What potential do XR technologies have for teaching languages to women with a migrant background? How can they be used to overcome language barriers? These questions were the focus of the international XR-Women project, which was completed at the end of 2024.
The project consortium, consisting of partners from Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Switzerland, spent two years working intensively on issues related to the potential of XR technologies for language teaching. The focus was on women with a migration background. The result is concepts for using XR technologies to promote language learning in this target group and to overcome possible language barriers with the help of XR.
The first phase of the project involved intensive research by the consortium. Building on this, the project partners conducted surveys in their respective countries among relevant providers on the use of XR. Finally, in a pilot phase, lessons using XR technologies were implemented in the various countries.
Test in several groups
In Switzerland, Academia Integration tested language teaching with XR technologies in several groups. The participants were interested and motivated to work with the new technologies. The teachers also rated the use of XR technologies positively, although there were some technical hurdles to overcome during use.
The findings from the research, the survey and the pilot phase have been incorporated into the products developed during the project. These products are available to anyone interested in them. Specifically, there is a project website with background information on the project and the topic, an e-learning environment with project material, information and networking opportunities, and a toolkit for trainers who want to use XR technologies in their teaching.