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Usage of Virtual Reality in Combating Social Anxiety Disorders in Non-native English Speakers: A Survey

Siyi Zhang, Ayesha Khalid

TL;DR

The paper addresses the potential of virtual reality (VR) to mitigate social anxiety disorder (SAD) and public speaking anxiety (PSA) in non-native English speakers (NNES). It surveys how VR-enabled social-emotional training can complement cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) by providing controlled, repeatable exposure to anxiety-inducing speaking scenarios and cultural contexts. Key insights include evidence from VR exposure studies showing habituation and practical advantages over traditional in vivo exposure, as well as NNES-specific benefits and challenges. The authors argue that VR could improve NNES students' academic and professional outcomes, while highlighting barriers such as cost and cybersickness and calling for further research on long-term efficacy and integration with self-compassion-focused interventions.

Abstract

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a common yet underestimated mental health disorder. While non-native English speaker (NNES) students face public speaking, they are more likely to suffer some public speaking anxiety (PSA) due to linguistic and sociocultural differences \cite{cite1}. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has already benefitted social-emotional training. The core objective is to summarise the benefits and limitations of using VR technology to help NNES students practice and improve their public speaking skills. This is not a comprehensive survey of the literature. Instead, the selected papers are intended to reflect the current knowledge across various broad topics. Virtual Reality, Social Anxiety Disorder, Public Speaking Anxiety, English as a Second Language, and Non native English speakers are the keywords used for searching mainly in the Academic Search Complete (ASC) database. Compared with native English speaker (NES) students, NNES students have the potential to achieve better results when using VR technology for PSA social-emotional training.

Usage of Virtual Reality in Combating Social Anxiety Disorders in Non-native English Speakers: A Survey

TL;DR

The paper addresses the potential of virtual reality (VR) to mitigate social anxiety disorder (SAD) and public speaking anxiety (PSA) in non-native English speakers (NNES). It surveys how VR-enabled social-emotional training can complement cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) by providing controlled, repeatable exposure to anxiety-inducing speaking scenarios and cultural contexts. Key insights include evidence from VR exposure studies showing habituation and practical advantages over traditional in vivo exposure, as well as NNES-specific benefits and challenges. The authors argue that VR could improve NNES students' academic and professional outcomes, while highlighting barriers such as cost and cybersickness and calling for further research on long-term efficacy and integration with self-compassion-focused interventions.

Abstract

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a common yet underestimated mental health disorder. While non-native English speaker (NNES) students face public speaking, they are more likely to suffer some public speaking anxiety (PSA) due to linguistic and sociocultural differences \cite{cite1}. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has already benefitted social-emotional training. The core objective is to summarise the benefits and limitations of using VR technology to help NNES students practice and improve their public speaking skills. This is not a comprehensive survey of the literature. Instead, the selected papers are intended to reflect the current knowledge across various broad topics. Virtual Reality, Social Anxiety Disorder, Public Speaking Anxiety, English as a Second Language, and Non native English speakers are the keywords used for searching mainly in the Academic Search Complete (ASC) database. Compared with native English speaker (NES) students, NNES students have the potential to achieve better results when using VR technology for PSA social-emotional training.
Paper Structure (14 sections, 1 figure)

This paper contains 14 sections, 1 figure.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Social Anxiety Disorder
  4. Public Speaking Disorder
  5. Challenges of Public Speaking for NNES Students
  6. Traditional Methods
  7. The Role of Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE)
  8. Virtual Reality(VR) and Virtual Environments(VE) in Social Training
  9. Existing Research on Using VR for SAD
  10. SAD In Psychology
  11. VR Usage for SAD
  12. The Potential for VR with NNES Students
  13. Challenges of Using VR in Social-Emotional Training
  14. Conclusion

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: This VE simulates the participant view of an auditorium-style room created by R. Sigurvinsdottir et al. and used in their research.