Emergent-Dialogue Virtual Exchange for fostering speaking fluency in the English-as-a-multilingua-franca context

This article introduces Emergent-Dialogue Virtual Exchange, a pedagogical model to foster speaking fluency, necessary for the English-as-a-multilingua franca context. Emergent-Dialogue Virtual Exchange was implemented in an 11-week English-for-communication course at a Vietnamese university with two intact first-year classes ( n = 66). Following an orientation and digital safety briefing, learners received explicit instruction on communication strategies and completed weekly missions, initiating conversations with diverse English users who happened to be in the Fondi virtual reality platform. Feedback combined an automated speech evaluation to assess speaking fluency, with a teacher checklist focusing on comprehensibility and use of communication strategies. Evidence triangulated from recordings of Fondi interactions, reflections, and descriptive pre- and post-speaking fluency scores showed improvement in speaking fluency, alongside reported gains in willingness to communicate, tolerance of accent diversity, and strategic persistence during breakdowns. Emergent-Dialogue Virtual Exchange is intended as a pedagogical model for intercultural, avatar-mediated interaction in the context of English as a multilingua franca.