Aug 2026· Contemporary Educational Technology· Vol 18, pp. ep678· 0 citations· 21 references
TL;DR
The perceptions of intermediate-level Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) students toward a VR-embedded station rotation learning model are explored, revealing seven themes: five positive—VR technology, vividness, practice, personalization, and receiving help—and two negative—challenging tasks and technology use.
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) has become an increasingly valuable tool for learning because it can transform abstract ideas into concrete, meaningful concepts. However, students’ perceptions of this emerging approach are crucial for developing an effective VR-based teaching model. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of intermediate-level Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) students toward a VR-embedded station rotation learning model. A qualitative case study design was employed, using focus group interviews and open-ended questionnaires with 30 intermediate-level CFL students from a college in China who participated in the VR-embedded station rotation model for one semester. Data were collected at mid-semester and at the end of the semester. The findings revealed seven themes: five positive—VR technology, vividness, practice, personalization, and receiving help—and two negative—challenging tasks and technology use. Students appreciated the immersive VR experiences, interactive activities, and personalized feedback, but also encountered difficulties with task complexity and technical issues.
Virtual Reality (VR) being an promising tool for immersive learning nowadays, nevertheless, in K-12 classrooms across the UAE, it's still underexplored thus highlighting a research gap in VR in the UAE context. This study collected data from twenty-five teachers in a single UAE private school who used VR with their students. Using qualitative focus group interviews and data thematic analysis, the study explores the teachers' hands-on experiences, perceived educational impacts, challenges, and practical considerations regarding VR integration in the UAE educational context. The findings discussed the discrepancies of VR's perceived educational benefits and the issues associated with integrating VR into education. Themes identified include student involvement and engagement in VR learning, lack of cultural-related curriculum for Arabic implementation, strategies used by teachers to create innovative solutions for classroom delivery with the lack of resources, technical barriers for both students and teachers, and safety-related issues concerning young children using VR technology. One point that emerged was the difference in what VR was presumed to accomplish regarding teaching and learning and how effective VR is when being actively implemented in an actual educational environment. This study highlights the need for Emirati localized content development, robust infrastructure, and continuous educational support to benefit from the VR's full potential. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on immersive learning by providing a detailed, context-specific model for VR adoption in a non-Western educational system, offering valuable understandings for educators, policymakers, and technology developers.
R. Zein, Osama Taani, Rafiq Hijazi et al.· Frontiers in Education· 0 citations
As virtual reality (VR) becomes increasingly developed and accessible, its application in second language instruction has attracted growing attention (Bahari, 2022; Berti, 2019; Dhimolea et al., 2022; Kaplan-Rakowski et al., 2022). This study explores how VR tools can be meaningfully integrated into Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) for novice-level Mandarin learners. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How do students perceive a VR-assisted Mandarin language class under the TBLT framework? (2) What benefits do VR tools offer in this context? (3) What challenges do VR tools bring to the language classroom?
To address these research questions, a qualitative case study was conducted. Eight undergraduate students participated in a six-week Mandarin course that incorporated multiple VR platforms and tasks designed following Nunan’s (2004) TBLT framework. Data sources included pre-course reflections, classroom video recordings, student-created artifacts, and post-course interviews.
Findings revealed that students responded positively to the VR-assisted experience, frequently describing it as fun, immersive, helpful, and motivating. VR tools supported and diversified task design by offering authentic environments, reinforcing learner engagement, and expanding opportunities for contextualized language practice. In addition, the integration of VR-Chat provided real-time access to native speakers, fostering intercultural exposure and authentic communication.
However, several challenges also emerged. The integration of VR tools required a certain level of technological literacy from students—and even more from the instructor. During the final VR-Chat speaking task, students also expressed concern that other users might be unresponsive or unwilling to engage in conversation. Finally, students noted that due to the limited popularity of VR, they had little or no access to VR devices outside the classroom.
This study contributes to the emerging literature on VR in language education by demonstrating its potential to enhance TBLT-based instruction through immersive, interactive, and authentic environments that provide access to native speakers. It also highlights the need for thoughtful instructional design to support student adaptation and ensure the effective integration of VR tools. Implications are offered for language educators, curriculum designers, and researchers seeking to incorporate VR into communicative language teaching in meaningful and context-responsive ways.
Although Virtual Reality (VR) is widely regarded as an effective tool for enhancing experiential learning, its role in fostering spatial presence in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), particularly in a hotel English course, remains underexplored. This study examines whether Immersive VR (IVR) elicits stronger spatial presence than Desktop VR (DVR) and how these differences are reflected in learners’ experiences of self-location and possible actions. To systematically investigate these relationships, a dual-mode VR hotel English training system was developed, with identical content, tasks, and instructional design across conditions, differing only in interaction modality. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed (QUANTITATIVE → qualitative = explanation). In the quantitative phase, 144 undergraduate students were assigned to IVR or DVR conditions in a quasi-experimental study. In the qualitative phase, 8 participants were interviewed to further explore their experiences. Quantitative results showed that students in the IVR condition reported significantly higher spatial presence than those in the DVR condition. Qualitative findings indicated that IVR enhanced learners’ sense of self-location and possible actions through greater immersion and interactivity, although some participants reported discomfort and occasional difficulty concentrating. DVR, while less immersive, was perceived as more comfortable and easier to use. By integrating spatial presence theory with ESP pedagogy, this study provides empirical evidence for selecting appropriate VR modalities for hotel English instruction and offers a more explanatory framework to narrow the gap between students’ conversational competence and the communicative demands of the hospitality industry.
Huan Meng, Mageswaran Sanmugam· International Journal of Inf...· 0 citations
The urgency of this research is that the learning process is considered to require exploration and manipulation of objects in visual form to understand concepts. Students have difficulty mastering English due to its abstract and decontextual nature. The purpose of this study is to implement immersive VR with the PjBL model effectively to improve English vocabulary acquisition to understand the relationship between shape and space. The method used is User Experience (UX) Integration of Action Design Research (ADR) with the CII Framework. The number of respondents in this study was 32 students. The results showed a significant effect (Cohen's d = 3.43), paired sample t-test results (t = 14.762; p < 0.001), and an N-Gain score of 0.63. These findings prove that combining immersive VR with the PjBL model effectively improves English vocabulary acquisition, engagement, and student learning experience, and validates the CII framework as a viable approach to technology-enhanced language learning.
Rahmania Sri Untari, Yuli Astutik, Akbar Wiguna et al.· Jurnal Pembelajaran Bimbinga...· 0 citations
Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has emerged as a promising instructional technology for STEM education, yet relatively few classroom-based studies have examined student learning experiences through the lens of the Cognitive-Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL). This study compared undergraduate students’ perceptions of IVR and traditional PowerPoint (PPT)-based instruction across four CAMIL-related constructs: immersion, presence, agency, and intrinsic motivation. A counterbalanced crossover design was implemented with 40 undergraduate STEM students enrolled in a leadership course at a large Midwestern research university. Participants experienced both IVR and PPT instructional modalities across three learning modules. Student perceptions were measured using an adapted questionnaire consisting of validated subscales administered on a six-point Likert scale. Because questionnaire completion varied across instructional sessions, analyses were conducted using 64 complete IVR-PPT paired observations. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyze motivation, presence, and immersion, while the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze agency because of non-normality. Results indicated a significant difference in immersion between instructional modalities, whereas motivation and presence did not differ significantly. Agency also differed significantly between conditions based on the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. These findings demonstrate that instructional modality influences selected dimensions of the student learning experience while suggesting that the relationships proposed by the CAMIL framework may depend on implementation context and instructional design. Rather than validating the CAMIL model, this study illustrates its usefulness as an interpretive framework for examining learner perceptions in authentic undergraduate STEM instruction. Limitations include the modest sample size, incomplete questionnaire responses across sessions, the absence of formal testing for sequence effects, and the use of paired observations rather than participant-level analyses.
Nathanael Kloeppel, L. Bosman, Ilana Ram et al.· Applied Sciences· 1 citation
The growing use of immersive technologies in language education has intensified interest in how teachers evaluate their pedagogical value and feasibility. Although previous research has documented the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) for language learning, less is known about how teachers interpret its classroom use in relation to institutional digital conditions. This descriptive qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of five English teachers who had prior exposure to VR-supported activities. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and limited classroom observations and were analyzed thematically. The teachers described VR as offering immersive and contextual opportunities for language practice and perceived that some learners participated more readily during VR-supported activities. They also reported constraints related to device access, connectivity, preparation time, curriculum alignment, professional learning, and uneven institutional support. The findings indicate that teachers' experiences of VR were shaped not only by perceived pedagogical affordances but also by the resources, norms, and support available in their institutions. Because student competence, motivation, and anxiety were not directly measured, these findings should be interpreted as teacher perceptions supported by limited observational indications. The study contributes a context-sensitive account of the conditions teachers considered when using VR in English language teaching and highlights the need for pedagogically aligned materials, professional development, and realistic institutional planning.
Mohammad Noor Zuhri, Ahmad Lizamuddin· Edulite: Journal of English...· 0 citations