Foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) is a widely experienced phenomenon when learning a new language, characterised by the feeling of apprehension and fear when attempting to communicate (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986). Rather than being a necessary discomfort of the learning process, many studies have identified this anxiety as having a negative impact on language learning achievement (Gardner et al., 1976; Krashen, 1985; Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986; Aida, 1994; Botes, Dewaele and Greiff, 2020). Although the concept of FLSA has been well studied, research has focused on classroom contexts and limited numbers of participants, with most in full time education, with little representation for self directed and adult learners. With formal language learning in “catastrophic decline” (Higher Education Policy Institute, 2025), and online apps such as Duolingo reaching over 50 million daily active users (Duolingo, 2025), it is important to reflect these new trends in language learning in research.
This study aims to mitigate foreign language speaking anxiety using immersive virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET). This intervention has been extensively explored for other types of anxiety disorders, with strong support for the effectiveness of VR based interventions and their translation into real world situations (Boeldt et al., 2019; Carl et al., 2019; Reeves et al., 2022; Seuling, Czernin and Schiele, 2024; Tan et al., 2025; Zeng et al., 2025). VRET involves a participant engaging in a safe and controlled simulated environment reflecting one which would usually trigger their anxiety. Anxiety levels reduce through repeated exposure, translating to less anxiety in a real-world situation.
Some studies have already investigated the use of VRET to combat FLSA, but as with more generalised FLSA research, many focus on 18 – 25-year-olds in full time education and public speaking settings rather than spontaneous conversation. Professional and public speaking ability does not appear to be a major driver for self directed language learners; in a study conducted by language learning app Babbel (2016), the most popular reason for language learning was to communicate more easily when travelling. This is supported by a survey on UK adults from the British Council (2020), which cited making international travel easier as the most popular benefit of learning a foreign language. This highlights the importance of conducting further research on interventions in contexts where learners intend to use their target language.
To include as many participants as possible in this research, a citizen science approach will be used, meaning participants will be given guidance enabling them to conduct their own interventions and collect their own data. This has the potential to greatly increase the number of participants by removing geographical constraints.
Participants will be divided into three groups to conduct spontaneous speaking practice sessions; the first group will talk aloud to themselves, the second will speak to strangers via an online avatar controlled by keyboard and mouse, and the third group will speak to strangers via an online avatar controlled by an immersive VR headset. All groups will participate in four five-minute sessions, completing questionnaires before and after each session to measure their anxiety. Both online intervention groups will use an online platform called VRChat, which is a virtual world platform primarily used for socialising (VRChat, 2025).
Based on the findings of other studies, it is predicted that the VR intervention group should experience a more substantial decrease in their foreign language anxiety scores, followed by the keyboard and mouse group, with the speaking alone group seeing the least dramatic decrease in FLSA.
References
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