Effects of Collaborative Virtual Reality on Oral Communicative Competence Among Xenoglossophobic EFL Learners

Foreign language anxiety, particularly xenoglossophobia, hinders learners’ oral communication and confidence, while conventional teaching approaches often fail to address these barriers effectively. Consequently, there is a growing need for immersive and collaborative technologies such as Virtual Reality to reduce anxiety and enhance communicative competence. In response to this need, the present study explored the impact of Collaborative Virtual Reality (CVR) teaching on the Oral Communicative Competence (OCC) of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners experiencing xenoglossophobia. To achieve this objective, a quasi-experimental design was employed involving ۶۸ intermediate EFL learners with moderate levels of foreign language speaking anxiety, who were evenly assigned to an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). Over ۱۸ instructional sessions lasting ۷۰ minutes each, the EG received instruction through the AI-driven VirtualSpeech platform using CVR methods, whereas the CG followed a traditional in-person EFL course utilizing the same textbook. The findings revealed that CVR instruction resulted in significant improvements in verbal and para-verbal communicative skills among participants in the experimental group, although no substantial gains were observed in nonverbal skills. These results suggest that immersive and collaborative VR environments may reduce foreign language anxiety while enhancing key dimensions of communicative competence. Overall, the study contributes to the growing body of literature on AI-enhanced immersive learning, therapeutic language pedagogy, and virtual community-based language instruction, and offers implications for integrating CVR into EFL curricula to support anxious learners and improve their communicative performance in low-risk, technology-supported environments.

کلیدواژه ها:

Artificial intelligence ، Collaborative Virtual Reality ، Immersive Learning ، Virtual Reality ، Xenoglossophobia