Immersive Virtual Reality for L2 Pragmatics Instruction in an Intensive English Program at a US University

This study examines the impact of High-Immersion Virtual Reality (HiVR) as a tool for teaching English L2 pragmatics to international students enrolled in an Intensive English Program at a US university. This research focuses on integrating HiVR into explicit L2 pragmatics instructional treatments. A quasi-experimental design was employed to assess the pragmatic performance of students in both experimental (HiVR) and control groups across four pragmatics tasks during an eight-week intermediate level course. The findings show a significant advantage for the experimental group, suggesting that HiVR practice enhances learning outcomes in L2 pragmatics. Qualitative feedback revealed participants' enjoyment and perceived realism of VR practice, highlighting the potential of HiVR for simulating real-life conversational scenarios. This study contributes to the field of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) by demonstrating the efficacy of HiVR in improving L2 pragmatic competence.