separate days. Two topics were discussed per session, drawing from a pool of topics which included: (1) communication and the internet, (2) healthy living, (3) hobbies and free time, (4) shopping and money, and (5) cities and countryside. Altogether, the study yielded 160 oral presentations and 480 FLA questionnaire responses. Each presentation was associated with three FLA questionnaires. Because each presentation took up to two minutes, the total presentation time for all the subjects was 320 min. We implemented a two-minute time limit for presentations to accommodate the needs of foreign language learners, aligning with the duration of established speaking exams like TELC English B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. Additionally, given the difficulty for speakers at B2 level to sustain longer monologues on a single topic, the shorter time limit allowed for focused practice and challenged students to perform effectively within a confined timeframe.

During the VR sessions, the researcher indicated a change of topic by raising her hand after taking over one of the avatars, which was done by projecting her movements onto the virtual human, using a motion-tracking camera (Microsoft Kinect v2). The researcher talked to the participants behind a soundproof partition, and the participants heard her voice through headphones. At the end of each session, we conducted interviews on participants’ experience with VR and Zoom speaking practice (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ).

The VR and the Zoom settings

The VR system used in the study was HTC Vive, which consists of a headset with high-resolution displays (2160 × 1200) and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. The system uses room-scale motion tracking technology with advanced sensors accurately tracking the position of the user in real-time, enhancing the sense of presence and immersion. Figure  1 shows a participant in the research lab during the VR intervention. The participant is wearing a VR headset which is facilitating the public speaking simulation. Noteworthy are the participant’s hand gestures which distinctly indicate his active engagement in the public speaking simulation.

As Fig.  2 displays, the specific scene that the VR participants experienced depicted a virtual classroom. Footnote 1 The classroom consisted of virtual humans sitting at their desks, acting as the audience for the presenting students. Such a classroom offered a familiar, customized setting that resembled an everyday real-world context.

The virtual humans in the virtual classroom

The body language, posture, and head orientation of the virtual humans were pre-programmed. The nonverbal affective expressions included nodding, hand gestures indicating reassurance (palm-down gesture), and forward-leaning posture that represents real-world behavior in a classroom. Eye contact with the speaker was simulated because most virtual characters were programmed to look toward the direction of the desk where the speaker was standing. This simulation added to the impression of a real-life audience. Background noises consisted of distant quiet talking, which was intended to make the situation more authentic.

The researcher controlled the visual, auditory, and haptic sensory input that the participants received. The researcher could interact through a selected avatar by speaking via microphone. A motion-tracking camera (Microsoft Kinect v2) could take over the avatar by projecting the researchers’ movements onto the avatar.

In the Zoom setting, the participants had their web cameras activated, allowing to simulate face-to-face interactions. During the presentations, the interlocutors used body movements such as nodding to give non-verbal feedback.

Data collection and instruments

The data collection lasted for over three months during the 2019 Spring semester. The scope of this article is narrowed down to the quantitative analysis, using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). The study used two instruments: the demographic questionnaire and an operationalized FLA questionnaire. The demographic questionnaire consisted of 21 items and solicited information about the participants such as gender, age, native language, linguistic background, and language learning experience.

The FLA questionnaire was based on a validated instrument (Cronbach Alpha coefficient = 0.93) measuring foreign language classroom anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986 ). We operationalized the Horwitz et al. ( 1986 ) questionnaire to fit the context of the study (see Appendixes A and B). Because foreign language speaking anxiety was the main focus of our intervention, we ensured that our instrument covered items relevant to speaking. We also omitted irrelevant statements (e.g., “I often feel like not going to my language class”) and made adjustments to fit the VR or Zoom settings. The questionnaire was further operationalized by replacing all mentions to “FL” with "English".

One of the researchers, a native speaker of German, translated the operationalized questionnaire into German and that translation was verified with another German language speaker. The operationalized scale had a high level of internal consistency, as determined by Cronbach Alpha of 0.96.

The modified instrument required the face and construct validity. As recommended by Ary et al., ( 2010 ), we formed a panel of experts to help us with evaluating the face and construct validity of our modified instrument. The evaluation was conducted independently by two second language acquisition (SLA) experts, two educational technology professors, and one neuropsychologist. Each expert held a doctoral degree from renowned universities and were actively engaged in research within their respective fields. To gather feedback on the first draft of our FLA questionnaire, we started by engaging two experts in SLA. We shared the draft as a Word document and requested them to evaluate each questionnaire item, specifically focusing on the appropriateness of the FLA concept. The experts tracked changes and provided their feedback, which we subsequently combined and thoroughly discussed. Through this iterative process, we actively sought consensus on the questionnaire items, ensuring that they accurately captured the essence of FLA. The process of gathering feedback from the two educational technology professors and the neuropsychologist followed a similar approach. However, in this instance, these three panel members were specifically requested to evaluate the questionnaire items from the lenses of educational technology and the psychological aspects of VR-based learning.

The feedback received from the panel allowed us to fine-tune our instrument, consequently, the face and construct validity was confirmed.

We generated four versions of the questionnaire to reflect the intervention type (i.e., VR/Zoom) and to reflect the intervention timing (i.e., pre-/post-). The four versions were:

Pre-intervention VR questionnaire (Appendix A),

Post-intervention VR questionnaire (Appendix B),

Pre-intervention Zoom questionnaire,

Post-intervention Zoom questionnaire.

All the versions were identical except for two minor differences. First, because the pre-intervention questionnaires were administered before the intervention, they used the present tense. Meanwhile, the post-intervention questionnaires used the past tense because they were administered after the intervention. Second, the VR questionnaires used relevant mentions of VR, while the Zoom questionnaires had relevant mentions of Zoom.

Our data are constructed from double-repeated measures for each subject. That is, each subject’s FLA was measured three times in each session, and sessions were conducted four times. To appropriately correct for repeated measurements of each subject, we estimated a fixed effects regression model (Wooldridge, 2002 ), with time fixed effects for both tests and sessions. The regression model is given in Eq. ( 1 ):

where the FLA measure was defined as the sum of the scores from the FLA instrument for subject i in session s and test t , minus the score for subject i on the initial session 1 pretest. Because each subject is compared to their own pretest, the measure automatically accounts for across-subject variation, such as from previous language experience, baseline individual anxiety levels, demographics, age, gender, and personality. This approach is referred to as a difference-in-differences methodology in the wider social sciences and is considered a reliable method of inference when subjects are evaluated before and after a treatment effect (Donald & Lang, 2007 ).

Our coefficient estimate on the VR variable provides a measure of the effect size and can then be interpreted as the marginal impact of VR on FLA relative to other subjects in the same test and the same session. The use of fixed effects has the added benefit of correcting for learning, adaptation, and novelty effects over time. The fixed effects are indicated in Eq. ( 1 ) by the terms session s and test t , which indicate dummy variables for tests two through four and sessions two and three. Fixed effects are not indicated for the first test and first session, as this is captured by the model’s intercept term, β 0 .

Table 1 reports the multivariate regression results for the estimation of Eq. ( 1 ). The intercept term, β 0 , can be interpreted as the impact of the Zoom control condition on FLA and was not significantly different from zero. The VR treatment was significantly and negatively associated with FLA ( t  =  − 2.00;  p  = 0.0468). The coefficient estimate of − 1.81 for β 6 indicates that FLA was 1.81 points lower following the VR treatment, after correcting for the session and test sequence. To interpret the effect size, the coefficient estimate of the VR treatment was consistent with a reduction in FLA about ten times greater than the in the control condition (− 1.81 coefficient estimate on β 6 compared to model intercept, β 0 , of − 0.18). The statistical strength of the VR effect is evident from the significance of the coefficient estimate for β 6 ( t -statistic of − 2.00, p value of 5%) on VR despite the small number of subjects and the multiple fixed effects terms included in the model. Dummy variables, or fixed effects, for the session and test sequence were all insignificant, indicating that FLA was not significantly different on later sessions or tests, relative to the initial pretest. The model R 2 was 3.3%.

The main finding of the study is that practicing speaking in VR is associated with significantly lower anxiety scores, compared with practicing speaking on Zoom. While this finding is mostly aligned with the existing literature (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ; Thrasher, 2022 ), our contribution differs from previous studies. This previously lacking quantitative evidence (Parmaxi, 2023 ) was founded on repeated VR and Zoom interventions and contributes to the literature in several meaningful ways. First, our findings enrich research by confirming the qualitative findings by Gruber and Kaplan-Rakowski ( 2020 ) in which, based on semi-structured interviews, the researchers concluded that speaking practice in VR could serve as a useful setting in terms of FLA. Our finding adds to their evidence in that we used statistical calculations and a control group of students speaking on Zoom.

Second, York et al. ( 2021 ) found that practicing in VR lowered FLA, but the rate was insignificantly different compared with other media, such as voice or video. Our study provides support for the growing body of evidence that, compared with video format, VR-based public speaking can be more effective with regard to reducing FLA. One reason could be that our participants performed in front of programmed virtual humans, whereas participants in York et al. ( 2021 ) interacted with real classmates, who were represented by avatars.

Third, our participants had eight occasions to speak, increasing the chance for VR to be effective. According to the systematic review by Dhimolea et al. ( 2022 ), VR interventions are more likely to be statistically significant when subjects are exposed to VR interventions multiple times.

The interview data in (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ) support the quantitative finding in this study. During the semi-structured interviews, some participants who exhibited signs of public speaking anxiety employed different strategies to deal with their anxiety within the VR environment. For instance, one student expressed the belief that VR had the potential to replicate a classroom setting, thereby enabling him to conquer stage fright. Another student remarked that thanks to the repeated public speaking practice sessions, he developed a routine that made him feel less anxious. Yet, a participant who experienced high anxiety during real-life presentations reported that he wanted to use VR as a means to practice for an upcoming foreign language class presentation (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ). Participants cited the ability to move and talk in a classroom environment in a realistic setting as a benefit of practicing in VR as opposed to practicing speaking, for example, in front of a mirror (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020 ). Such iterations seem to reveal that subjects felt comfortable in the VR setting, which goes along with our study finding.

Implications

This study finding has several pedagogical implications and is useful to educators and curriculum designers who should consider recommending speaking practice sessions in VR to their learners. Speaking simulations in VR can be particularly useful for students who are prone to anxiety when giving presentations or individuals preparing for inherently stressful situations such as a job interview or an elevator pitch. The reason is that repeatedly practicing in front of a virtual audience in VR is potentially nonthreatening.

From a practical point of view, the equipment used in our study was high-end and therefore not accessible to everybody. However, low-cost devices exist which allow students to insert their mobile phones into a VR viewer (e.g., Google Cardboard) that can provide similar speaking simulations as described in this study. The number of higher education institutions with VR laboratories is growing, and VR devices are increasingly affordable. Therefore, the augmenting affordability and accessibility of VR devices increasingly allow students to practice speaking in a foreign language on their own, which fosters autonomy.

While certain benefits of practicing public speaking in VR exist, acknowledging its drawbacks is necessary. Typical issues include the risk of cybersickness, potential technical difficulties, and the limited ability of VR to accurately replicate and effectively practice body language and mimicry. However, this last limitation is being addressed with the newest VR systems, such as Oculus Pro (Gruber & Kaplan-Rakowski, 2022 ). Presenting in a foreign language in front of real humans using a videoconferencing tool (e.g., Zoom) is likely to make presenters more anxious due to features such as the heightened amount of eye gaze at a close distance, or the real-time camera feed (Bailenson, 2021 ). In contrast, speakers in VR are shielded through an avatar, which may have a positive effect on their anxiety levels.

Regarding the conduct of VR-based public speaking research, although it offers numerous benefits, it also presents several challenges and risks. For instance, potential emotional distress when simulating anxiety-inducing situations like public speaking might occur. Moreover, there is limited prior research to draw upon, making it necessary for researchers to navigate this underexplored research territory.

Limitations and future studies

A recognition of certain limitations within this study should be noted. A limitation in FLA studies is often the sole use of self-reported questionnaires which are prone to bias. In our study, we administered self-reported questionnaires, and a wearable Empatica E4 collected objective data (e.g., heartrate and electrodermal activity), but reporting these data extends the scope of this paper. To collect objective data to detect emotional states, future studies should use eye-trackers, wearable devices, or automatic emotion recognition tools. Alternatively, salivary cortisol samples could also provide alternative measures of FLA, as reported by Thrasher ( 2022 ).

Future endeavors should extend this type of study to more participants, subjects from different age groups, learners with different proficiency levels, various task complexities, and different presenting conditions (e.g., small or large audiences, with or without an activated camera). Future studies could explore the effect of diverse virtual environments. For instance, a comparative analysis could be conducted between presenting in VR using computer-generated content and realistic content using 360-degree videos. Alternatively, a comparison between the effectiveness of using VR as opposed to mixed-reality devices can constitute another future research endeavor.

Future research endeavors could study other factors that influence FLA including contextual factors (e.g., speaking task complexity, time constraints) or cultural factors in which learners’ backgrounds and experiences may play a role. Moreover, coping with FLA could be done using emotional regulation strategies such as relaxation techniques or mindfulness because such approaches have the potential to regulate anxiety (e.g., Kaplan-Rakowski et al., 2021 ) in high-stress situations.

Conclusions

Speaking in public, and especially in a foreign language, is associated with increased levels of anxiety. Given the foundations of VR-based theories and the related literature on the topic of public speaking, our study answered the research question: “Is practicing speaking in high-immersion VR associated with lower FLA scores, as compared with practicing speaking using a videoconferencing tool, Zoom?” Learners of English practiced speaking in public on eight occasions either in VR or on Zoom. We explored how VR and Zoom settings impacted the participants’ FLA levels. The quantitative analysis revealed that practicing speaking in VR was associated with significantly lower anxiety scores, compared with practicing speaking on Zoom. This research contributes to understanding the potential of VR technology to support students when practicing for public speaking in a foreign language, including presentations in an academic or corporate context.

Availability of data and materials

Data and materials can be accessed by contacting the lead author.

The virtual classroom was designed using Unity in UniTyLab at Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences. The setup of the classroom was originally designed for public speaking anxiety therapy.

Abbreviations

Foreign language

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to the team of UniTyLab at Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences. Special thanks go to Professor Gerrit Meixner, Marius Koller, Philip Schäfer, Ketoma Vix Kemanji, and Daniel Martinez for their support with the equipment, the setting for the study, and technical advice during the VR experiment.

This research did not receive any specific Grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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The German and English versions of the operationalized pre-intervention FLA questionnaire.

• This version of the questionnaire was used for both the VR and Zoom groups

The German and English versions of the operationalized post-intervention FLA questionnaire.

• This version of the questionnaire was used for the VR group. The version for the Zoom group was identical with the difference that the notions of VR were replaced with the notions of Zoom

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Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Gruber, A. The impact of high-immersion virtual reality on foreign language anxiety. Smart Learn. Environ. 10 , 46 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-023-00263-9

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Data Science Project Management Track  : In the role of Scrum Assistant, trainees will ensure the progress of ongoing DSI projects by organizing work and scrum tasks for each Agile sprint cycle of work to meet project goal; trainees will ensure the coherence and management of data science projects using industry-standard tools.

Data Science Code Contributor Track : In the role of Code Contributor, trainees apply programming skills in R or Python using machine and deep learning techniques on a DSI engagement during the semester. Students engage in Agile meetings for approximately 3 hours per week, and are expected to use industry-standard tools including git and GitHub, collaboratively contribute to the code repositories using pull requests and other tools, and use computational infrastructure including ACCRE as the project requires. Students may acquire these skills from  DSI workshops  taken during the course of the Program or prior to the program based on the constraints of the engagement.

Students are accepted into the DSTP at the beginning of each semester (Fall, Spring, Summer) and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis in the 4 weeks surrounding the beginning of the semester until capacity is reached, based on the availability of positions. Students interested in the Data Science Trainee Program are invited to contact Charreau Bell, Senior Data Scientist ( [email protected] ) prior to the beginning of each semester. Students interested during the middle of the semester are encouraged to take the Skills Training  DSI workshops  in preparation for the upcoming semester of application.

To earn credit for immersion, students will need to complete two trainee program tracks, where the Project Management Track may be pursued only once. Students will also need to work with the DSI team, DSI faculty mentors, and faculty immersion coordinator on a designated final project related to their data science experience (it could be a paper, a presentation, some tangible deliverable, or something else entirely).

Faculty mentors for this immersion experience will be Jesse Spencer-Smith, Chief Data Scientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Computer Science ( [email protected] ), and Charreau Bell, Senior Data Scientist and Director of the Undergraduate Data Science Minor ( [email protected] ).

Introducing Apple’s On-Device and Server Foundation Models

At the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference , we introduced Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system integrated deeply into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

Apple Intelligence is comprised of multiple highly-capable generative models that are specialized for our users’ everyday tasks, and can adapt on the fly for their current activity. The foundation models built into Apple Intelligence have been fine-tuned for user experiences such as writing and refining text, prioritizing and summarizing notifications, creating playful images for conversations with family and friends, and taking in-app actions to simplify interactions across apps.

In the following overview, we will detail how two of these models — a ~3 billion parameter on-device language model, and a larger server-based language model available with Private Cloud Compute and running on Apple silicon servers — have been built and adapted to perform specialized tasks efficiently, accurately, and responsibly. These two foundation models are part of a larger family of generative models created by Apple to support users and developers; this includes a coding model to build intelligence into Xcode, as well as a diffusion model to help users express themselves visually, for example, in the Messages app. We look forward to sharing more information soon on this broader set of models.

Our Focus on Responsible AI Development

Apple Intelligence is designed with our core values at every step and built on a foundation of groundbreaking privacy innovations.

Additionally, we have created a set of Responsible AI principles to guide how we develop AI tools, as well as the models that underpin them:

• Empower users with intelligent tools : We identify areas where AI can be used responsibly to create tools for addressing specific user needs. We respect how our users choose to use these tools to accomplish their goals.
• Represent our users : We build deeply personal products with the goal of representing users around the globe authentically. We work continuously to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and systemic biases across our AI tools and models.
• Design with care : We take precautions at every stage of our process, including design, model training, feature development, and quality evaluation to identify how our AI tools may be misused or lead to potential harm. We will continuously and proactively improve our AI tools with the help of user feedback.
• Protect privacy : We protect our users' privacy with powerful on-device processing and groundbreaking infrastructure like Private Cloud Compute. We do not use our users' private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models.

These principles are reflected throughout the architecture that enables Apple Intelligence, connects features and tools with specialized models, and scans inputs and outputs to provide each feature with the information needed to function responsibly.

In the remainder of this overview, we provide details on decisions such as: how we develop models that are highly capable, fast, and power-efficient; how we approach training these models; how our adapters are fine-tuned for specific user needs; and how we evaluate model performance for both helpfulness and unintended harm.

Pre-Training

Our foundation models are trained on Apple's AXLearn framework , an open-source project we released in 2023. It builds on top of JAX and XLA, and allows us to train the models with high efficiency and scalability on various training hardware and cloud platforms, including TPUs and both cloud and on-premise GPUs. We used a combination of data parallelism, tensor parallelism, sequence parallelism, and Fully Sharded Data Parallel (FSDP) to scale training along multiple dimensions such as data, model, and sequence length.

We train our foundation models on licensed data, including data selected to enhance specific features, as well as publicly available data collected by our web-crawler, AppleBot. Web publishers have the option to opt out of the use of their web content for Apple Intelligence training with a data usage control.

We never use our users’ private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models, and we apply filters to remove personally identifiable information like social security and credit card numbers that are publicly available on the Internet. We also filter profanity and other low-quality content to prevent its inclusion in the training corpus. In addition to filtering, we perform data extraction, deduplication, and the application of a model-based classifier to identify high quality documents.

Post-Training

We find that data quality is essential to model success, so we utilize a hybrid data strategy in our training pipeline, incorporating both human-annotated and synthetic data, and conduct thorough data curation and filtering procedures. We have developed two novel algorithms in post-training: (1) a rejection sampling fine-tuning algorithm with teacher committee, and (2) a reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) algorithm with mirror descent policy optimization and a leave-one-out advantage estimator. We find that these two algorithms lead to significant improvement in the model’s instruction-following quality.

Optimization

In addition to ensuring our generative models are highly capable, we have used a range of innovative techniques to optimize them on-device and on our private cloud for speed and efficiency. We have applied an extensive set of optimizations for both first token and extended token inference performance.

Both the on-device and server models use grouped-query-attention. We use shared input and output vocab embedding tables to reduce memory requirements and inference cost. These shared embedding tensors are mapped without duplications. The on-device model uses a vocab size of 49K, while the server model uses a vocab size of 100K, which includes additional language and technical tokens.

For on-device inference, we use low-bit palletization, a critical optimization technique that achieves the necessary memory, power, and performance requirements. To maintain model quality, we developed a new framework using LoRA adapters that incorporates a mixed 2-bit and 4-bit configuration strategy — averaging 3.5 bits-per-weight — to achieve the same accuracy as the uncompressed models.

Additionally, we use an interactive model latency and power analysis tool, Talaria , to better guide the bit rate selection for each operation. We also utilize activation quantization and embedding quantization, and have developed an approach to enable efficient Key-Value (KV) cache update on our neural engines.

With this set of optimizations, on iPhone 15 Pro we are able to reach time-to-first-token latency of about 0.6 millisecond per prompt token, and a generation rate of 30 tokens per second. Notably, this performance is attained before employing token speculation techniques, from which we see further enhancement on the token generation rate.

Model Adaptation

Our foundation models are fine-tuned for users’ everyday activities, and can dynamically specialize themselves on-the-fly for the task at hand. We utilize adapters, small neural network modules that can be plugged into various layers of the pre-trained model, to fine-tune our models for specific tasks. For our models we adapt the attention matrices, the attention projection matrix, and the fully connected layers in the point-wise feedforward networks for a suitable set of the decoding layers of the transformer architecture.

By fine-tuning only the adapter layers, the original parameters of the base pre-trained model remain unchanged, preserving the general knowledge of the model while tailoring the adapter layers to support specific tasks.

We represent the values of the adapter parameters using 16 bits, and for the ~3 billion parameter on-device model, the parameters for a rank 16 adapter typically require 10s of megabytes. The adapter models can be dynamically loaded, temporarily cached in memory, and swapped — giving our foundation model the ability to specialize itself on the fly for the task at hand while efficiently managing memory and guaranteeing the operating system's responsiveness.

To facilitate the training of the adapters, we created an efficient infrastructure that allows us to rapidly retrain, test, and deploy adapters when either the base model or the training data gets updated. The adapter parameters are initialized using the accuracy-recovery adapter introduced in the Optimization section.

Performance and Evaluation

Our focus is on delivering generative models that can enable users to communicate, work, express themselves, and get things done across their Apple products. When benchmarking our models, we focus on human evaluation as we find that these results are highly correlated to user experience in our products. We conducted performance evaluations on both feature-specific adapters and the foundation models.

To illustrate our approach, we look at how we evaluated our adapter for summarization. As product requirements for summaries of emails and notifications differ in subtle but important ways, we fine-tune accuracy-recovery low-rank (LoRA) adapters on top of the palletized model to meet these specific requirements. Our training data is based on synthetic summaries generated from bigger server models, filtered by a rejection sampling strategy that keeps only the high quality summaries.

To evaluate the product-specific summarization, we use a set of 750 responses carefully sampled for each use case. These evaluation datasets emphasize a diverse set of inputs that our product features are likely to face in production, and include a stratified mixture of single and stacked documents of varying content types and lengths. As product features, it was important to evaluate performance against datasets that are representative of real use cases. We find that our models with adapters generate better summaries than a comparable model.

As part of responsible development, we identified and evaluated specific risks inherent to summarization. For example, summaries occasionally remove important nuance or other details in ways that are undesirable. However, we found that the summarization adapter did not amplify sensitive content in over 99% of targeted adversarial examples. We continue to adversarially probe to identify unknown harms and expand our evaluations to help guide further improvements.

In addition to evaluating feature specific performance powered by foundation models and adapters, we evaluate both the on-device and server-based models’ general capabilities. We utilize a comprehensive evaluation set of real-world prompts to test the general model capabilities. These prompts are diverse across different difficulty levels and cover major categories such as brainstorming, classification, closed question answering, coding, extraction, mathematical reasoning, open question answering, rewriting, safety, summarization, and writing.

We compare our models with both open-source models (Phi-3, Gemma, Mistral, DBRX) and commercial models of comparable size (GPT-3.5-Turbo, GPT-4-Turbo) 1 . We find that our models are preferred by human graders over most comparable competitor models. On this benchmark, our on-device model, with ~3B parameters, outperforms larger models including Phi-3-mini, Mistral-7B, and Gemma-7B. Our server model compares favorably to DBRX-Instruct, Mixtral-8x22B, and GPT-3.5-Turbo while being highly efficient.

We use a set of diverse adversarial prompts to test the model performance on harmful content, sensitive topics, and factuality. We measure the violation rates of each model as evaluated by human graders on this evaluation set, with a lower number being desirable. Both the on-device and server models are robust when faced with adversarial prompts, achieving violation rates lower than open-source and commercial models.

Our models are preferred by human graders as safe and helpful over competitor models for these prompts. However, considering the broad capabilities of large language models, we understand the limitation of our safety benchmark. We are actively conducting both manual and automatic red-teaming with internal and external teams to continue evaluating our models' safety.

To further evaluate our models, we use the Instruction-Following Eval (IFEval) benchmark to compare their instruction-following capabilities with models of comparable size. The results suggest that both our on-device and server model follow detailed instructions better than the open-source and commercial models of comparable size.

We evaluate our models’ writing ability on our internal summarization and composition benchmarks, consisting of a variety of writing instructions. These results do not refer to our feature-specific adapter for summarization (seen in Figure 3 ), nor do we have an adapter focused on composition.

The Apple foundation models and adapters introduced at WWDC24 underlie Apple Intelligence, the new personal intelligence system that is integrated deeply into iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and enables powerful capabilities across language, images, actions, and personal context. Our models have been created with the purpose of helping users do everyday activities across their Apple products, and developed responsibly at every stage and guided by Apple’s core values. We look forward to sharing more information soon on our broader family of generative models, including language, diffusion, and coding models.

[1] We compared against the following model versions: gpt-3.5-turbo-0125, gpt-4-0125-preview, Phi-3-mini-4k-instruct, Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2, Mixtral-8x22B-Instruct-v0.1, Gemma-1.1-2B, and Gemma-1.1-7B. The open-source and Apple models are evaluated in bfloat16 precision.

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A voice replicator is a powerful tool for people at risk of losing their ability to speak, including those with a recent diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or other conditions that can progressively impact speaking ability. First introduced in May 2023 and made available on iOS 17 in September 2023, Personal Voice is a tool that creates a synthesized voice for such users to speak in FaceTime, phone calls, assistive communication apps, and in-person conversations.

Apple Natural Language Understanding Workshop 2023

Earlier this year, Apple hosted the Natural Language Understanding workshop. This two-day hybrid event brought together Apple and members of the academic research community for talks and discussions on the state of the art in natural language understanding.

In this post, we share highlights from workshop discussions and recordings of select workshop talks.

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Will China’s historic paper on Chang’e-6 lunar far side samples be in English or Chinese?

• The Chang’e-6 mission’s cargo is expected to yield a wealth of research but debate is growing about what language it will be published in first

Within China’s scientific community, there persists a notion that publishing in English is not only a medium of communication, but also a bridge to global recognition. The use of Chinese remains taboo, a silent sacrifice at the altar of international acceptance.

When China’s Chang’e-5 mission in 2020 retrieved the first lunar samples in decades from the moon’s near side, the first research was carried out by a joint team of Chinese and Western scientists and appeared in Science magazine in October 2021.

This was followed by three more scientific papers published by Nature in the same month, according to an editor with the Science China Press, a scientific journal publishing company of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), recalling the global sensation.

The rocks collected in 2020 led to a number of surprising discoveries, as they turned out to be much younger than the samples brought back by the US Apollo and Soviet Luna missions in the 1960s and 1970s.

“We certainly hope that some of our country’s groundbreaking scientific and technological achievements can appear in China’s top journals, so that we can expand our influence,” said the editor, who asked not to be named.

It was not always so. Tu Youyou, who won China’s first Nobel Prize for science in 2015, published her paper on the discovery of artemisinin in the Chinese Science Bulletin in 1977.

The journal, co-sponsored by CAS and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, once published many major discoveries but since the 1990s has suffered from a lack of quality manuscripts.

Speaking at a conference in 2018, George Gao Fu – a leading scientist in the field of virology and immunology and former head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – said Chinese as a language of academic communication “used to be glorious”.

Breakthroughs, including Tu’s achievement and the discovery of high-temperature iron-based superconducting materials, had been published first in Chinese-language journals and then recognised by the world, he said.

However, for three decades China’s important scientific research results were “basically first reported by foreign journals”, Gao noted.

Interestingly, just a few years later, Gao led a landmark study by a Chinese CDC team on the epidemiology of Covid-19 that was first published in January 2020 by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The move caused controversy in China, where the public was eager for any information about the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 as the country grappled with the early stages of the pandemic.

The response to the overseas publication of the study reflected a broader, uncomfortable dilemma for Chinese researchers: while they recognise the importance or necessity of writing in their native language, it is difficult on a practical level.

China’s Chang’e-6 touches down on far side of moon on mission to bring rock samples back to Earth

Newton’s Principia Mathematica was written in Latin. Einstein’s first influential papers were written in German. Marie Curie’s work was published in French.

Yet, since the middle of the last century, there has been a shift in the global scientific community, with most scientific research now published in a single language – English, which is spoken by only about 18 per cent of the world’s population.

While it is estimated that up to 98 per cent of global scientific research is published in English, the number of papers by Chinese scholars has been climbing.

As early as 2010, Chinese biologist Zhu Zuoyan, a CAS academician, observed that the number of papers published by scholars from China had risen from 0.2 per cent of the world’s total to 10 per cent within a decade, second only to the United States.

But China’s academic evaluation system encourages the flow of excellent papers to foreign journals, which had partly led to the country’s lack of international academic impact, despite having the second largest number of academic journals – more than 4,800 – in the world, he said.

In late 2019, Li Zhimin, former director of the Ministry of Education’s Science and Technology Development Centre, called for papers to be published in the country’s official language if the research is funded by the government.

The requirement would make it easier for funders to review research projects, facilitate exchanges with their domestic counterparts and improve the nation’s scientific literacy, he said.

A CAS physicist, who declined to be named, stressed that the proposal to “write research results on the soil of the motherland” could not simply be understood as submitting and publishing articles in domestic journals and in Chinese.

That would be “parochial”, he said. Rather, the key is to focus research on solving crucial issues or problems in China’s development, rather than blindly following global research hotspots and wasting research funds and resources.

But at an individual level, there are plenty of pragmatic reasons and incentives for researchers to do just that. Under China’s evaluation system, getting articles published in prestigious English-language journals often brings rewards.

In addition to promotion opportunities and academic honours, there is also fame, with overseas scientific recognition tending to attract wide media and public attention.

Last month, for example, biologist Zhu Jiapeng earned a prize from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine for his “outstanding contribution” and a grant of 1 million yuan (US$138,000) as one of the lead authors in a study published by Nature.

Astronomer Deng Licai, with the National Astronomical Observatories under CAS, believes that research results from national missions such as the Chang’e programme should be prioritised for publication in domestic journals.

Deng, who has been a team leader on China’s giant telescope project since its development in the 1990s and 2000s, said he insisted that the first batch of studies to emerge from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (Lamost) appeared in domestic journals.

“This can firstly highlight the nationality of these independent and cutting-edge major scientific projects, and also help to enhance the international impact of domestic academic journals,” he said.

But English has become the international scientific community’s lingua franca and should be used as a medium of communication, Deng said, adding that it had nothing to do with politics.

China’s space plans: lunar GPS, a 3D-printed moon base and soil samples from Mars

According to Deng, the scientists who study the Chang’e-6 lunar samples could consider publishing in some of China’s English-language journals, such as Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA).

“All of our pre-research articles on the Lamost programme published in RAA have made it into international lists of highly cited articles,” he said.

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher Zhu Rui, who prefers to publish in Chinese journals – partly because the academy encourages it – said that using his own language when writing academic papers is not an obstacle, as long as the scientific community maintains substantive communication.

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Seamless in Seattle: NVIDIA Research Showcases Advancements in Visual Generative AI at CVPR

NVIDIA researchers are at the forefront of the rapidly advancing field of visual generative AI, developing new techniques to create and interpret images, videos and 3D environments.

More than 50 of these projects will be showcased at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) conference, taking place June 17-21 in Seattle. Two of the papers — one on the training dynamics of diffusion models and another on high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles — are finalists for CVPR’s Best Paper Awards.

NVIDIA is also the winner of the CVPR Autonomous Grand Challenge’s End-to-End Driving at Scale track — a significant milestone that demonstrates the company’s use of generative AI for comprehensive self-driving models. The winning submission, which outperformed more than 450 entries worldwide, also received CVPR’s Innovation Award.

NVIDIA’s research at CVPR includes a text-to-image model that can be easily customized to depict a specific object or character, a new model for object pose estimation, a technique to edit neural radiance fields ( NeRFs ) and a visual language model that can understand memes. Additional papers introduce domain-specific innovations for industries including automotive, healthcare and robotics.

Collectively, the work introduces powerful AI models that could enable creators to more quickly bring their artistic visions to life, accelerate the training of autonomous robots for manufacturing, and support healthcare professionals by helping process radiology reports.

“Artificial intelligence, and generative AI in particular, represents a pivotal technological advancement,” said Jan Kautz, vice president of learning and perception research at NVIDIA. “At CVPR, NVIDIA Research is sharing how we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible — from powerful image generation models that could supercharge professional creators to autonomous driving software that could help enable next-generation self-driving cars.”

At CVPR, NVIDIA also announced NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud Sensor RTX , a set of microservices that enable physically accurate sensor simulation to accelerate the development of fully autonomous machines of every kind.

Forget Fine-Tuning: JeDi Simplifies Custom Image Generation

Creators harnessing diffusion models, the most popular method for generating images based on text prompts, often have a specific character or object in mind — they may, for example, be developing a storyboard around an animated mouse or brainstorming an ad campaign for a specific toy.

Prior research has enabled these creators to personalize the output of diffusion models to focus on a specific subject using fine-tuning — where a user trains the model on a custom dataset — but the process can be time-consuming and inaccessible for general users.

JeDi , a paper by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago and NVIDIA, proposes a new technique that allows users to easily personalize the output of a diffusion model within a couple of seconds using reference images. The team found that the model achieves state-of-the-art quality, significantly outperforming existing fine-tuning-based and fine-tuning-free methods.

JeDi can also be combined with retrieval-augmented generation , or RAG, to generate visuals specific to a database, such as a brand’s product catalog.

New Foundation Model Perfects the Pose

NVIDIA researchers at CVPR are also presenting FoundationPose , a foundation model for object pose estimation and tracking that can be instantly applied to new objects during inference, without the need for fine-tuning.

The model, which set a new record on a popular benchmark for object pose estimation, uses either a small set of reference images or a 3D representation of an object to understand its shape. It can then identify and track how that object moves and rotates in 3D across a video, even in poor lighting conditions or complex scenes with visual obstructions.

FoundationPose could be used in industrial applications to help autonomous robots identify and track the objects they interact with. It could also be used in augmented reality applications where an AI model is used to overlay visuals on a live scene.

NeRFDeformer Transforms 3D Scenes With a Single Snapshot

A NeRF is an AI model that can render a 3D scene based on a series of 2D images taken from different positions in the environment. In fields like robotics, NeRFs can be used to generate immersive 3D renders of complex real-world scenes, such as a cluttered room or a construction site. However, to make any changes, developers would need to manually define how the scene has transformed — or remake the NeRF entirely.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and NVIDIA have simplified the process with NeRFDeformer. The method, being presented at CVPR, can successfully transform an existing NeRF using a single RGB-D image, which is a combination of a normal photo and a depth map that captures how far each object in a scene is from the camera.

VILA Visual Language Model Gets the Picture

A CVPR research collaboration between NVIDIA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is advancing the state of the art for vision language models, which are generative AI models that can process videos, images and text.

The group developed VILA , a family of open-source visual language models that outperforms prior neural networks on key benchmarks that test how well AI models answer questions about images. VILA’s unique pretraining process unlocked new model capabilities, including enhanced world knowledge, stronger in-context learning and the ability to reason across multiple images.

The VILA model family can be optimized for inference using the NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM open-source library and can be deployed on NVIDIA GPUs in data centers, workstations and even edge devices .

Read more about VILA on the NVIDIA Technical Blog and GitHub .

Generative AI Fuels Autonomous Driving, Smart City Research

A dozen of the NVIDIA-authored CVPR papers focus on autonomous vehicle research. Other AV-related highlights include:

• NVIDIA’s AV applied research , which won the CVPR Autonomous Grand Challenge , is featured in this demo .
• Sanja Fidler , vice president of AI research at NVIDIA, will present on vision language models at the Workshop on Autonomous Driving on June 17.
• Producing and Leveraging Online Map Uncertainty in Trajectory Prediction , a paper authored by researchers from the University of Toronto and NVIDIA, has been selected as one of 24 finalists for CVPR’s best paper award.

Also at CVPR, NVIDIA contributed the largest ever indoor synthetic dataset to the AI City Challenge , helping researchers and developers advance the development of solutions for smart cities and industrial automation. The challenge’s datasets were generated using NVIDIA Omniverse , a platform of APIs, SDKs and services that enable developers to build Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) -based applications and workflows.

NVIDIA Research has hundreds of scientists and engineers worldwide, with teams focused on topics including AI, computer graphics, computer vision, self-driving cars and robotics. Learn more about NVIDIA Research at CVPR .

NVIDIA websites use cookies to deliver and improve the website experience. See our cookie policy for further details on how we use cookies and how to change your cookie settings.

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• Published: 10 June 2024

African savannah elephants call one another by ‘name’

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Using a combination of machine learning and playback experiments in the field, we find that African savannah elephants address members of their family with individually specific, name-like calls. These ‘names’ are probably not imitative of the receiver’s calls, which is similar to human naming but unlike known phenomena in other animals.

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King, S. L. & Janik, V. M. Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110 , 13216–13221 (2013). An article that shows that bottlenose dolphins address one another by copying the signature whistle of the addressee.

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This is a summary of: Pardo, M. A. et al. African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls. Nat. Ecol. Evol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02420-w (2024).

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Types of Immersion Education: An Introduction

The acie newsletter, february 1998, vol. 1, no. 2.

By Jack Brondum and Nancy Stenson, Parents, Emerson Spanish Immersion Learning Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Immersion education can take a number of forms. These vary according to the amount of the second language used per day, when the second language is introduced, whether a third language is used as well, and whether students come from one of two native-language backgrounds.

The original model of immersion used in Canada and later in the United States is called full (or total) immersion. It is still in wide use today. Typically, students starting a full immersion program are all English speakers. In a K-5 or K-6 elementary school, 100 percent of instruction is in the immersion language in Grades K and 1. Children learn to read in this language first. The amount of immersion instruction then drops to 80 percent in Grade 2 with the addition of English language arts, and continues to drop gradually to about 50 percent by Grade 5 or 6.

Another well known model is partial immersion. Here, less than 100 percent of instruction (usually about 50 percent) is pro-vided in the immersion language. This percent remains constant throughout elementary school. Reading is taught in both the first and the second language. When feasible, each class has two teachers: one teaches in the first language and the other teaches in the second. As with full immersion, students are usually all native English speakers.

A third type of immersion is double immersion - essentially a full immersion program with instruction in two non-native languages. One example of double immersion is the French-Hebrew program in Montreal, Canada.

All three of these models generally begin exposure to the new language or languages in the earliest years of elementary school. However, some programs start later, providing formal instruction early on, followed by two years of 100 percent immersion in Grades 3 and 4 or later. For a given type of immersion, second-language proficiency doesn't appear to be affected by these variations in timing.

The last type of immersion is called two-way (or dual) immersion. This model was first developed in Florida's Dade County schools and is still evolving. Two-way immersion is designed to serve both English and non-English speakers. The latter group will usually make up 25 to 50 percent of the student body. Children from each language group are mixed in the same classroom. The goals of two-way immersion are for both language groups to become bilingual, succeed academically, and develop positive inter-group relations. Two-way immersion programs, as one-way, differ in the amount of time spent in the two languages per grade level. In the upper grades, instruction is typically half in Spanish and half in English. In theory, two-way immersion allows English speakers to learn Spanish while continuing to develop their English skills. Spanish speakers learn English while becoming literate and maintaining oral skills in their native tongue.

Students from full immersion programs are generally more proficient in reading, writing, listening, and speaking the second language than those from partial immersion programs. Partial immersion students, in turn, are more proficient than students who are taught the second language in traditional foreign langu-age classes. Children from well-established two-way programs appear to have skills most similar to those of full immersion students.

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Large Language Model Advanced Data Analysis Abuse to Create a Fake Data Set in Medical Research

• 1 Department of Ophthalmology, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
• 2 Eye Clinic, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

Since its public release by OpenAI in late 2022, ChatGPT (generative pretrained transformer) has gone through several updates. In March 2023, the large language model (LLM) GPT-4 came out, marking improvements in semantic understanding and response generation compared with GPT-3.5. 1 More recently, the capabilities of GPT-4 were expanded with Advanced Data Analysis (ADA), a model that runs Python. 2 This tool supports file uploads and downloads and can perform both statistical analysis and data visualization. 3 Although these features may speed up scientific research, unethical uses of ADA are conceivable, including fabrication of data. We evaluated the ability of GPT-4 ADA (OpenAI; 09/11/2023 version) to create a fake data set that can be used for scientific research.

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Taloni A , Scorcia V , Giannaccare G. Large Language Model Advanced Data Analysis Abuse to Create a Fake Data Set in Medical Research. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2023;141(12):1174–1175. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2023.5162

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