A study of prospective secondary English teachers’ perceptions on the use of the metaverse platform Zep for English lesson design.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the perceptions of pre-service English teachers regarding teaching English using Zep, a virtual metaverse platform, in secondary schools. A total of 55 university students majoring in English education at a college of education in Kyongbuk province participated in a semester course where they each built their own virtual world of English class using Zep and completed a survey. Additionally, some of them conducted actual English classes using Zep during their four-week teaching practicum and were interviewed about their perceptions. The findings of the study showed that they perceived using Zep for English teaching as very new, interesting, and user-friendly. However, they had relatively lower perceptions in terms of usefulness, satisfaction, and usability, and the lowest perceptions in terms of access stability and authenticity. Based on these results, several pedagogical implications are suggested in the field of English education.