The Linguist

16 The Linguist Vol/65 No/2 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist FEATURES Alícia Moreno Giménez outlines a virtual reality undergraduate project and asks what it can tell us about the impact of immersive technology on language learning In recent years, higher education language programmes in the UK have been operating under growing strain. Declining enrolments and teacher recruitment challenges have reshaped the landscape in which students arrive at university. As a result, provision remains weaker than in many European countries. Within this context, student confidence in language learning often suffers. Many learners who have progressed through this fragmented system report feeling anxious, self‑conscious and under pressure in traditional classroom settings, where speaking a foreign language is frequently associated with performance, evaluation and error exposure. Within this dispiriting national picture, emerging technologies are opening new and hopeful possibilities. AI has become prominent across all aspects of life, and its presence in education has prompted both excitement and apprehension. Concerns centre on over‑reliance, fairness and academic integrity. At the same time, AI now underpins much of our daily digital life, making its arrival in classrooms feel less like a disruption and more like an inevitability. When used ethically and with clear pedagogical intent, AI can enhance learning rather than diminish it. Its integration with virtual reality (VR) offers new opportunities for immersive, inclusive and emotionally supportive language‑learning environments. Language technology emerged in the 1950s and has increasingly captured educators' attention. For many years, computer-assisted language learning meant apps, quizzes or grammar platforms, which are useful but limited. VR plus AI changes the game by shifting from studying a language to using a language inside a contextualised, dynamic and multisensory world. Instead of clicking through exercises, students enter interactive scenarios where they engage with adaptive characters, negotiate meaning and practise spontaneous communication without the pressures of real-world performance. AI enables adaptation: virtual characters respond to learner input and adjust their speech to appropriate levels. For many learners, especially those with specific learning difficulties, this low‑stakes setting can be transformative. Since foreign language anxiety is increasingly understood as context dependent rather than a personal trait, creating VR-AI scenarios can lower pressure and support gradual risk-taking. A collaborative experiment At Lancaster University, a two‑year project is demonstrating how these tools can help rebuild student confidence, nurture autonomy and create meaningful communicative opportunities, even in a sector facing resource constraints. Our Department of Languages and Global Cultures began piloting VR-AI tools in 2024 after a webinar sparked collaboration with the university's Information Systems Services Innovation Team. The aim was simple but ambitious: to create immersive, culturally situated scenarios that allowed students to practise real-world communication in different languages. Artificial hope at uni VIRTUAL LEARNING Students experience a simulated tourist office scenario in Lancaster's Data Immersion Suite

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