The British Council recently formed a partnership with the ARDAA research network in English didactics to share the voices and work of different researchers in France in an accessible and engaging way. Our goal is that English teachers have the opportunity to hear from a wide range of academics working in the field and to experiment with their insights in their classrooms. These blogs do not represent official British Council recommendations but help feed lively debates and discussions around English teaching and learning.
In this blog article, Virginie Privas-Bréauté, a senior lecturer in English studies and ATILF member at the Université de Lorraine and CNRS, shares her research looking at the potential of augmented reality as an educational tool.
What happens when theatre, immersive technology and environmental education meet? Over the past few years, immersive experiences have multiplied, from virtual reality installations to augmented storytelling, and educators have started looking at these environments not just as entertainment but as powerful learning tools.
My recent study explored whether an augmented-reality-enhanced immersive theatre performance could help audiences, especially young people, connect emotionally and cognitively with environmental issues. In November 2023, groups of secondary school students attended La Germination, D’autres mondes possibles (episode 1), an innovative production by Joris Mathieu and Nicolas Boudier at Les Ateliers – Théâtre Nouvelle Génération in Lyon.
The performance combines live acting with augmented reality (AR) glasses that overlay digital images directly onto the physical stage (Figure 2). After the show, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their experience. 75 responses provide fascinating insights into how AR may open new paths for what I call “Augmented Enactive Learning”, a form of learning that emerges through embodied engagement, sensory immersion and emotional resonance.
A performance that blends fiction, technology and ecology
At first glance, La Germination looks like theatre as we know it with the performers onstage and the spectators seated in front of them. But the moment the AR glasses are activated, the experience shifts. Virtual animals appear to cross the stage, particles drift in the air and the ground seems to grow, melt or disintegrate. The physical and digital layers fuse into a hybrid world that asks: What futures do we want to imagine for ourselves and for the planet?
Despite minimal physical interaction (spectators remain seated and respond with simple gestures), the sensory experience is rich and absorbing. This specific design choice is important because the performance does not rely on high levels of interactivity but instead cultivates a reflective, almost meditative form of engagement.
Embodied learning, or how the body shapes awareness
Embodied cognition suggests that learning happens not only through the mind but through the body and its interactions with the environment. AR technologies make this relationship even more complex: wearing the glasses becomes part of the experience. For many participants, the headset created a sense of first-person immersion, heightened emotional responses, or acted as a perceptual “filter” that changed how they viewed the stage.
Some discomfort was inevitable, with eye strain, heat or fatigue due to the weight of the glasses, but the vast majority kept the device on throughout the 70-minute show. Interestingly, even those who found the glasses uncomfortable still reported that the AR layer felt new, intriguing or thought-provoking. In other words, novelty can outweigh discomfort, at least temporarily.
Animals, light and the planet captured viewers most
When asked which visual effects struck them the most, participants repeatedly mentioned:
- the stingray gliding overhead,
- the whale crossing the greenhouse,
- butterflies flying toward the audience,
- plants growing or decomposing,
- the earth dissolving into light or particles.
These images are not arbitrary, for they embody ecological processes and fragilities. They visualise what is often difficult to grasp, such as ecosystem collapse, biodiversity loss or planetary regeneration. And, because spectators experience them rather than simply observing them, these images gain emotional weight.
