Virtual Reality for Developing Intercultural Communication Skills of Engineering Students

Nowadays, virtual reality (VR) systems gain popularity in various applications ranging from space to entertainment. Education took up this challenge thus promoting virtual reality into the learning environment, first of all, in teaching science and engineering. Courses in humanities, however, are often ignored, though they have a great potential of applying VR techniques to develop students' soft skills, intercultural communication among them. To bridge this gap, the paper aims at analyzing the demand for VR, the experience in virtual reality and readiness of Master's degree engineering students for taking courses with immersion into virtual reality, using the example of intercultural communication courses. The authors analyzed recent publications in research journals and conference proceedings on the use of VR tools in higher education paying special attention to engineering curricula. The authors also conducted a survey among 87 MSc students focusing on the degree to which students are familiar with VR and ready to study through immersion into VR. The overall analysis of the survey results revealed that the students have a limited experience of using VR in any applications but most of them are ready for this experience in education. Based on these interpretations of the survey results, the authors made an attempt to develop a draft course to introduce elements of VR into EFL teaching for engineering students. Further research can be done to disseminate the initial experience of VR applications and to update the course developed.