IMMERSE insights:
- One of the most powerful aspects of learning through language immersion is the authenticity of the experience
- "Embodiment" is a term used in education to describe when you are physically active in your language learning experience
- Research shows that embodied language learning results in faster fluency growth
What Does The Rubber Hand Illusion Have to Do With VR Language Learning?
You probably think you’d recognize your hand anywhere, but a clever experiment known as the rubber hand illusion shows how easy it is to confuse people’s sense of their own bodies.
By carefully positioning a rubber hand on a table in front of them, scientists have been able to fool people into experiencing actual physical sensations when the rubber hand is touched.
This illusion works in virtual reality, too - a 2010 study showed that participants reacted to their virtual hand being threatened as though it were truly their own.
And this is actually great news for anyone who wants to learn a language.
Embodiment and Language Immersion
Virtual reality provides high levels of embodiment - that sensation when your body is truly interacting with the virtual world.
Embodied cognition is the idea that cognition, including learning, is inextricably linked to our physical and sensory experiences.
While many people think of learning as an abstract process that takes place deep in the mind, it's deeply connected to the way we perceive the environment around us.
The potential of immersion in virtual reality to provide embodied environments for language learning is so significant that researchers have been excited about it since before it was even possible.
In 2014, one neuropsychologist speculated that the realistic interactive virtual worlds of the future would enable the “optimum environment” for language learning - and it turns out she was right.
And what’s particularly exciting: you don’t need a VR headset to benefit from this.
Desktop VR Works Too
Research consistently shows that desktop VR environments—where users interact with immersive virtual worlds through their computer screens—provide many of the same cognitive advantages.
That means effective embodied language learning can happen even without specialized equipment.
Why is VR Ideal For Language Immersion?
- Language and sensory information are processed in overlapping areas of your brain.
- The same brain region that activates when you perceive the color blue also activates when you hear the word “blue.”
Language Learning Is Accelerated by Interacting with Objects
Sensorimotor interaction with your surroundings is your brain’s natural method of learning.
Learning a language through sight, sound, gesture, and body movement is significantly more effective than learning through books or apps.
In fact, the more motor activity involved, the better your brain learns.
Virtual reality makes it possible to pair language with the sights, sounds, and movements it describes.
Studies show that learners acquire new vocabulary more easily, use it more accurately, and retain it longer when learning in immersive VR environments.
There are even neurological explanations: vocabulary learned in VR is stored differently in the brain.
A 2019 study on learners of Mandarin Chinese found that the ability to manipulate and move items in a virtual kitchen led to structural changes in the brain. This study shows that some of the benefits of embodied cognition can be had even by using computer screen based virtual reality (also called desktop VR).
This means that even desktop-based VR (also called screen-based VR) can offer the benefits of embodied cognition - great news for learners without headsets.
How IMMERSE Enables Embodied Language Learning
Interactive virtual environments positively impact learning, whether via full body gestures in headsets or mouse and keyboard interactions on a computer.
IMMERSE gives your organization unlimited access to live immersive English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French classes, conversation events, AI-powered practice, and more, across 40+ highly interactive 3D locations.
At IMMERSE, we design learning experiences to be strategically embodied and interactive across all platforms.
This is part of why our learners report such strong results using IMMERSE.
How Embodied Learning Drives ROI in Corporate Language Programs
For organizations, the benefits of embodied learning translate directly into business outcomes:
- Faster language proficiency development
- Better cross-cultural communication
- Stronger global collaboration
- Reduced training time
- Increased productivity in international projects
- Smoother onboarding for multilingual teams
Why Traditional Methods Fall Short
If your organization has tried other language training solutions with limited results, there's a good reason.
Traditional tools don’t engage embodied cognition the way immersive, 3D environments do.
Experiences inside IMMERSE are so convincing that learners' brains process language through embodied pathways.
Try It Yourself
With IMMERSE, your team members can give office tours, practice airport travel scenarios, and conduct meetings in virtual conference rooms - fully in their target language.
Research shows IMMERSE helps learners reach fluency faster and builds confidence in real professional contexts.
IMMERSE is a complete solution for corporate teams, accessible via both VR headsets and standard desktop setups—making it easy to deploy across any organization.
Contact us to learn how embodied cognition can transform your language training program.
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