Exploring the Role of Virtual Reality in Language Learning through Simulated Classrooms and AI Chatbots
Enhancing Multilingual Identity and Intercultural Competence in Finnish Secondary Schools
Doctoral researcher
Avishan Keshavarz (Project manager)
Opetushallitus– Finnish National Agency for Education- EDUFI fellowship
Project start: 01/08/2024
Doctoral Programme in Language Studies (HELSLANG)
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Arts
Helsinki, Finland
Supervisory team
Dr. Niina Hynninen,
Main supervisor (Principal Investigator)
Professor Sanna-Kaisa Tanskanen
(Co-Principal Investigator)
Dr. Kaisa Hahl
(Co-Principal Investigator)
Doctoral researcher
Avishan Keshavarz (Project manager)
Opetushallitus– Finnish National Agency for Education- EDUFI fellowship
Project start: 01/08/2024
Supervisory team
Dr. Niina Hynninen,
Main supervisor (Principal Investigator)
Professor Sanna-Kaisa Tanskanen
(Co-Principal Investigator)
Dr. Kaisa Hahl
(Co-Principal Investigator)
Doctoral Programme in Language Studies (HELSLANG)
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Arts
Helsinki, Finland
Project Overview
This doctoral study explores how Virtual Reality (VR) and AI chatbots can support language learning, multilingual identity, and intercultural competence in Finnish lower secondary schools. The project follows a two-phase mixed-methods design aligned with the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2014), which emphasises the use of technology in learning and the importance of multilingualism and cultural awareness, skills that are increasingly important in today’s global world.
The project consists of two phases:
Phase 1 involves an online questionnaire completed by students in several schools across the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The survey examines how students understand their own multilingualism and intercultural competence.
The results from this phase guide the design of four VR-based English lessons for the second phase.
Phase 2 takes place in one of the participating schools.
Students experience immersive 3D simulated English lessons and later interact with an AI-trained teacher assistant chatbot, which prompts them to reflect on the lesson content, their understanding of multilingual identity, linguistic and cultural diversity, and their experiences learning through VR.
Additional data is collected through teacher interviews and researcher observations to understand classroom use, student engagement, and the feasibility of VR-based instruction.
The study aims to offer pedagogical insights into how immersive technologies can support language teaching and learning, not only within English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts, but also across other languages.
It further seeks to address Finland’s growing need for qualified foreign language teachers and to contribute to research on multilingualism and educational innovation in basic education.
What does a simulated VR English lesson look like?
The four VR-based simulated lessons are designed to immerse students in multilingual English use and diverse cultural contexts, supporting the development of their multilingual identity and strengthening their intercultural competence.
To help schools and teachers understand what these lessons look like in practice, the key features are outlined below:
Lesson duration: Each of the four immersive simulated English lessons is 20 minutes long.
VR interaction: Students wear a VR headset to explore and interact with the simulated learning environment.
Collaborative design: The lessons are developed by the researcher, with feedback from participating English teachers to ensure alignment with curriculum objectives.
3D learning spaces: All virtual environments are created using Delightex Edu (formerly CoSpaces Edu), a user-friendly educational tool for building 3D interactive spaces.
Guided instruction: A 3D virtual teacher leads the lesson, giving instructions, presenting information, and directing activities.
Multimodal content: Each lesson includes a range of learning materials, such as:
Dialogues
Short videos or audio clips
Reading texts
Interactive quizzes
Teacher-led feedback or reflective prompts
Exposure to diverse English use: Throughout the lessons, students hear multilingual English speakers with varied accents, reflecting real-life English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication.
Here’s a short preview of the VR demo lesson, including a glimpse of “The Dome”!
What happens at the end of the simulated VR lesson?
After completing the 20-minute VR simulated lesson, the virtual teacher guides students to “The Dome.” This is where students exit the virtual classroom and move to a dedicated reflection space using their computers or tablets, where they interact with an AI-trained Teacher Assistant chatbot.
The chatbot has been specifically developed for this research study. It prompts students to reflect on the lesson content and several key areas, including:
Their overall experience of the VR lesson
Their exposure to different English accents
How the lesson encouraged them to think about their multilingual identity
Their awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity
Their comfort and engagement in VR-based learning
Any communication challenges or new insights they noticed
The AI-chatbot reflection session lasts approximately 10–15 minutes and allows students to process their learning, express their thoughts, and engage in deeper reflection after the immersive experience.
You can also explore the Delightex platform to view the full Virtual Reality simulated classroom.
What does a simulated VR English lesson look like?
The four VR-based simulated lessons are designed to immerse students in multilingual English use and diverse cultural contexts, supporting the development of their multilingual identity and strengthening their intercultural competence.
To help schools and teachers understand what these lessons look like in practice, the key features are outlined below:
Lesson duration: Each of the four immersive simulated English lessons is 20 minutes long.
VR interaction: Students wear a VR headset to explore and interact with the simulated learning environment.
Collaborative design: The lessons are developed by the researcher, with feedback from participating English teachers to ensure alignment with curriculum objectives.
3D learning spaces: All virtual environments are created using Delightex Edu (formerly CoSpaces Edu), a user-friendly educational tool for building 3D interactive spaces.
Guided instruction: A 3D virtual teacher leads the lesson, giving instructions, presenting information, and directing activities.
Multimodal content: Each lesson includes a range of learning materials, such as:
Dialogues
Short videos or audio clips
Reading texts
Interactive quizzes
Teacher-led feedback or reflective prompts
Exposure to diverse English use: Throughout the lessons, students hear multilingual English speakers with varied accents, reflecting real-life English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication.
Here’s a short preview of the VR demo lesson, including a glimpse of “The Dome”!
What happens at the end of the simulated VR lesson?
The four VR-based simulated lessons are designed to immerse students in multilingual English use and diverse cultural contexts, supporting the development of their multilingual identity and strengthening their intercultural competence.
To help schools and teachers understand what these lessons look like in practice, the key features are outlined below:
Lesson duration: Each of the four immersive simulated English lessons is 20 minutes long.
VR interaction: Students wear a VR headset to explore and interact with the simulated learning environment.
Collaborative design: The lessons are developed by the researcher, with feedback from participating English teachers to ensure alignment with curriculum objectives.
3D learning spaces: All virtual environments are created using Delightex Edu (formerly CoSpaces Edu), a user-friendly educational tool for building 3D interactive spaces.
Guided instruction: A 3D virtual teacher leads the lesson, giving instructions, presenting information, and directing activities.
Multimodal content: Each lesson includes a range of learning materials, such as:
Dialogues
Short videos or audio clips
Reading texts
Interactive quizzes
Teacher-led feedback or reflective prompts
Exposure to diverse English use: Throughout the lessons, students hear multilingual English speakers with varied accents, reflecting real-life English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication.
You can also explore the Delightex platform to view the full Virtual Reality simulated classroom.
Why participate in this study?
To schools
- Curriculum-based study:
The study is aligned with the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2014), supporting schools in meeting national goals for language learning, use of technology, multilingualism and multilingualism. - Innovative practice:
By taking part, schools introduce Virtual Reality (VR) into regular English lessons, giving students new ways to experience language learning. - Contribution to research:
Participating schools play an important role in educational research in Finland, helping to test how new tools and pedagogical approaches can support language learning in classrooms.
To teachers
- Exploring new tools and pedagogical strategies
Participating in this study gives teachers the opportunity to explore how Virtual Reality (VR) and AI chatbots can support English teaching and learning in today’s classrooms.
The VR lessons offer a practical example of how immersive environments can enhance student engagement, provide authentic language exposure, and complement existing teaching methods.
The AI teacher assistant chatbot also demonstrates how digital tools can facilitate reflection, support differentiated learning, and contribute to student-centred classroom practices.
- Insight into virtual reality teaching
Through guiding students during the VR lessons, teachers gain first-hand understanding of how virtual environments can simulate real classroom situations and support language development.
This experience offers a meaningful opportunity to see how immersive technologies may contribute to future language teaching and how they align with the Finnish National Core Curriculum’s emphasis on technology-supported learning.
It also helps teachers build confidence with applying new technologies in their classroom practices and develop pedagogical strategies that support innovative, digitally enhanced language education, an increasingly valuable skill as Finland seeks innovative ways to strengthen foreign language teaching.
- Your role and time commitment
Teachers’ involvement is clear, structured, and respectful of their limited time:
Lesson review: Teachers receive the ready-made VR simulated lessons in advance and provide concise feedback to ensure the content aligns with curriculum objectives and classroom needs.
Classroom involvement: The VR experiment is carried out during four regular English lessons. Each immersive VR session lasts about 20 minutes, using VR headsets in the classroom.
Lesson facilitation: During each VR session, the teacher and the researcher work together to support students, monitor progress, and guide them through the experience. The researcher also assists with practical tasks such as helping students move between stations or devices and ensuring the classroom flow remains smooth.
Transition to chatbot reflection: After each VR session, the teacher and researcher guide students to the AI teacher assistant chatbot, where students complete a short reflective interaction to complement the VR lesson.
Post-lesson reflections: Following each VR lesson, teachers participate in a brief five-minute interview to share classroom observations, pedagogical insights, and suggestions.
This participation ensures that the VR lessons are pedagogically sound, practical, and suitable for lower secondary learners.
- Why your participation matters
Teachers play a key role in this study. By taking part in the VR experiment and sharing their expertise, they contribute directly to research that supports the future of language education in Finland.
Their insights help ensure that the findings reflect real classroom realities and inform new pedagogical approaches, teacher training, and the effective use of immersive technologies in schools.
Teachers’ feedback strengthens research on multilingualism, supports the development of innovative tools for foreign language learning, and encourages meaningful adoption of new technologies across school communities. Their time and commitment are highly valued, and their participation helps promote more inclusive, diverse, and modern language learning opportunities for students across Finland and across languages.
To students and parents
- Sharing your perspective
Students from several lower secondary schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area will take part in this study by completing an online questionnaire that takes about 20 minutes. The survey asks about students’ language backgrounds, their experiences with different languages, and their thoughts about linguistic and cultural diversity. These responses help the researcher understand how young people see themselves as multilinguals, how they feel about learning and using English, and how they communicate with people from different language and cultural backgrounds.
- Learning in virtual reality spaces
A group of students from one participating lower secondary school will also take part in a VR-based learning experiment, carried out during four regular English lessons at school.
Students wear a VR headset to enter a virtual English classroom. Inside this simulated environment, a 3D virtual English teacher guides them through the lesson. Students may watch short videos, listen to English speakers with different accents, read brief texts, and answer pop-up quizzes during the lesson—all within the virtual classroom.
Each VR lesson lasts 20 minutes. At the end of the session, students are guided to “The Dome,” where they remove their headsets and spend 10–15 minutes interacting with an AI-trained teacher assistant chatbot. During this reflection activity, students share their thoughts about the lesson, what they learned, and how it felt to engage with English and other languages in a virtual environment.
- Why your participation matters
Students’ answers and experiences provide valuable insights for improving foreign language education in Finland. By participating, students contribute to research on multilingualism, intercultural competence, and the use of immersive technologies in language learning. Most importantly, this study gives students the chance to experience new ways of learning and to have their voices heard in shaping the future of education.
Data Collection
Administered before the VR experiment
Aim: Explores students’ perceptions on multilingual identity and cultural competence
Participants: Lower secondary school students in Finnish schools
Implemented after the questionnaire analysis
Aims: Explores perceptions of students and teachers on VR language learning lessons
Participants: Lower secondary school students and English teachers
Semi-structured interviews from teachers after VR sessions
Researcher observations during the VR lessons
Aims: Explores instant reflections on VR learning experiences
Participants: English teachers
Questionnaire will be tested for reliability and ease of understanding
A demo simulated lesson will be designed and tested
A demo sessions will be held to familiarize students with the technology
VR Experiment Structure
- Virtual Reality (VR) headsets
- 3D simulated classrooms
- 3D virtual teacher
- AI chatbots
- 3D teacher-directed learning paths developed by the researcher in collaboration with English teachers
- Use of multimodal interactive materials meeting learning objectives
- Exposure to varieties of English accents (English as a lingua franca)
- End of lesson reflective interaction with AI chatbots
- Reinforcing lesson's learning objectives
- Promoting language use, engagement, and reflections on the learning objectives
- 20-minute VR sessions during regular English lessons
- 10-minute AI chatbot practice after each VR session
- 4 lessons under the supervision of the English teacher and researcher
- Promoting awareness to linguistic and cultural diversity
- Encouraging the use of VR technology in language learning and teaching
Research Questions
Words from the researcher
Teaching background
I am a doctoral researcher in the Doctoral Programme in Language Studies at the University of Helsinki. With over 20 years of experience teaching English to multilingual learners in various contexts, including international and multicultural school settings, I have explored and implemented student-centred and inclusive teaching approaches, developed differentiated learning strategies, and collaborated closely with peer teachers to support learners with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and learning abilities. Teaching in immersion programme schools following the British curriculum has also given me valuable insights into how immersive learning environments help shape young learners’ language development and how exposure to immersive contexts can enhance their personal communication skills for life beyond the classroom.
Academic background
My teaching experience and my interest in observing learners’ linguistic development inspired me to conduct my master’s research on “The Impact of Instructional Programs on Young Learners’ English Pronunciation.” In this study, I employed a quasi-experimental design involving primary school students. The research required close collaboration with schools, teachers, and students, and included the collection and statistical analysis of pronunciation data. Data were collected using pictorial pronunciation tasks with two groups of primary school learners, one with limited English exposure and one in enrolled in an immersion programme. The study provided positive insights into immersion programmes, and the findings were later published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Interest in immersive technologies
My academic background, combined with my practical teaching experience and interest in developing innovative pedagogical strategies in language education, shaped the direction of my current doctoral research. Understanding the positive outcomes of immersion programmes in my master’s study sparked the idea to investigate alternative tools and immersive technologies in language learning.
The rapid advancement of Virtual Reality tools, along with ongoing teacher shortages in Finland and globally, influenced my idea to develop an intervention through simulated classrooms, where teachers could design virtual lessons that reflect their own teaching styles. This approach differs from the existing AI-driven language learning tools, which mainly rely on learner-initiated prompts or gamified interaction.
Current doctoral research focus
Finland’s emphasis on multilingualism and multiculturalism in education movtivated me to align the learning objectives of the simulated VR lessons on English as a lingua franca (ELF) and to promote students’ awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity through multimodal interactive virtual lessons.
I hope that the findings of this mixed-methods multidisciplinary research will provide insights into the use of immersive technologies in foreign language education, both in Finland and internationally, and encourage further research into the complex interplay between language learning, multilingual identity, and intercultural competence in an era defined by global mobility, multilingual classrooms, and transformative digital VR/XR and AI technologies.
Invitation for collaboration
I look forward to collaborating with:
- forward-looking schools
- passionate and tech-enthusiastic English teachers
- innovative EdTech and VR partners in Finland and across the EU
I warmly invite and encourage schools and teachers to take part in this research by participating in either or both phases of the study: the student survey and the VR classroom experiment.
At the same time, I am seeking collaboration with EdTech and VR partners to support the implementation of the VR intervention in Helsinki metropolitan area secondary schools, including access to VR headsets and practical guidance on integrating VR tools into the classroom experiment.
Together, we can explore new pedagogical approaches for foreign language learning and contribute to shaping the future of language education.
I warmly welcome and invite schools and teachers across the Helsinki metropolitan area to collaborate in this project.
Let's shape the future of language learning together!
Most Relevant Previous Studies
- Explored the link between multilingual identity and intercultural competence in Norwegian secondary students
- Developed the Ungspråk questionnaire (Pre and post-test)
- Longitudinal, mixed-methods research
- Semi-structured interviews with teachers on multilingualism, multilingual identity and intercultural competence
- Explored how VR develops intercultural competence in language learning in higher education
- Designed a VR intercultural learning activity
- Mixed-methods research
- Questionnaires and interviews investigated students’ perceptions
VR-Technology in Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges (Graeske & Sjöberg, 2021), Luleå University of Technology
- Examined motivation and learner engagement in high school Swedish learning (reading and writing)
- Action-based research
- Teacher-researcher collaboration in planning
- Questionnaires on students’ reflections of using VR
- Semi-structured interviews on teachers’ reflections
- Explored pedagogical impact of VR in learning and teaching language and communication skills
- Action-based research (task-based language activities)
- Finnish upper secondary school students and undergraduate American Finnish learners
- Exposed learners to culturally immersive VR content (Wonda VR software tool)
Designing a VR Speech Simulation Game for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching(Partanen et al., 2024), Lapland University of Applied Science, Uppsala University, Stockholm University
- Examined developing Finnish and Swedish speaking and listening skills in higher education
- Design-based, multidisciplinary research
- Designed a VR immersive, 3D game using speech-to-text technology
- Collaboration of language teachers and a software engineering lab
How Virtual Reality is Evolving in Education
Figure retrieved from: Song, C., Shin, S., & Shin, K. (2022). Optimizing Foreign Language Learning in Virtual Reality: A Comprehensive Theoretical Framework Based on Constructivism and Cognitive Load Theory (VR-CCL). Applied Sciences, 13(23), 12557. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132312557
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Chen, B., Wang, Y., & Wang, L. (2022). The effects of virtual reality-assisted language learning: A meta-analysis. Sustainability, 14(6), 3147. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063147
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Graeske, C., & Sjöberg, S. A. (2021). VR-Technology in Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges. International Education Studies, 14(8), 76-83. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v14n8p76
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Partanen, R., Valijärvi, R-L., Rajaniemi, P., Grönstrand, H., & Jalonen, J., 2024. Designing A VR Speech Simulation Game for Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Language Education and Technology (LET Journal), 4(1), 55-78. https://www.langedutech.com/letjournal/index.php/let/article/view/70/55
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Tiurikova, I., Haukås, Å., & Storto, A. (2021). The link between multilingualism, language learning and open-mindedness in secondary school students in Norway. Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 9(2), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.46364/njltl.v9i2.945