Asynchronous virtual environments and vocabulary acquisition

Abstract

This research study presents the experiment of asynchronous virtual environments use in vocabulary acquisition, as well as the impact of the Padlet and vTime XR platforms on students’ autonomous, individual, and collaborative learning. The design of this research was quasi-experimental with a population of 42 learners from the first semester of “Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros” program at “Universidad Técnica de Ambato”. The researcher worked with the whole group as experimental. The participants developed six activities asynchronously and autonomously, four of them were done individually and two of them were collaboratively. The tools for data collection used in this study were a pre-test, posttest (they were adapted to the standardized PET vocabulary practice test, and also it was added a pronunciation section), and a survey to analyze students’ perceptions about virtual environments in vocabulary acquisition. After having analyzed the preparticipation, the post-participation, and the results of the survey using the T-student statistical test, the researcher concluded that asynchronous activities developed in virtual environments had a positive impact on students’ vocabulary acquisition