Artificial Intelligence–Enhanced Virtual Reality in English as a Foreign Language Teaching: Instructor Experiences and Pedagogical Orchestration

Artificial intelligence is increasingly reshaping immersive educational environments; yet, empirical attention to its integration with virtual reality in English as a foreign language teaching remains limited. This qualitative descriptive study examined how English as a foreign language instructors perceived, implemented, and evaluated artificial intelligence– enhanced virtual reality activities in their teaching practices. The study was conducted in Türkiye with eight English as a foreign language instructors from two universities who had prior experience using virtual reality-based or virtual reality- compatible artificial intelligence–supported speaking, role-play, and communication activities. Data were collected through eight semi-structured interviews and five optional stimulated-recall sessions based on short lesson-recording excerpts or demonstration recordings. The data were analyzed through inductive qualitative content analysis supported by a large language model–assisted preliminary open-coding process, followed by manual code refinement, codebook development, peer debriefing, member checking, and intercoder reliability procedures. The analysis generated five interpretive themes: from scripted simulation to contingent conversation, lowering the social cost of speaking, classroom realism without real-world risk, orchestrating classroom visibility and fragile infrastructure, and pedagogically accountable artificial intelligence–virtual reality adoption. Instructors viewed artificial intelligence–enhanced virtua reality as pedagogically promising because, in their accounts, it enabled learners to converse with responsive computergenerated agents, increased engagement and attendance, supported lower-pressure speaking practice, and created opportunities for real-life communication. However, they also emphasized practical and pedagogical constraints related to institutional Wi-Fi authentication, mobile hotspot instability, headset management, screen-casting, projection quality, classroom visibility, task alignment, and the need for teacher mediation of automated feedback. The study suggests that the value of artificial intelligence–enhanced virtual reality in English as a foreign language teaching depends less on technological novelty than on instructional design, institutional readiness, and sustained teacher professional development.

Cite this article as: Karacan, C. G., & Can, T. (2026). Artificial intelligence–enhanced virtual reality in English as a foreign language teaching: Instructor experiences and pedagogical orchestration. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 23, 0063, doi: 10.5152/hayef.2026.26063.