Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of virtual environments have become available for educational purposes. Their multimodal, immersive and social nature has attracted considerable attention from both language teaching practitioners and researchers. This chapter presents an overview of the most relevant research conducted on the use of virtual worlds (VWs) for language teaching purposes in the past fourteen years. The first section offers an introduction to the theories underpinning pedagogical practices in VWs, namely sociocultural theory, situated learning and the notion of immersion. This is followed by a review of the most relevant research regarding VWs technological affordances for language education, how these environments promote language acquisition through interaction and their potential to develop intercultural competences. A description of the studies addressing the effect that VW interaction may have on affective variables, such as foreign language anxiety, motivation and self-efficacy beliefs, is also included. The chapter ends with a number of recommendations for practice, including pedagogical considerations, as well as future directions of research.