A study on pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of virtual reality to develop speaking skills

These days, utilising digital tools has gained importance in developing language skills. From this perspective, the current study aims to determine EFL student teachers’ current knowledge level of virtual reality applications and their perceptions towards virtual reality applications usage to develop speaking skills. Forty-one pre-service English language teachers in the 4th grade of an English language teaching undergraduate programme at a state university in Türkiye participated in the study. The study utilised both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data were collected through a 30-item Likert-type scale, and the qualitative data were collected through a written structured interview. The results showed that student teachers have limited knowledge about virtual speaking applications and less experience using these tools to develop speaking skills. However, the results revealed that they are eager and motivated to learn more about these tools. Participants perceive that virtual reality applications will improve speaking skills in English.