This study examined the learning of phrasal verbs (PV) by thre groups (n=10 each) of Chinese-L1 ESL intermediate proficiency learners. Participants completed session 1 which consisted of a PV proficiency knowledge test used as a pre-screening test, and a language background questionnaire. Those who showed no knowledge of the PV being tested were called in for a session 2, where participants were split into a control and two experimental groups.

Participants in the experimental groups received a list of the PVs being tested and their equivalents in English and Chinese. They were asked to study this list for 10 minutes. After this, participants in the VR group practiced the meaning of these verbs by completing a semi-guided VR game (1) where they adopted the role of a cook in training; whereas participants in the other experimental group completed a traditiona practice where they had to insert the most appropriate VP (from a textbox) in a few contextualized dialogues. After completing the practice portion in session 2, participants were asked to take the same PV knowledge test they took during session 1 to assess potential gains over time. Participants in the control group only completed the PV proficiency knowledge tests in session 1 and 2. Overall, preliminary findings show that participants in the experimental VR group showed larger gains over time compared to the control and other experimental group..