Case Studies
VR-MEDIATED VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2024). CASE STUDY ON VR-MEDIATED VIRTUAL EXCHANGE FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS.
This paper presents a case study examining the pedagogical potential of Virtual Reality (VR)-mediated Virtual Exchange (VE) for fostering intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among language learners. The paper is based on Meijerink's (2023) master thesis. This research study explores how VR's multimodal affordances, such as embodiment, spatial awareness, and avatar interaction, contribute to a more immersive and effective intercultural learning environment. Participants, university students from Cyprus and the Netherlands, engaged in VR-mediated tasks designed to encourage cultural reflection and intercultural communication. The study's findings reveal that VR-mediated VE supports ICC development by enabling threading narratives, which build cultural connections and mutual understanding. VR's multimodal features, including gesture-based communication and visual immersion, enhance student engagement and facilitate authentic interaction. However, challenges such as accessibility, ethical representation, and inclusivity highlight the need for thoughtful integration of VR into language curricula. This paper outlines practical pedagogical guidelines for language teachers, emphasising ethical VR use, reflective practices, and strategies to maximise VR affordances. These guidelines aim to equip educators with tools to foster ICC effectively, enhancing students' readiness for intercultural communication in an increasingly globalised world.
Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2024). EXPLORING HIGH-AND LOW-IMMERSION VIRTUAL REALITY.
Virtual reality (VR) is emerging as a significant tool in education, particularly in language learning. This study investigates the potential of VR-mediated virtual exchange (VE) programs by comparing high-and low-immersion VR environments in foreign language (FL) education. In this study undergraduate students participated in intercultural tasks that integrated language practice with cultural exploration within a virtual world. Two tasks were conducted in a high-immersion format, and two in a low-immersion format. Through a qualitative analysis, this paper examines VR's impact on fostering engagement, developing intercultural competence, and creating meaningful collaborative experiences. The study also explores the differential effects of high-and low-immersion VR experiences. Practical implications are discussed, focusing on VE projects, classroom integration, and teacher training programmes. The findings suggest that while VR offers promising opportunities to enhance VE projects, careful consideration of task design, technical challenges, and accessibility is crucial for its successful implementation.
Cathryn Bennett, Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2024). MEANINGFUL INTERACTIONS IN A HIGH-IMMERSION SALL SPACE.
Virtual Reality (VR) provides a unique opportunity for students to interact in new environments while exchanging their opinions, learning languages and new cultures together. This case study describes how AltspaceVR, a high-immersion VR social application, was utilised as a Self-Acesss Language Learning environment for students participating in a collaborative online international learning (COIL) exchange.
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE TASK DESIGN
Cathryn Bennett, Ciara R. Wigham (2024). DESIGNING TASKS FOR LEARNER ENGAGEMENT, AGENCY AND REFLECTION IN INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGE.
Implementing virtual exchanges into schools has long been called for by researchers in telecollaboration/virtual exchange. While research has clarified task design and task sequences (O'Dowd and Ware, 2009), learner engagement in online learning environments is a relatively new area of research. Given the rise of technology in language education, there is a critical need to understand how students show engagement when learning online and equally how teachers can promote this in their virtual classroom. Analysis from an Intercultural Virtual Exchange (IVE) with preservice Dutch and French students was conducted to investigate students' engagement, agency and reflection over three task types. Findings have been converted into IVE task design tips for future teachers/teacher-trainers.
Charo López Contreras (2024). TASK DESIGN IN A VIRTUAL EXCHANGE: TASK CLASSIFICATION.
Virtual Exchanges (VE) are excellent opportunities to help students develop their linguistic and intercultural competencies. Teachers involved in the coordination and organisation of these exchanges need to devote time and effort to task design in order to grant the objectives set for every experience. This case study describes a VE between pre-service teachers whose objective was to design lesson plans for a future telecollaborative experience; how they worked to implement it and the categorisation of the tasks they created in their lesson plans.
Sara Verma (2024). INTERPRETING THE TASK: HOW TEACHER AND LEARNER PERCEPTIONS SHAPE VIRTUAL EXCHANGE.
This study, part of the E-LIVE project, investigates how task design aligned with Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) principles and task interpretation by teachers and learners can foster critical cultural awareness among Dutch and Spanish secondary school students through Virtual Exchange (VE). Drawing on Holliday's (2016) Cultural Blocks and Threads theory and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, the research examines teacher preparations, task design, and student interactions during a VE session focused on national festivities. The findings highlight the potential of TBLT to promote intercultural dialogue and critical reflection. However, disparities in teacher objectives and task relevance were found to influence outcomes. To optimize intercultural learning, recommendations include designing culturally inclusive tasks and fostering enhanced collaboration among teachers.
TRAINING NEEDS FOR VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
Ciara R. Wigham, Begoña Clavel-Arroitia, Cathryn Bennett (2024). TRAINING NEEDS OF IN-SERVICE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION TEACHERS WHEN IMPLEMENTING INTERCULTURAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGES.
Over the last few years, following a global pandemic which resulted in the rise of communicative technologies and on-line learning, researchers have advocated for virtual exchanges, or telecollaboration, to become more mainstream in education. With little available research on intercultural virtual exchanges being conducted by primary and secondary education teachers, an online questionnaire and focus group interviews addressed to these cohorts were completed to attempt to understand the barriers towards implementing IVE in their schools and the training needs to mitigate any reported challenges. A needs analysis was conducted with the data collected from in-service primary and secondary school teachers' questionnaire and interview feedback. Our findings show that both cohorts struggled with designing intercultural virtual exchange (IVE) materials especially for larger classes and how to structure the exchange over several months. While both also reported needing training with digital tools and platforms, secondary school teachers in particular cited needing support to link these to pedagogical tasks. We believe that the needs of these two groups of teachers can be met through coaching by experienced in-service teachers, a service offered by the E-LIVE project.
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE IMPLEMENTATION
Alejandra Pérez Ramón, Begoña Clavel-Arroitia (2024). STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TELECOLLABORATION, ALSO KNOWN AS VIRTUAL EXCHANGE, IN THE CONTEXT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION: GUADALAVIAR SCHOOL (SPAIN) AND KEIZER KAREL COLLEGE (THE NETHERLANDS).
Telecollaboration, or virtual exchange, is a technological innovation in language learning and teaching. It places emphasis on the use of new technologies to develop both foreign language skills and intercultural competence. The E-LIVE project uses Virtual Exchanges (VE) in which English, among other languages, is employed by students as a lingua franca between educational institutions from different countries. In this study, both the process previous to organizing a VE as well as the subsequent virtual interactions among Dutch and Spanish students are analyzed.
Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2024). MEJORAR LA EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA MEDIANTE LOS INTERCAMBIOS VIRTUALES: UNA GUÍA PARA DOCENTES EN FORMACIÓN Y EN ACTIVO.
Este artículo presenta una adaptación práctica de un estudio de investigación sobre proyectos de intercambio virtual (IV) destinados a mejorar la competencia intercultural y el aprendizaje de idiomas en la educación secundaria. Al sintetizar los objetivos, la metodología y los hallazgos del estudio, esta adaptación ofrece a los docentes en ejercicio y en formación conocimientos prácticos para diseñar, implementar y evaluar iniciativas de IV. Se abordan los desafíos del IV, como los problemas tecnológicos y la ansiedad de los estudiantes, con posibles soluciones que aprovechan la formación docente, el diseño de tareas pedagógicas y las estrategias interculturales. Este artículo enfatiza el potencial del IV para fomentar un aprendizaje intercultural significativo y preparar a los estudiantes para un mundo globalizado.
Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2025). Enhancing secondary education through virtual exchange: A guide for pre- and in-service teachers
This paper presents a practical adaptation of a research study on virtual exchange (VE) projects aimed at enhancing intercultural competence and language learning in secondary education. By synthesising the study’s objectives, methodology, and findings, this adaptation offers pre- and in-service teachers actionable insights into designing, implementing, and evaluating VE initiatives. Challenges in VE, such as technological issues and student anxiety, are addressed with possible solutions that leverage teacher training, pedagogical task design, and intercultural strategies. This paper emphasises VE’s potential to foster meaningful intercultural learning and prepare students for a globalised world.
Ciara R. Wigham, Shona Whyte (2025). INTERACTIONAL PATTERNS IN A SYCHRONOUS GETTING-TO-KNOW-YOU VIRTUAL EXCHANGE TASK WITH PRIMARY LEARNERS.
This case study examines a virtual exchange with young learners at primary school level. It examines how interactions in English as a lingua franca unfold during a synchronous getting-to-know you task designed for young learners of CEFR A1 level. The case study focuses specifically on learner autonomy and the teacher's role. The results offer a detailed analysis of when do teachers and students speak, as well as how much of the interaction is directed toward the remote virtual exchange participants as opposed to peers in their local classroom or their own local teacher. The analysis sheds light on how learners interact with their remote partners during different phases of the getting-to-know you task and reveals what happens backstage "behind the scenes" in off-screen or side interactions in the local classroom. The teacher conceived her role as that of a mediator. Nevertheless, the learners still took more independent (non-prompted) than dependent (prompted) turns. The latter related more to task moves/management than to target form. Our analysis demonstrates the need for careful task design as well as young learners' capabilities to engage in synchronous virtual exchange to support their language learning.
Begoña Clavel-Arroitia, Barry Pennock-Speck (2025). DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENTIATION IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL CONTEXT
Diversity and differentiation are of the utmost importance in the language learning classroom. In the words of one of the teachers in this study, not taking diversity into account can lead to frustration and lack of engagement in the classroom. This study centres on a virtual exchange (VE) between a group of pupils in an infants and junior school in London (St. Joseph's Camberwell Catholic Schools' Federation), UK and another group in a primary school (Santo Ángel de la Guarda), in Badajoz in Extramadura, Spain. The pupils' ages ranged from eight to nine in Spain and ten and eleven in the UK. Both the teachers involved have extensive experience in VE. The teacher in the UK, Óscar Balseiro-Mayi, teaches Spanish while the teacher in Spain, Concepción González-Acedo, teaches English. The exchange was proposed by the teacher in the UK and the Spanish partner was found by an E-LIVE coach. Both teachers took into account the diversity in their classes and tailored their activities to suit the needs of their pupils. Both teachers reported that the exchange was a success as VEs offer pupils a chance to put their target language to use with peers from the countries where the languages were spoken and thus converted a subject into a real tool for communication
Cathryn Bennett, Catherine Brady (2024). GETTING OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE: SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN A FRENCH AS A LINGUA FRANCA VIRTUAL EXCHANGE
Although virtual exchange has grown in popularity, few virtual exchanges have been conducted in secondary schools (Clavel-Arroitia & Pennock-Speck, 2015), prompting our case study. Students in secondary schools in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands participated in a virtual exchange using French as a lingua franca. Data was collected from focus group discussions with learners in the United Kingdom and questionnaire data from both partner schools. Our analysis reveals several pedagogical recommendations for future VE implementation and task design including learner training and the temporal aspects of asynchronous VE task design.
VIRTUAL EXCHANGE IN INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING
Ciara R. Wigham, Cathryn Bennett, Kristi Jauregi-Ondarra (2024). FOSTERING PARTNER ORIENTATION IN INITIAL, SYNCHRONOUS VIRTUAL EXCHANGES
While much is known about student engagement in traditional classroom settings, there is much we do not know about students' engagement in online learning tasks. Following from what we do know about dimensions of student engagements (behavorial, cognitive and attitudinal), our study looks to extending our understanding about learner engagement in online tasks. To achieve this, we utilise Gijsen's (2021) task engagement parameters in the virtual world with the incorporation of Multimodial (inter)action analysis (Norris, 2004). By analysing students' modality in synchronous online tasks in a virtual exchange, we seek to highlight recommendations for future VE teachers to foster student engagement and thus learning. Our multimodal analysis, specifically students' use of multiple modes, evidences our findings that student-teachers were engaged in our intercultural virtual exchange tasks. This study recommends the creation of task prompts which require students to find commonalities and challenges to empathise with one another to develop a relationship with new VE partners.
Cathryn Bennett (2024). "CAN I ASK YOU JUST TO CLARIFY FOR A MINUTE?" POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN IVE PRESERVICE TEACHER TRAINING
Intercultural Virtual Exchange (IVE) provides several benefits including the integration of cultural and linguistic aspects in second language learning (Dooly & O'Dowd, 2018). The role of pragmatics in teacher-training in online environments has garnered attention as pre-service teacher training programmes aim to integrate IVEs into their curricula. However, communication breakdowns may occur due to differing levels of pragmatic awareness (Cheng, 2012). While speech acts such as requesting behaviour have been well-researched, there is less evidence in how language for politeness (Alonso-Marks & Bayonas, 2023) has been used to overcome issues in IVEs between second language learners. Therefore, we investigated an IVE between 2 pre-service ELF teachers wherein politeness strategies were analysed to understand their efficacy. Our findings outline which strategies were employed, their efficacy and how these can be integrated in teacher training programmes via exposing learners to linguistic markers of politeness prior to IVE collaborative tasks.
Jules Faure, Anne-Laure Foucher, Christine Blanchard Rodrigues, Ciara R. Wigham (2024). ENTRE EXPERIMENTATION ET REFLEXIVITE : PERCEPTIONS D'ETUDIANTES EN FORMATION A LA MISE EN PLACE D'ECHANGE VIRTUELS POUR L'ENSEIGNEMENT-APPRENTISSAGE DE L'ANGLAIS LANGUE ETRANGERE.
Cette étude de cas vise à appréhender l’implémentation de la pratique réflexive en formation d’enseignant·es de langues étrangères. Plus précisément, nous nous intéressons à la sensibilisation d’étudiant·es en formation à l’enseignement de l’Anglais Langue Etrangère à la mise en place d’échanges virtuels entre apprenant·es, au prisme du rôle que peut jouer la pratique réflexive dans l’évolution de leur répertoire didactique et le développement de leurs compétences professionnelles liées à ces modalités particulières d’enseignement-apprentissage. L’opérationnalisation de la pratique réflexive en formation d’enseignant·es restant encore aujourd’hui soumise à questionnements et expérimentations, il nous apparaît pertinent d’interroger les ressentis et perceptions des étudiant·es à propos des tâches réflexives qui leur sont proposées et de leur sentiment de développement professionnel lié à la réalisation de ces tâches. Nos analyses portent sur un dispositif d’échange virtuel développé par l’Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA) et Utrecht Universiteit (UU) dans le cadre du projet pédagogique et scientifique européen E-LIVE (Engaging Languages in Intercultural Virtual Exchanges). Au cours de cet échange, des étudiant·es de Master 1 MEEF Anglais de l’UCA ont été amené·es à collaborer avec des pairs de l’UU autour de quatre tâches principales. À chacune de ces tâches était articulée une post-tâche réflexive visant à impulser des réflexions chez les étudiant·es quant à différents aspects de l’échange, de leurs pratiques, et des points essentiels à retenir pour leur future pratique professionnelle. C’est à partir des réponses au questionnaire post-échange et à un entretien collectif de clôture que nous illustrons ici des apports et limites ressenties du dispositif réflexif proposé aux étudiant·es.