An Experimental Study of the Efficacy of Augmented Reality in Chinese Kindergarten-Level Students' Learning of English Vocabulary

Abstract

The use of augmented reality (AR) within educational settings has seen substantial growth in recent years. The highly immersive, engaging nature of AR offers a novel approach to second-language teaching. This quasi-experimental study investigated the efficacy of using AR in children's second-language acquisition (SLA). 52 kindergarten children participants were divided into experimental and control groups. Results revealed the use of AR to be effective, with those in the AR group exhibiting significantly greater performance on both same-day and 3-day delayed productive recognition tests, and intrinsic motivation whilst learning vocabulary than the control group. Given these findings, the paper speculates on why AR might improve kindergarten students' acquisition of English vocabulary, whilst providing suggestions for future research into the use of AR for SLA by kindergarten students.