1. Introduction
The process of learning German easily falls into two extreme cycles of rejection after setbacks and the accumulation of achievement and motivation (
Noels et al. 2016). Being in the former position can make the learner feel resistant to studying, while being in the latter position can provide additional help as learning progresses. How to avoid going to negative extremes underscores the importance of psychological research in German instruction. Teachers need to think more about how students’ internal motivation and external behaviour evolve over time, as well as other psychological and environmental factors that may influence changes in students’ mentality (
Dörnyei et al. 2014). In German instruction, we should try to help students build positive emotions to achieve good learning outcomes. This requires the constant review and iteration of teaching methods. In German teaching, teachers need to try new teaching methods as well as evaluate existing ones. Choosing more effective teaching methods can help improve the quality and popularity of education.
At present, there are some commonly discussed teaching methods in foreign language teaching. Canadian educators have proposed the immersion teaching method (ITM) for writing and foreign language teaching (
Zhong and Zhu 2019). The ITM involves placing students in a linguistic environment other than that of their mother tongue and teaching them entirely in a foreign language (
Li 2021). By encouraging students to adapt to the foreign language they wish to learn and to receive more language training, students can practice their own language expression level (
Ye 2021). Communicative language teaching (CLT) is aimed at improving communicative competence (
Richards and Schmidt 2013). CLT’s focus is no longer limited to established listening and speaking training but encourages students to use language as a meaningful communication tool. CLT creates opportunities for learners to communicate in a foreign language and to integrate communication activities into a broader language teaching programme (
Howatt 1984). Task-based language teaching (TLT) emphasises ‘learning by doing’. TLT was developed from CLT and centres on student expression (
Ellis 2016).
Nunan (
1989) proposed the framework of TLT, including teaching objectives, information input, activities, the roles of teachers and students, teaching situations, and other content. Before using TLT, teachers should identify students’ needs and design tasks according to those needs so that students can better apply linguistic knowledge to real life (
Long 2014). In TLT instruction, it is necessary to create a situation in which students continuously express their ideas in the target language and achieve a degree of proficiency that others can comprehend (
Prabhu 1987). The grammar-translation method (GTM) is a classic teaching approach where one learns a language through the detailed analysis of grammatical rules and carries out constant translation between the target language and one’s mother tongue (
Richards and Rodgers 2014).
VanPatten (
2003) asserted that one of the main goals of GTM is to cultivate students’ reading and translation abilities through memorising grammar rules and completing grammar exercises; another goal is to cultivate students’ comprehensive intelligence. Despite the variety of language teaching methods available, they are still essentially based in offline classrooms. With the rapid development of digital media technology, digital education has brought new possibilities for language learning. Exploring new teaching methods based on digital media technology may help establish a more scientific and ideal foreign language learning process and help students acquire foreign languages more effectively.
We focus on the teaching effect of AR picture books on students’ reading in German instruction. Picture books are a common means of foreign language learning. As a carrier of high contextual diversity, they can play a better role in learning by narrating stories with pictures (
Damayanti and Febrianti 2020). The use of picture books is obviously helpful to foreign language learning and is critical to the entire process. Although many scholars oppose the use of translation as a learning strategy in classroom teaching, continuous translation between the targeted foreign language and one’s mother tongue during the reading process is similar to a natural response of language learners (
Cook 2007). The pauses in translation caused by unfamiliar words and sentences in reading paragraphs often make it difficult for learners to concentrate on and grasp knowledge points, resulting in low efficiency in learning German by reading textbooks. This has a negative impact on students’ mindset. Therefore, marking in teaching text paragraphs is vital and helps students clarify the focus of learning and reduce the impact of new words (
Degand and Sanders 2002). Content that is more likely to be recalled after reading is the bold or specially marked part of the paragraph, rather than content that is not clearly indicated in typesetting (
Peters 2012). Text marking is used to distinguish relatively important content in a paragraph to help readers notice more relevant text (
Hyuk 2003).
Geva (
1986) pointed out that students performed better when reading bold, marked text than when reading unmarked text.
Geva and Ryan (
1985) found that students’ reading comprehension improved after highlighting the typesetting of key content in the text. Appropriate labelling helps language learners read the text and reduces negative perceptions by reducing the frequency of incomprehension. Therefore, it is urgent to test innovative marking approaches for picture books. Much of the existing research has focused on how to mark texts more scientifically (
Bishop 2004;
De Ridder 2002), but marking instructional texts in German picture books through AR interaction has not yet been discussed.
The most salient feature of AR technology is tracking. Virtual objects’ movements can be tracked by calculating detected features. Artificial markers are widely used (
Brito and Stoyanova 2018) to display virtual objects in German instruction. This paper focuses on three research questions to verify the significance of using AR picture books in German teaching and how to design AR picture books that are more conducive to German teaching. Firstly, compare the respective teaching effects of AR picture books and traditional picture books. If traditional picture books are introduced into AR picture books, better teaching effects will be achieved, indicating that extra production costs are worth paying. Secondly, through the comparison of learning interests (LI), continuous learning intention (CLI), and learning outcomes (LO); it is tested whether students’ satisfaction with AR picture books will have an impact on learning. This is closely tied to the design of picture books. If there is a difference in teaching effects between picture books with different satisfaction levels, it represents the significance of studying students’ preferences for AR picture books. Thirdly, the structural equation model is established to put forward suggestions for the design of AR picture books. AR picture books present text in an interactive way, so the design effects of interactive narratives and flow experience need to be discussed. In addition, the effect of peer learning needs to be examined because of its possible influence on students’ learning processes. Unlike traditional picture books, AR picture books can present content in an interactive way. Given that AR technology can help teaching in nature, music, and many other subjects (
Huang et al. 2011;
Kerawalla et al. 2006;
Wei et al. 2015), it may also be helpful in German instruction at universities. At present, the important growth markets for German learning are in Asia, especially China. According to data surveys conducted by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions, about 145,000 people studied German in China in 2020, reaching a 25% increase compared to 109,000 in 2015 (
Goetheinstitut 2020). In 2018, China’s Ministry of Education announced that German and other minor languages would be included in the national college entrance examination, further confirming the importance of German learning. Therefore, this paper chooses students from China’s mainland and Taiwan region as research objects to investigate the influence of AR picture books on their German learning. It is an innovative mode of thinking to educate with interactivity. It is critical to study the application of AR picture books in German instruction. The application of AR picture books in German education has promoted the theoretical development of new pedagogical techniques. In terms of management significance, the contribution of AR picture books to instruction can provide a sufficient reason for schools and teachers to use AR picture books to teach German, and students’ user behaviour in the learning process provides an aesthetic basis for designers. Although some educational scholars have paid attention to the help of AR technology in language education, there is still no comprehensive quantitative evaluation of AR picture books in specific language teaching. Considering that it is important and urgent to improve the teaching effect in German learning, this paper has theoretical and practical novelty and contribution.
3. Prestudy Comparison of German Teaching Effects between AR Picture Books and Traditional Picture Books
3.1. Research Background
Students’ satisfaction with picture books needs to be controlled due to the interference that may occur in the model (
Kamphuis 1991;
Woody et al. 2010). It is usually associated with both cognitive and emotional aspects (
Oliver 2014). Cognition implies that when the reward is higher than the expected value, satisfaction will be generated; otherwise, dissatisfaction will be produced (
Oliver 1980). Emotions, another important component of satisfaction (
Phillips and Baumgartner 2002), play a significant role (
Ladhari 2007). They describe the mood of the moment and help one evaluate how pleasant it is to feel something (
Paulssen and Birk 2007). Therefore, the assessment of satisfaction with picture books usually takes into account students’ cognition of the gap between their expectations and reality (
Szymanski and Henard 2001), as well as how they feel after reading picture books (
Mai and Ness 1999). These two aspects jointly explain satisfaction with picture books (
Bigné et al. 2005).
3.2. Research Purpose
For the prestudy, we collected picture book samples through the internet and library, and we classified and selected two representative picture book samples with high and low satisfaction levels to avoid possible influences caused by different satisfaction levels in Studies 1–3.
3.3. Methods and Materials
The respondents were college students, including students majoring in German, students who chose German courses from different majors, or students who took German courses outside of school. We did not choose children’s picture books; that is, we selected the picture book sample for an audience whose scope was close to the target group of young people and adults (
Kümmerling-Meibauer 2015). We (the nine authors of the present study) discussed and decided whether the collected picture books met this standard at an internal meeting. The criteria included whether the students were interested, willing to try reading, and willing to keep reading. Some picture books involve children’s stories, but many college students enjoy them, so we included them in the collection scope. In total, we selected 30 samples of picture books. To eliminate possible interference from the picture book samples—such as readers’ potential preference and selection of picture books (
Robinson et al. 1997), or the interaction effect caused by the combination of image narratives and text narratives (
Wesseling 2004)—we performed multivariate scale and cluster analyses to cluster the samples. Each picture book was given to the subjects, who were asked to categorise them into groups. The classification was based on the subjects’ belief that the samples in each group had high similarity, and little difference in preferences for samples in the group after classification. The number of groups and the number of samples within each group were not restricted. At the end of the clustering process, representative samples from each group were chosen according to our internal meetings. The selection was based on similarity with other samples in each respective group.
Picture books were classified from September to October 2020. The respondents were 60 college students (28 males and 32 females). There were 13 freshmen (21.7%), 17 sophomores (28.3%), 15 juniors (25.0%), and 15 seniors (25.0%). After gathering the classification results, we converted the outcomes of graph card clustering from the correlation frequency matrix to a different frequency matrix, and we further calculated the Euclidean distance between each sample and the corresponding six-dimensional coordinates using multivariate scale analysis.
At the end of grouping, we tested students’ satisfaction with the representative samples of each group. We conducted the study in November 2020, and 68 college students participated in the evaluation (28 males and 40 females). There were 17 freshmen (25.0%), 16 sophomores (23.5%), 23 juniors (33.8%), and 12 seniors (17.6%). The questionnaire used for the test was the 3-question satisfaction scale proposed by
Rouibah and Al-Hassan (
2019). We performed ANOVA on the picture book samples with the highest and lowest satisfaction levels to establish whether there were significant differences in students’ satisfaction with the two samples. The chosen picture books with the highest and lowest satisfaction levels were redrawn as Chinese–German bilingual picture books, and AR interaction points were added at text markers to achieve the AR effect (
Tang 2021).
3.4. Results
We carried out multivariate scale analysis to obtain the coordinates of each sample in six-dimensional space. The fitting results showed that Kruskal’s stress value was 0.0673 < 0.10 and Young’s S-stress value was 0.080 < 0.10, both within the acceptable standard. RSQ = 0.963 indicated that the explanatory power of the model reached 96.3% and that the data fit well (
Kruskal 1978).
Furthermore, we used hierarchical cluster analysis to compute the six-dimensional data via Ward’s method without specifying the number of clusters. The results indicate that in the last ten clustering cycles, the incremental percentage of some agglomeration coefficients has increased. The next-to-last shot rose from 30.79% to 102.59%, the fourth-to-last shot from 31.08% to 42.02%, the fifth-to-last shot from 18.81% to 31.08%, and the eighth-to-last shot from 19.54% to 24.19%. This signals that clustering with these four cluster numbers may have been more reasonable. Therefore, we repeated hierarchical cluster analysis using the method of specifying the number of clusters. The MANOVA results of the post-clustering samples showed that only the eight-group clustering exhibited significant differences in all six dimensions (
p < 0.05), implying that the eight-group clustering had the least number of groups and the cleanest intergroup segmentation among all clustering. In addition, we employed Cohen’s kappa test to compare the grouping outcomes of the eight groups specified by Ward’s method with those of the eight groups specified by the k-means method; κ > 0.5 and
p < 0.05, indicating no significant difference between the two groups (
Chen et al. 2010). We verified the accuracy of hierarchical cluster analysis.
Figure 2 presents the classification outcomes of each picture book sample and the selection results of the representative samples. For copyright reasons, the samples in this paper are denoted by code name.
Satisfaction tests on a representative sample of picture books demonstrated that the BBAC had the highest satisfaction among the eight representative samples; AVG = 4.201, SD = 0.724. Satisfaction with FY was the lowest; AVG = 3.843, SD = 0.772. The ANOVA of the two samples showed that the statistics of Levene’s test were not significant; W = 0.789,
p = 0.376. It meets the homogeneity hypothesis. As indicated in
Table 1, there were significant differences between the sample groups; F = 7.776,
p = 0.006. There were differences in satisfaction between the two groups, so these two picture books were suitable for selection as representative samples.
We produced the AR sample through Unity Vuforia (
Santoso and Gook 2012), the most commonly used AR development platform in the world; over 30,000 apps have been created with Vuforia in the AppStore and Google Play (
Barrile et al. 2018). Vuforia utilises a database containing user-defined object information, which is employed by the camera to compare the content in the viewfinder in real time, obtain 3D coordinates when the object appears, and display predefined virtual content on a realistic basis in a tracking manner. The interactions with AR picture books in this study include three aspects. The sample production outcomes of the picture book are shown in
Figure 3. The first aspect entails scanning and model presentation. Students can use phones equipped with software to scan objects and study with virtual objects that appear in books. For students, the model presentation adds the dimension of a picture book, and the process of students scanning and the models appearing is an interaction (
Chen and Wang 2015). Interactive learning environments can have positive effects on learning (
Ho et al. 2017). Therefore, AR technology may help with German instruction.
The second aspect is that students control the model’s size through gestures after scanning the interaction effect. The programme obtains the 2D coordinate points behind the first touch screen of the two fingers and the corresponding new 2D coordinate points after real-time movement, by comparing the difference value of the coordinate points to judge whether the current gesture implies enlarging or shrinking.
The third aspect indicates the use of AR picture books to achieve audio reading. The text of each AR interaction is pre-recorded by voice. The sound continues to play when the target image is continuously tracked; conversely, the sound is turned off if the target image is lost.
3.5. Discussion
The main purpose of this study was to determine the suitability and match of the tested object and sample, and to eliminate external factors that may interfere as much as possible. Due to the complexity of language picture books and the uncertainty of personal perception, the importance and contribution of this step are self-evident. At the same time, the screening and testing steps in this phase can be used as a reference for subsequent research. When faced with complex samples, screening can be carried out through the above steps to address a variety of research topics. In addition, at this stage, through the classification and screening of picture book samples, the cost of subsequent AR sample production is reduced, the efficiency of the overall study is improved, and the foundation for subsequent research is established.
7. General Discussion
In recent years, AR technology has played a vital role in many university courses due to its innovation in teaching methods (
Yuen et al. 2011). The exploration of AR applications in German education is a critical part of educational thinking and improvement. Through one prestudy and three studies, we explored the application of AR picture books in German instruction, as shown in
Table 14. For the prestudy, we used cluster analysis and ANOVA to select two representative samples of picture books with high and low satisfaction, thus paving the way for subsequent studies. For Study 1, to prove that AR picture books can assist with teaching, we used ANOVA to compare the use of AR picture books in German instruction to increase students’ learning interest (versus traditional picture books). For Study 2, to prove the influence of the two variables of AR picture textbook satisfaction and students’ German proficiency, we performed a 2-way MANOVA to show that drawing ability with higher satisfaction would increase learning interest, continuous learning intention, and learning outcomes. At the same time, Study 2 indicates that students with higher German proficiency had greater learning interest, continuous learning intention, and learning outcomes. According to the results of Study 2, improving students’ satisfaction with AR picture books in German instruction is key to obtaining a more positive learning perception. To explore ways to effectively enhance satisfaction with AR picture books, we conducted Study 3 to establish a structural equation model to investigate the impact of INDE, flow, and peer learning on satisfaction. This paper provides some important findings through step-by-step verification, which we will discuss in detail.
The results confirm that, compared with traditional picture books, AR technology can more strongly promote students’ interest in learning German. The use of AR technology for marking picture books is very inclusive. There is no negative or abrupt combination between AR technology and picture books, and the use of interaction design as a teaching aid shows its potential. Because AR picture books can boost students’ interest in learning German, teachers can try to use AR picture books to teach when they believe that students need encouragement to promote the positive cycle of the learning state. For students in a positive mental state of learning, AR picture books may help them to sustainably maintain their enthusiasm for learning. For students in a negative psychological state of learning, AR picture books may help to improve current laziness or resistance and return them to a virtuous circle of learning.
We comprehensively evaluated students’ learning states in the process of studying German based on the three constructs of learning interest, continuous learning intention, and learning outcomes. What is exciting is that in the two groups with better German proficiency and poor German proficiency, the satisfaction of students with AR picture books shows a significant influence on their learning state. The improvement of satisfaction can effectively help students obtain higher learning interest, continuous learning intention, and learning outcomes to establish a good learning state. This indicates that the design research of AR picture books is important when they are used in German instruction. An excellent AR picture book design increases students’ satisfaction and plays a better role in teaching. As a crucial construct of evaluation teaching tools, satisfaction plays a substantial role in the process of using AR picture books in German instruction. Hence, it is vital to conduct in-depth design research on AR picture books so that students can be more satisfied with them.
On the other hand, in the group with high satisfaction and the group with low satisfaction, as a dividing construct, students’ German proficiency had a positive effect on learning interest, continuous learning intention, and learning outcomes. Students with better German proficiency had higher learning status than those with poor German proficiency, which points to the continuous effect of learning psychological polarisation in German learning. When students gain a feeling of small achievement, they can continue to accumulate a positive learning state. On the other hand, students with poor German proficiency may have corresponding resistance due to constant self-denial or fear of unknown learning content. There was no significant interaction between satisfaction and German proficiency. This implies that we cannot quickly adjust students’ German proficiency through the design of AR picture books. Language learning is a cumulative process, and students can only improve their ability from poor to good through long-term ongoing learning. It is important to encourage and actively guide students in teaching. Giving encouragement to students can promote their learning psychology in a positive cycle and help them accumulate knowledge points to enhance their German proficiency.
As an interactive design product, the AR picture book has the attribute of INDE when presenting the text of German pedagogical materials. The results verify that INDE comes from perceived interactivity, perceived narrativity, and perceived integrity. As
Ryan (
2006) said, the interactive way that users participate in interactive products, the division of interactive nodes in how interactive products present interactive text, and the completeness of presenting stories constitute the INDE of interaction design. This structure is also applicable in AR picture books. Through the structural equation model, INDE has a direct positive influence on flow and indirectly has a positive influence on AR picture book satisfaction through the mediator of flow. This indicates that sufficient attention should be given to perceived interactivity, perceived narrativity, and perceived integrity in the design of AR picture books for German teaching. Perceived interactivity requires AR picture books to interact with students in a reasonable way. For example, interactive experiences such as feedback and control, creation or cocreation, and self-adaptation can be achieved by using reasonable interactive behaviours, such as clicking, shaking, and sliding (
Shedroff 1999). Perceived narrativity imposes requirements both on the content and presentation method of the text. The content of German instructional materials should be more narrative, and language learning should be fully combined with the story content, rather than simply combining grammar and text. In addition, in the process of combining text with interactive nodes in AR picture books, the re-disconnection and recombination of teaching text in a reasonable way should be based on the principle of retaining or improving the narrative nature of the original text. Perceived integrity is closely related to the full rendering of textual content. The design of AR picture books should reduce the possible pause (or even complete termination) of reading caused by adding the AR effect. The presentation of the story should be as comprehensive as possible. AR picture books should be designed on the premise of maintaining the integrity of the teaching text, and students should be given the right to read as completely as possible in instruction.
We also found that flow can directly influence satisfaction. Flow implies self-efficacy or the perception of challenge generated during interaction, which produces a positive experience of total engagement when the challenge is of moderate difficulty (
Hamari et al. 2016). AR picture books used in German teaching should be designed to maintain appropriate interaction difficulty in the process of students’ experience to obtain a stronger flow experience. For example, students may be required to perform an operation within a limited time or to imitate an action and score the accuracy of the imitation. Through the pre-test of the publishing task in AR interaction, the operation requirements that are not too difficult but have some difficulty for students are set. At the same time, attention should be given to combining the key points of knowledge that need to be mastered in the process of the operation to achieve an effective learning state when using AR picture books for learning German.
The test outcomes of peer relationships in the process of German learning show that the change in learning relationships in the peer learning group or independent learning group did not have an effective moderating effect on the path of INDE to satisfaction. The teaching results of some subjects indicate that peer learning can obtain the educational effect more efficiently (
Hilsdon 2014). The use of AR picture books for German learning relaxes the requirement for companionship, and one can also study well. Adopting AR picture books for German learning is undoubtedly more inclusive in terms of learning conditions. Students are free to study German at a higher level of efficiency without being constrained by interpersonal ties in learning relationships.
8. Theoretical Contribution
The contribution of this paper to theoretical development includes three aspects. On the first hand, by comparing the influence of AR picture books and traditional books on students’ learning interest in German, it is proved that students who use AR picture books have higher learning interest. From the perspective of theoretical research, this survey shows that the language teaching research about AR picture books is meaningful. Although AR picture books have a higher threshold to use, the better teaching effect it brings deserves more exploration and theoretical research by researchers. In addition to proving the value of previous studies, a broader study of AR picture books as teaching aids in a variety of courses or for students with a various characteristics proved to be meaningful. In addition, through the comparison of this study, it is preliminarily proved that it is necessary to further study the time and method of using AR picture books as German learning AIDS. Secondly, since language learning is a process of long-term memory and application, learning interest and continuous learning intention related to long-term behaviors are equally important in teaching activities in addition to current learning outcomes. In the studies on language teaching, researchers need to clarify whether AR picture books, as a new technology, can attract students and motivate them to engage in long-term language learning. Through the comparison of these three dimensions, this research proves the close relationship between students’ satisfaction with AR picture books and German learning from a theoretical perspective. It reveals the necessity of research on AR picture book design. Thirdly, this paper integrates previous studies on the effects of flow theory and interactive narrative design and develops and verifies an interactive narrative design for learning model (INDLM) for AR picture book design. Different from mature theoretical models such as TAM or UTAUT2, which are often discussed in human-computer interaction studies, INDLM pays more attention to human-computer interaction design for education. Although previously mature models have been applied and developed in many different studies, theoretical models developed specifically for specific purposes of use have an advantage in terms of explanatory power and validity over widely applicable theoretical models in this technological explosion era. Therefore, the study of interaction design specifically for education is equally important as a valuable research direction. The main contribution of this paper to model proposal and theoretical development lies in the development of INDLM and confirms its importance in AR picture book design. This study also lays a theoretical foundation for the subsequent application of the model and pedagogical behavior research. This study confirms the importance of perceived interactivity, perceived narrativity, perceived integrity and flow experience in human-computer interaction design applied to education. In addition, this study challenges the effectiveness of the peer learning method in the context of human-computer interaction.
9. Managerial Implications
The results of this research on AR German picture books can help improve students’ learning experiences. The results of this study have special significance for digital education, especially for German language courses at university level. At present, no quantitative evaluation has been performed in the field of the teaching effect of AR picture books in German education. AR picture books change students’ learning experiences by transforming the learning content from the text presentation or watching and listening process of audio-visual materials into an interactive process. According to the results of this study, if students use AR picture books as a learning tool in the process of learning German, they can obtain a higher learning interest than traditional picture books. In addition, peer learning in the process of learning German by using AR picture books has been proved to have no obvious benefits compared with students’ independent learning. The research results provide a basis for teachers and learners to use AR picture books as teaching aids in the process of language learning, and the necessity of social and public learning environment is no longer emphasized, which reduces the requirement of peer learning for students in the process of learning in order to obtain better learning results. The results indicate that interactive learning courses and traditional courses may differ in teaching methods and educational conclusions. Teachers should reconsider interactive learning in addition to their accumulated classroom teaching experience. In addition, students’ satisfaction with AR picture books is very important, which will directly affect students’ learning interest, continuous learning intention and learning outcomes. Therefore, in German learning courses, designers should try to design AR picture books with higher student satisfactory. In addition, another practical contribution of this study is that INDLM can be used as a reference for designers in designing AR picture books for the purpose of education. Designers should pay attention to the perceived interactivity, perceived narrativity and perceived integrity of students’ learning materials, which means the way of interaction between AR picture books and students, the story sequence told by the text, and whether the text can be fully learned within the course should be paid attention to. At present, although the technology of producing AR picture books is approaching maturity, the higher equipment cost, and the learning cost make it difficult for schools and teachers to make extensive attempts to apply new technologies before its proved effectiveness. Nowadays, many schools and teachers have explored the application of multimedia in education. From offline local software, to online web interaction, and then to intelligent technology to empower the system. The use of digital education technology expands educational activities from classroom to network space, and even influences external social culture from educational system.
10. Conclusions
We explored the teaching effects of AR picture books as applied to German instruction in university education. As a vehicle of presenting texts and marking key learning content, AR picture books can enable students to obtain a better learning experience and more positive learning tendencies. When students use AR picture books for learning, the more satisfied they are with the picture books, the more positive their learning state will be. This underscores the importance of designing and researching teaching tools and improving their quality in the process of language teaching. By using AR picture books, students can learn German more happily and enter a positive cycle of learning psychology. In the process of learning German, the INDE of AR picture books plays an important role in the satisfaction of picture books and the students’ ultimate learning state. In the design of interactive teaching tools, we should pay more attention to interactivity, narratives, and integrity. At the same time, the research reveals that learning German with AR picture books has no requirement for the formation of peer relationships during learning.
The main research limitation of this research is that the subjects are from China’s mainland and Taiwan region. The sample is representative of native Chinese students to some extent. Although the survey results have some explanatory power for the learning process of college students, students from other countries and cultures may not be fully represented due to the differences in their upbringing environment and mother tongue system, which needs to be further verified by future studies. It is important to further explore other constructs that influence student satisfaction in AR picture book design. It is necessary to pay attention to the iteration of the structural equation model after adding new design elements. Deeper design and improvement of AR picture books can play a better role in German learning under the agency of satisfaction. Previous studies have shown that gender differences seem to be a moderating variable in learning German (
Okuniewski 2014). We did not test for that in this study, and more comparisons can be made in future research. In addition, the results of this study indicate that AR picture books may also be beneficial to students’ learning of other foreign languages, which requires further examination in the future. Furthermore, the application of AR picture books in teaching requires the support of electronic devices and applications, which undoubtedly increases the capital cost of education and the cost of users’ learning of teaching facilities. Future studies should further explore whether other more standard ways to enhance picture books could be used, and the effectiveness of these teaching aids should also be tested. Our conclusion proves the effectiveness of AR picture books in college German instruction and suggests ideas for college language teaching. Especially for teaching minority languages, the influence of AR technology on students’ interest and efficiency in language learning can be further tested. For example, learning dialects to continue and preserve traditional culture, the training of college students majoring in specific languages. From a longer-term perspective, the application of AR in the language field makes traditional teaching more interesting, which is of great significance to teaching. In the future, AR devices can be mass-produced and placed in schools, shopping malls, and training institutions to increase the interest of the general public, students, and children in learning different languages. The actual contribution of this research can be spread to other fields, such as the development of children’s AR devices to meet the enlightenment education needs of preschool children and quick on-the-job training for new employees. AR has very broad prospects in the future. The complete research system and experimental analysis results of this study can be used as a reference for future research, and AR technology can be applied in more fields.