The effects of VR digital gaming on multidimensional engagement among EFL students: Immediate and delayed evidence

The present study investigated the effects of Virtual Reality (VR) digital gaming on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ engagement across behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and social dimensions. Although VR-mediated language learning has been widely advocated, prior evidence on engagement remains mixed, and little is known about whether engagement gains are sustained over time, particularly for social engagement. Fifty-six EFL first-year university students participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either a VR group or a control group. The VR group ( n = 28) completed a 50-min session using an English-language VR visual novel game, whereas the control group ( n = 28) completed matched printed materials covering the same narrative content and comprehension questions. Engagement was assessed using a multidimensional self-report questionnaire capturing behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement. All participants completed a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. Linear mixed-effects modeling showed that students in the VR group reported significantly higher overall engagement than those in the control group. Within the VR group, engagement increased from pretest to immediate posttest and remained stable at the delayed posttest, suggesting that the engagement gains were sustained over one month. Dimension-specific analyses further showed that emotional engagement was significantly higher than cognitive engagement, whereas no significant differences were found among the other engagement dimensions. These findings suggest that even a single-session VR digital gaming task can promote short-term sustained engagement among EFL students when task demands are appropriately managed.