Innovative Approaches to Language Teacher Education: The Metaverse

Öz

This study contributes to the professional development of English language teacher candidates by enabling them to experience micro-teaching lesson study cycles implemented within a metaverse environment. The collaborative teacher development model, which has been practiced in schools for some time, was integrated with micro-teaching practices and structurally adapted to suit the dynamics of a virtual metaverse setting. Employing a case study design as part of qualitative research methodology, the study involved five English language teacher education students enrolled at a public university in Türkiye. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observation notes, and group discussions, and were analysed qualitatively; the emerging themes and codes were interpreted by the researcher. The findings indicate that the pre-service teachers gained teaching experience within the metaverse environment and enhanced their awareness of online instruction by discovering creative ways of delivering lessons unique to the virtual space. In addition, participants articulated the strengths and weaknesses of transferring distance education into the metaverse and demonstrated a critical perspective toward its improvement. Furthermore, the results of the study offer a more comprehensive model for distance education as an alternative to current AI-driven approaches, pointing to a more feasible option in response to existing critiques of online education in the literature.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Metaverse
• Virtual Environment
• Lesson Study
• Microteaching
• Preservice English Language Teachers

Etik Beyan

The ethics committee approval of the thesis from which the article was produced was obtained from Çukurova University Ethics Committee with the decision numbered E-838991 on 31.10.2023. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and they were provided with detailed information about the purpose of the study, its methods, potential risks, and their rights.

Dil Öğretmeni Eğitiminde Yenilikçi Yaklaşımlar: Metaverse

Öz

Çalışma kapsamındaki bu araştırma İngilizce öğretmenliği bölümü öğrencilerinin, metaverse evreninde uygulanan mikroöğretim ders araştırması döngülerini deneyimleyerek mesleki gelişimlerine katkı sağlamaktadır. Bir süredir okullarda uygulanan işbirlikçi öğretmen gelişim modeli, mikroöğretim dersleri ile harmanlanmış ve metaverse sanal evrenine uyum sağlayacak şekilde yapısal değişiklikler uygulanarak kullanılmıştır. Çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden örnek olay incelemesi kullanılarak, Türkiye’de bir devlet üniversitesinde eğitimlerini sürdüren beş İngilizce öğretmenliği öğrencileri katılım sağlamıştır. Veriler yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme, gözlem notları ve grup tartışmasından elde edilmiş, nitel veri analizinden geçirilerek ilgili temalar ve kodlar araştırmacı tarafından yorumlanmıştır. Çalışmanın sonucunda aday öğretmenleri metaverse sanal evreninde öğretmenlik deneyimi elde etmiş, sanal evrene özgü yaratıcı sunuş yolları keşfederek sanal alemde çevrimiçi eğitim ile ilgili farkındalıklarını artırmışlardır. Bunun yanı sıra, katılımcılar sanal evrene taşınan uzaktan eğitim modelinin güçlü ve zayıf yanlarını ifade etmiş, geliştirmeye yönelik kritik bir bakış açısı sundukları gözlemlenmiştir. Ayrıca çalışmanın sonuçları günümüzde yapay zekâ yönelimine alternatif olarak daha kapsamlı bir uzaktan eğitim modelini sunmuş, alanyazında mevcut çevrimiçi eğitime yönelik eleştirilere karşın daha uygulanabilir bir seçeneği işaret etmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Metaverse
• Sanal Evren
• Ders Araştırması
• Mikroöğretim
• Aday İngilizce Öğretmenleri

Etik Beyan

Bu çalışmanın etik ilkelere uygunluğunun incelenmesi için Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü’ne başvurulmuş olup ilgili müdürlük tarafından 31.10.2023 tarihli E-838991 sayılı resmi yazı ile bu çalışmanın etik ilkelere uygun olduğu belirtilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılan tüm katılımcılardan online bilgilendirilmiş onam alınmıştır ve katılımcılara çalışmanın amacı, yöntemleri, olası riskler ve hakları detaylı olarak açıklanmıştır.

Kaynakça

1. Akdemir, A. B., & Kılıç, A. (2020). Yükseköğretim öğrencilerinin uzaktan eğitim uygulamalarina bakışı. Journal of National Education/Millî Eğitim Dergisi, 49(1), 685-712. https://doi.org/10.37669/milliegitim.783344
2. Ball, D. L., & Cohen, D. K. (1999). Developing practice, developing practitioners: Toward a practice-based theory of professional education. In G. Sykes and L. Darling-Hammond (Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice (pp. 3-32). Jossey Bass.
3. Barth, J., Schneider, S., & von Känel, R. (2010). Lack of social support in the etiology and the prognosis of coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 72(3), 229–238. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181d01611
4. Bekereci-Sahin, M., & Aslan, R. (2026). Navigating online microteaching: pre-service teachers’ experiences and insights. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 21(1), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2025.2535343
5. Benton-Kupper, J. (2001). The microteaching experience: Student perspectives. Education, 121(4), 830-835. https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A13%3A6021901/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Acrawler-gcd&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A5016918&crl=c&jrnl=00131172&link_origin=scholar.google.com
6. Bohndick, C., et al. (2025). Students’ personality impacts sense of belonging of students in different ways. Social Psychology of Education, 28(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-025-10058-0
7. Campbell, S., et al. (2020). Coding in-depth semistructured interviews: Problems of unitization and intercoder reliability and agreement. Sociological Methods & Research, 49(3), 837–861. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124118785670
8. Chasciar, D.R., et al. (2025) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university education in the field of construction: adaptations and challenges in the entrepreneurial training of students. Front. Educ., 10, 1623392. https://doi:10.3389/feduc.2025.1623392

9. Cochran-Smith, M., & Villegas, A. M. (2015). Framing teacher preparation research: an overview of the field, part 1: an overview of the field, part 1. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(1), 7-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487114549072
10. Crandall, J. (1993). Professional development and teacher research. TESOL Quarterly, 27(2), 327–331. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587265
11. Crandall, J. (1994). Professional development and the research/practice connection. TESOL Quarterly, 28(2), 267–270. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587345
12. Crandall, J. (1996). Professional development and teacher research. In J. C. Richards (Ed.), Teacher education for language teachers (pp. 32–48). Cambridge University Press.
13. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
14. Daher, R. (2025) Integrating AI literacy into teacher education: a critical perspective paper. Discov Artif Intell, 5, 217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-025-00475-7
15. Darling Hammond, L. (1994). Professional development schools: Schools for developing a profession. Teachers College Press. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED364996
16. De Almeida, I. G., & Weber, J. P. (2025). Pre-service teachers’ experiences of online microteaching in South Africa. African Journal of Teacher Education and Development, 4(1), a90. https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.4102/ajoted.v4i1.90
17. Derakhshandeh, Z., & Esmaeili, B. (2020). Active-learning in the online environment. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 29(4), 299-311. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/217506/
18. Ding, M., et al. (2024). A review of lesson study in mathematics education from 2015 to 2022: Implementation and impact. ZDM Mathematics Education, 56, 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01538-8
19. Fernandez, M. L. (2009). Investigating How and What Prospective Teachers Learn Through Microteaching Lesson Study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 351-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.09.012
20. Flores, M. A., et al. (2024). Online learning, perceived difficulty and the role of feedback in COVID-19 times. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 29(2), 324-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2024.2330784
21. Gichuhi, L. (2025). Teacher trainees' perspectives on the use of technology for teaching and learning in forced displacement contexts. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2025(1), 3-3. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.884
22. Grossman, P., Hammerness, K., & McDonald, M. (2009). Redefining teaching, re-imagining teacher education. Teachers and Teaching, 15(2), 273–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540600902875340
23. Heffner, K. L., et al. (2011). Social isolation, C-reactive protein, and coronary heart disease mortality among community-dwelling adults. Social science & medicine, 72(9), 1482-1488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.016
24. Hilliker, S. (2020). Virtual exchange as a study abroad alternative to foster language and culture exchange in TESOL teacher education. Tesl-Ej, 23(4), n4. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1242714
25. Ko, C., & Kim, S. (2024). Adolescent female users’ avatar creation in social virtual worlds: opportunities and challenges. Behavioral Sciences, 14(7), 539. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14070539
26. Kosnik, C., et al. (2018). Infusing literacy into teacher education programs: 22 case studies of initial teacher preparation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315107295
27. Kotelawala, U. (2011). Lesson study in a methods course: connecting teacher education to the field. The Teacher Educator, 47(1), 67–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2012.633840
28. Lin, S., et al. (2022). Metaverse in education: vision, opportunities, and challenges. 2022 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), Osaka, Japan, 2857-2866. 10.1109/BigData55660.2022.10021004.
29. Lewis, C., et al. (2019). How does lesson study work? Toward a theory of lesson study process and impact. In R. Huang, A. Takahashi, & J. P. da Ponte (Eds.), Theory and practice of lesson study in mathematics: An international perspective (pp. 13–37). Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-04031-4_2
30. McKim, C. (2023). Meaningful member-checking: A structured approach to member-checking. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 7(2), 41-52. https://doi.org/10.66815/ajqr/12973
31. McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2010). Research in education: evidence-based inquiry, myeducationlab series. Pearson. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED577250
32. Mgaya, R. (2024). Problems confronting the teaching profession in tanzania and implications towards educational excellence in the digital age. Journal of Learning for Development, 11(3), 563-573. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1449706
33. Minea-Pic, A. (2020). Innovating teachers’ professional learning through digital technologies (No. 237). OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/innovating-teachers-professional-learning-through-digital-technologies_3329fae9-en
34. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00684.x
35. Murata, A. (2011). Introduction: Conceptual overview of lesson study. Lesson study research and practice in mathematics education: Learning Together, 1-12. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-90-481-9941-9_1
36. Ning, Y., et al. (2024). Teachers’ AI-TPACK: Exploring the Relationship between Knowledge Elements. Sustainability, 16(3), 978. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16030978
37. Oh, S. Y., & Ahn, Y. (2024, July). Exploring teachers’ perception of artificial intelligence: The socio-emotional deficiency as opportunities and challenges in human-AI complementarity in K-12 education. In International conference on artificial intelligence in education (pp. 439-447). Springer Nature Switzerland.
38. Palinkas, L. A., et al. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
39. Potter, J., et al. (2025). Making up for lost time: University students' quest to reclaim missed opportunities while adjusting to post‐Covid life in higher education. British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4165
40. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
41. Qin, X. (2024). Collaborative inquiry in action: a case study of lesson study for intercultural education. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 9(1), 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-024-00294-w
42. Renzulli, J. S. (2021). The teacher's role in developing higher level thinking skills in young people. Revista Espanola De Pedagogia, 79(278), 13-32. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP79-1-2021-01
43. Richards, J. C. (2008). Second language teacher education today. RELC Journal, 38(2), 158–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688208092182
44. Schleicher, A. (2020). The Impact of COVID-19 on Education: Insights from" Education at a Glance 2020". OECD Publishing. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED616315
45. Sims, R., & Walsh, L. (2009). Learning from teaching: Collaboration and theory in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.01.008
46. Smit, A., et al. (2021). Moving beyond text-and-talk in qualitative health research: Methodological considerations of using multiple media for data collection. Qualitative Health Research, 31(3), 600-614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732320976556
47. Subasman, I. (2024). Improving The practice of teacher learning reflection through digital technology-based lesson study. AL-ISHLAH: Jurnal Pendidikan, 16(2), 2621-2634. https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v16i2.4905
48. Sullivan, M. (2021). What the metaverse will (and won’t) be, according to 28 experts. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90691510/what-is-the-metaverse
49. Susilo, H. (2015). Pengembangan kualitas pembelajaran melalui lesson study. LP3 Universitas Negeri Malang.
50. Takahashi, A., & McDougal, T. (2016). Collaborative lesson research: Maximizing the impact of lesson study. ZDM Mathematics Education, 48(4), 513–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0752-x
51. The Holmes Group. (1986). Tomorrow’s schools: Principles for the design of professional development schools. The Holmes Group. https://www.edweek.org/education/holmes-group-outlines-clinical-schools-network/1990/02#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThat%20can%20be%20very%20different%20from%20being,students%20who%20are%20poor%20or%20members%20of
52. Tsai, Y. C. (2023). Learner-centered analysis in educational metaverse environments: exploring value exchange systems through natural interaction and text mining. Journal of Metaverse, 3(2), 121-132. https://doi.org/10.57019/jmv.1302136
53. Ventista, O. M., & Brown, C. (2023). Teachers’ professional learning and its impact on students’ learning outcomes: Findings from a systematic review. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8(1), 100565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100565
54. Yeganeh, L. N., et al. (2025). The future of education: A multi-layered metaverse classroom model for immersive and inclusive learning. Future Internet, 17(2), 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi17020063
55. Younas, A., & Inayat, S. (2025). Choosing an analytical approach in case study research. Creative Nursing, 31(1), 90-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/10784535241306773
56. Zawacki-Richter, O., et al. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education–where are the educators?. International journal of educational technology in higher education, 16(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0
57. Zhu, Y. (2022). A systematic review of the application of metaverse in language education. Journal of Language Teaching, 53(3), 620–646. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13191