AI-based simulations for educational and assessment purposes are gaining global recognition. Informed by cultural comparison research, this study investigates cross-country variations in users' utilization and perceptions of a simulation-based assessment. Specifically, we conducted a comparative analysis between a sample of South African and…

Purpose: The previous coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced pre-service English teachers to conduct their teaching simulation virtually. In the context of online teaching, social presence is vital for effective learning. This skill is perceived as a way to humanize the online learning process. This article explores how social…

Teacher-parent communication is one of the domains in teacher education where the gap between theory and practice is evident. Although teacher-education programmes are responsible for developing preservice teachers' (PSTs') effective parent-teacher communication skills, such interactions are rarely practiced during the training. Simulation-Based…

Sociolinguistic awareness is crucial for L2 learners because language is not just a set of grammatical rules and vocabulary; it is deeply intertwined with social and cultural context. The linguistic landscape serves as a conduit for discerning facets of language use in a given community. This study focuses on raising sociolinguistic awareness…

Speakers may resort to different inferences and expectations in intercultural encounters. These expectations are influenced by speakers' socialization processes in speech communities and networks, as well as by the local interactional demands and power dynamics in the communicative situation. While interactional sociolinguistic studies have…

Social Virtual Reality (VR) applications enable real-time interpersonal conversation and allow users to perform activities together. They have the potential of changing the ways learners practise speaking a foreign language. Following a previous study (Jauregi Ondarra, Gruber, & Canto, 2020), we designed the present study to explore how…

The aim of this study is to reveal perceptions of pre-service teachers about 'LEGO robotic instructional practices,' 'augmented reality' and 'flipped classroom' concepts through metaphors. The study is descriptive research that was conducted as a survey model. The study group consists of 37 pre-service teachers studying the undergraduate programme…

Integrating concepts and techniques from ethnomethodology and sociomaterialism, this article investigates the observable material processes involving human action and place-based contexts of language use enabled by locative media. The focal pedagogical intervention utilized mobile augmented reality (AR) activities, the development of which was…

This literature review analyzed 18 studies published between 2013 and 2020 to understand the role of virtual humans in mixed reality digital puppeteering simulations aimed at promoting teacher learning. Research questions explored: simulation design models, interactor training, and the attention researchers gave to language and race in the virtual…

Background: This research is inspired by the challenges encountered in interpreter training, changes in learning needs in the technological era, the educational paradigm shift caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of studies on combining virtual reality (VR)_and mobile technologies, and literature gaps in the field of the incorporation of…

Virtual Exchange (VE) has grown out of telecollaboration, which originated in the language-teaching field and has now expanded to all areas of knowledge as a collaborative methodology to enhance learning and fostering soft skills and intercultural competences. VE has recently received growing interest from higher education institutions due to the…

In embodied theories of semantic representation, the processes and mechanisms of modal simulations that are engaged during semantic processing have tended to be underspecified. We investigated the possibility that motor imagery may be a mechanism of simulation, using an individual differences approach. In this preregistered study, we assessed…

The unforeseen shift to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic required instructors and students to face unprecedented learning challenges. Under these circumstances, Chinese international students who intended to come to the U.S. to begin their studies were required to remotely access their courses while still residing in China, which…

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of using online discussions on L2 learners' lexical complexity (LC) using a blend of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to measure how L2 learners' lexical variation, lexical density, and lexical richness can be influenced by online interactions facilitated in virtual…

This paper discusses the potential of immersing foreign language learners in Social Virtual Reality (SVR) in an international seminar, designed by the authors, called SpEakWise VR, combining the tandem language learning paradigm with gamification in immersive virtual environments. SpEakWise VR builds on an existing telecollaboration (SpEakWise)…