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Enhancing language teaching with Augmented Reality: Insights from the

ARIDLL project

Conference Paper · September 2024

DOI: 10.4995/EuroCALL2024.2024.19056

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 EuroCALL 2024: CALL for Humanity
26-29 August 2024, Trnava University, Slovakia
DOI: [Link]

Enhancing language teaching with augmented reality: Insights from the ARIDLL
project

Alice Grubera, Anke Bernsb and Mikhail Fominykhc

aTechnical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, , email: [Link]@[Link]; bUniversity of Cádiz, , email:
cNorwegian
[Link]@[Link] and University of Science and Technology, , email: [Link]@[Link]

How to cite: Gruber, A.; Berns, A.; Fominykh, M. (2024). Enhancing language teaching with augmented reality: Insights
from the ARIDLL project. In Y. Choubsaz, P. Díez-Arcón, A. Gimeno-Sanz, J. Hriňák, X. Liashuk, S. Pokrivčáková & H.
Vančová (Eds.), CALL for Humanity - EUROCALL 2024 Short Papers. [Link]

Abstract
Augmented Reality (AR) enhances reality by incorporating digital elements, potentially improving
the understanding of abstract or imperceptible concepts and problem-solving skills. Despite its
potential, AR faces technological challenges and a lack of pedagogically-sound resources. In
language education, AR offers multimodal environments that can boost motivation, engagement,
and promote interactive and collaborative learning among peers. However, its adoption is limited
due to insufficient AR literacy among teachers and a lack of resources. The Erasmus+ funded
Augmented Reality Instructional Design for Language Learning (ARIDLL) project aims to address
these gaps by establishing a professional community, providing AR training for teachers and
instructional designers, and developing open educational resources. By utilising MirageXR, an
open-source AR platform, the project facilitates AR integration into language teaching, fostering
sustainable and innovative learning environments. This paper outlines the rationale for ARIDLL
and showcases an AR activity developed for English for Specific Purposes. It concludes with a
discussion of the project’s next steps to ensure the creation of pedagogically-sound AR learning
activities for language teacher communities.

Keywords: Augmented Reality; language learning; interactive learning; instructional design;

ARIDLL project.

1. Introduction

Augmented Reality (AR) enables users to enhance their perception of reality by incorporating digital elements. It
can also enhance physical items by adding digital and virtual elements, including superimposition (Di Fuccio et
al., 2024). Virtual content can be displayed in two-dimensional or three-dimensional (3D) formats, depending on
the intended user experience. An AR environment adds to reality rather than fully replacing it (Azuma, 1997).
While various devices can run AR applications, such as mobile phones and smart glasses, the most commonly
used devices are mobile phones and tablets. These devices offer all the essential functionalities, such as screens
and computing capabilities, and are more affordable in many educational contexts than devices like smart
glasses. The affordances of AR in education include its ability to create innovative visual representations that can
enhance students' understanding of abstract and imperceptible concepts (Liono et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2013) and
its benefits for students' problem-solving and spatial skills (Guntur & Setyaningrum, 2021). In recent years, there

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 Enhancing language teaching with augmented reality: Insights from the ARIDLL project

has been a growing research interest in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the design of
educational AR platforms (Rangel-de Lázaro, 2023).
However, AR presents technological problems, cognitive load, and a lack of AR literacy. In foreign language
instruction, technical issues can influence students' anxiety levels (Ebadi & Ashrafabadi, 2022), and visual
elements in AR can distract young learners (Chen & Chan, 2019). Consequently, the learning outcome could be
negatively affected. The use of AR technologies in schools can enhance students' learning experiences through
experiential learning if certain principles, such as the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and Cognitive
Load Theory, are applied (Pang & Cai, 2023). Although research has shown that AR can be beneficial, future
studies need to determine when and how it enhances learning and teaching (Buchner & Kerres, 2023).
In language education, AR provides language learners with novel multimodal learning environments, including
visually rich content and auditory and haptic elements. AR can be used in language instruction to enhance
targeted language skills, such as listening, reading, speaking, writing, cultural awareness, and linguistic
components such as phonology (for an overview, see Parmaxi et al., 2024). AR is recognised for enhancing
learner motivation, enjoyment, and engagement in language education (see Parmaxi & Demetriou, 2020).
Studies have shown the potential of AR in these areas, though research remains limited. For listening and
speaking, AR has been used in game-based learning environments to engage learners in peer-to-peer interaction
(Valero-Franco & Berns, 2024). In reading, AR games adapted from storybooks can engage children and
encourage problem-solving and social interaction, though comprehension outcomes remain similar to traditional
methods. For writing, AR applications have demonstrated benefits in content control, structure, and motivation,
particularly for low-achieving students. In addition, AR can foster cultural awareness by allowing learners to
interact with historical contexts and characters, thereby enhancing their understanding of the target language’s
cultures (Parmaxi et al., 2024).
Despite these potential benefits, AR is not commonly used in language education. Many language teachers lack
familiarity with AR's instructional and learning design mechanisms, which hinders its inclusion in their teaching
repertoire (Kaplan-Rakowski et al., 2023). There is also a lack of available resources, including AR tools and
off-the-shelf AR activities for language learners, especially for less commonly taught languages. Moreover, there
is a dearth of AR methodologies for the purpose of language learning.
To address this gap and support practitioners, the ARIDLL project aims to establish a professional community to
meet the demand for digital innovation in language learning through AR. The project's goals are to facilitate the
use of AR in language teaching by offering content across multiple languages, proficiency levels and educational
settings, enhance the skills of language teachers in using and developing AR educational resources and improve
the overall quality of language education.
The main objective of the project is to enable effective language teaching with AR. To achieve this goal, we
work on materials and recommendations for two distinct groups. We develop instructional design guides for
language learning with AR to support language teachers who use this technology. At the same time, we create
technical recommendations for the design of AR tools so that they can support language learning to guide
software developers. Regarding the first objective, the ARIDLL consortium has already published a first
instructional design guide (Parmaxi et al., 2024), offering recommendations and pedagogical reflection to
teachers interested in using and developing AR resources. Regarding the second objective, technical
recommendations for designing AR tools have been provided in the different workshops held by each
consortium partner and will soon be made available to the international teaching and research community
through our project website ([Link]
The initiative aligns with prioritising the improvement of digital readiness, enhancing educators' competencies,
and stimulating innovative teaching practices. To support teachers, the ARIDLL team conducts regular
workshops for language teachers and instructional designers on AR usage and content creation. The team also
supports teachers in developing their own AR language learning materials tailored to educational levels and

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 Alice Gruber; Anke Berns; Mikhail Fominykh

languages relevant to their context. The consortium, consisting of seven universities and a primary school, works
collaboratively to achieve these goals.

This paper presents an overview of the ARIDLL project and provides the reader with a concrete example of AR
activities developed so far, highlighting the added value of AR and MirageXR for language learning.

2. Insight on the development of language learning content with AR

The development of educational content with AR is at the centre of the ARIDLL project and is currently
developing various activities for teachers to use with their students. By developing open educational resources
(OER) and practical guidelines for teachers, the project aims to create a sustainable impact, enabling the broader
educational community to benefit from the project outcomes.

2.1. Content authoring tools in education

Digital content is usually created using specialised software applications called authoring tools. A subclass of
such tools that allow developing content specifically for learning can be called educational authoring tools.
These tools are often designed so that they can be used by teachers and learning designers, who often do not
have advanced graphical design or programming skills which would usually be required to create learning
content without authoring tools.
Educational authoring tools meet a wide range of teachers’ needs, unlike apps that focus on a single learning
objective, context, and learner profile. Authoring tools can promote collaborative design, and foster the
formation of professional communities, which is crucial for the adoption of digital systems (Rodríguez-Triana et
al., 2020).
Educational authoring tools allow creating custom learning activities, which positively impacts teachers'
motivation to use such tools and increases the likelihood of long-term acceptance of digital technology (Mumtaz,
2006). Moreover, these tools produce adaptable activities, enabling open use where teachers can reauthor,
improve, and reuse previously created learning resources. Educational authoring tools also offer a low-cost
alternative to single-purpose software applications, enabling teachers to develop learning activities that are good
enough without the need for expensive developers or designers (Murray et al., 2003).
The advantages of educational authoring tools come with some limitations. According to Murray (2004),
authoring learning content is inherently challenging; authoring tools can address this complexity by focusing on
a specific niche or limiting the complexity of what they allow to be built. Murray (2004) recommends a
participatory design approach, which includes subject matter experts and learners in both the development of
learning content and the design of authoring tools, which can help address these issues. In a more recent review
study, Ahmad et al. (2023) report an overview of modern authoring tools and the types of content they allow to
create, specifically focusing on simulations, serious games, and extended reality, including AR. The paper
discussed the limitations of the current authoring tools related to the educators’ level of control, the lack of tools
for editing specific types of content, and the lack of or limited quality of end-user evaluations.
Interactive educational content for AR can also be created using authoring tools that specialise in this medium.
However, two recent studies have reported that modern AR authoring tools still face several challenges that must
be addressed.
Ez-zaouia et al. (2022) analysed a corpus of 21 AR authoring tools from industry and academia, concluding that
none of them fully met the needs of teachers and that there is little guidance on how to design effective
educational activities. To address this gap, the authors proposed a design space that consists of four dimensions:
authoring workflow, AR modality, AR use, and content and user management. In the same article, a list of three
recommendations on how to design educational AR activities is presented. It states that AR software developers
should incorporate suitable pedagogical approaches to support educators in creating pedagogy-based AR

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 Enhancing language teaching with augmented reality: Insights from the ARIDLL project

activities and engage with teachers to uncover pedagogical activities to support and accompany AR tools with
guidance to design content.
Dengel et al. (2022) examined 26 educational AR authoring tools and found that only a few tools were well-
suited for designing educational AR. Based on their findings, they recommended that developers evaluate AR
toolkits within the context of specific hardware, conduct empirical user studies with teachers, and enable the
creation of interactive AR experiences with minimal required programming skills.

2.2. Language learning scenario design for AR content

When it comes to designing language learning scenarios, teachers who are not familiar with AR tend to struggle
to develop innovative and effective learning scenarios. Multiple studies report a positive attitude towards AR
among language teachers and the need for obtaining practical and technical skills (Belda-Medina & Calvo-
Ferrer, 2022; Perifanou et al., 2023).
As with any new technology, its use does not automatically guarantee better learning outcomes, as Valverde-
Berrocoso et al. (2022) demonstrated in their recent systematic review. They argue that applying new
technologies in education should be seen as a complex process involving hardware, software, learning
methodologies, and context. This leads to the conclusion that the effectiveness of new technologies in education
often depends on how they are used rather than what they are (Hubbard, 2023). Therefore, a certain level of
digital literacy, or in our case the emerging ‘AR literacy’ is needed already at the scenario design stage.
Effective use requires in-depth pedagogical reflection on the learning objectives being pursued and the value a
particular technology might have in achieving them. Yeung et al. (2021), in their review of the impact of
educational technology on learning outcomes, report that technologies can be both beneficial and harmful. They
further argue that the effect of technology on learning depends on the degree to which learners utilise its unique
affordances. This conclusion is supported by Valverde-Berrocoso et al. (2022), who state that the characteristics
of educational technology systems are a major factor affecting academic performance.

2.3. MirageXR in the ARIDLL project

The ARIDLL project uses MirageXR, an educational AR platform designed to create, manage, and deliver AR
learning materials tailored to the needs of students and teachers. MirageXR does not require programming or
graphical design skills to create new AR content, making it accessible for practitioners who want to develop AR
resources. Developed and supported by a community of developers managed by WEKIT Experience Capturing
Solutions, MirageXR involves various educational organisations and projects. The platform is actively
developed and regularly updated with new features and improvements (see [Link]
ECS/MIRAGE-XR/releases). The ARIDLL project helps define scenario requirements and pedagogical patterns
in language learning. MirageXR’s core is open-source, available under the MIT licence, a permissive software
licence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which promotes community-driven development. The
platform is freely available on Google Play and App Store.

3. Learning activities

The consortium has designed and implemented several AR activities using MirageXR. The objective is to
illustrate key features and development possibilities that MirageXR offers for creating AR content for language
learning.
The activity described below is designed as an e-book and exemplifies the use of AR for English for Specific
Purposes. It presents engineering students with interactive 3D models, including a combustion engine and its
components (Fig. 1). When students interact with different parts, the name of each part is displayed, and an
audio explanation of the processes in English is given. Learners can view the 3D objects from different angles by
moving their devices. The objective is for learners to acquire specialised terminology and understand technical

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 Alice Gruber; Anke Berns; Mikhail Fominykh

processes. Students are then tasked with dragging and dropping the correct labels onto the corresponding object.
A brief video showcasing the activities is available here: [Link] Depending on the
learners, the activity can be stand-alone or supplemented with worksheets to provide additional scaffolding. As a
follow-up, we plan to employ virtual characters with AI features to provide learners with relevant information
and support when learning about specific topics such as engine mechanics and others. This would require
learners to articulate what they have learned, effectively applying the vocabulary and knowledge gained from the
activity. The virtual characters will provide feedback on the quality of their explanations.

Figure 1. Example of an activity for English for Specific Purposes. (Illustration: Zafrul Huzail)

4. Conclusions and perspectives

The example presented in this paper highlights the potential of AR to create highly visual and interactive
learning activities that can provide learners with pedagogically sound resources for language learning beyond the
classroom. Further implementation of the activity with AI could offer opportunities to create more personalised
learning experiences where students can practise their speaking skills by interacting directly with AI-powered
virtual characters configured by the language teacher to adapt to their learners’ profiles and proficiency levels
(Godwin-Jones, 2023). In the field of language learning, this opens up unprecedented opportunities to extend
oral language practice beyond the classroom through real-life-like interaction.

Despite the promising opportunities that AR and AI offer for creating novel learning environments, our
experience from the ARDILL workshops held so far has shown that teachers still struggle with the pedagogical
and technical design of effective AR learning activities, both with and without AI. To help teachers become
more familiar and confident with the creation and implementation of AR content, the project will focus in the
coming year not only on training teachers in the pedagogical and technical design of AR resources but also on
sharing existing AR practices and resources with the teaching community.

Finally, the ARIDLL team plans to run several pilots with learners from different languages, proficiency levels
and backgrounds to collect learner feedback to inform the development of future AR learning activities with
MirageXR.

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 Enhancing language teaching with augmented reality: Insights from the ARIDLL project

Acknowledgements

The ARIDLL project has received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, grant
agreement 2022-1-NO01-KA220-HED-000088034 ([Link] The consortium consists of the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (Norway), Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus), Technical
University of Applied Sciences Augsburg (Germany), Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences (Germany),
University of Cadiz (Spain), University of Cyprus (Cyprus), The Open University (UK), 15th Primary School of
Evosmos (Greece). We would also like to thank Zafrul Huzail for his assistance in developing the AR activity
featured in this paper.

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