Enhancing EFL pre-service teachers’ affordance noticing and utilizing with the Synthesis of Qualitative Evidence strategies: An exploratory study of a customizable virtual environment platform

Although numerous studies have reported educational benefits of virtual environment (VE), little is known about whether the design-based learning project of developing VEs contributes to pre-service EFL teachers’ noticing and utilizing of its pedagogical affordances. Drawing on the affordance theory and the synthesis of qualitative evidence (SQD), this study first aimed to explore pedagogical affordances of VEs noticed by 78 Korean EFL pre-service teachers. It further investigated how the participants gained benefits in noticing and using these affordances from the SQD-based VE development project. We adopted a qualitative-dominant mixed research approach with multiple data sources, such as interviews, group discussions, reflective journals, and a survey. The findings reported four pedagogical affordances, including communication, engaging learning environment, constructability, and multimodal sharing. The findings also showed that the participants positively evaluated the SQD strategies for noticing and utilizing those affordances in their projects by activating their teacher agency. The study suggests the SQD strategies for the interactive learning environment in which EFL pre-service students can be trained to activate their agency in noticing and using ICT affordances. Academic and practical implications for pre-service teacher training and future research are suggested. • EFL pre-service teachers engaged in virtual environment (VE) development projects. • The project was guided by the synthesis of qualitative evidence (SQD) strategies. • Those teachers noted pedagogical affordances of virtual environments. • The SQD strategies were perceived to help them notice and use VE affordances.