Expert consensus on designing a metaverse supported blended EFL module in chinese higher education: A Fuzzy Delphi...

Area of Science:

• Educational Technology
• Applied Linguistics
• Virtual Reality in Education

Background:

• Limited curriculum design principles exist for metaverse-enhanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning.
• Metaverse technologies offer immersive and interactive potential for EFL education.
• Need for structured guidance in integrating virtual environments into higher education EFL curricula.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a ranked blueprint for a metaverse-supported blended learning module for undergraduate EFL learners.
• To establish expert consensus on design principles for immersive EFL learning environments.
• To provide an implementation-ready specification for metaverse adoption in higher education.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory design with semi-structured interviews with EFL instructors (n=5).
• Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) applied with a 12-expert panel using a five-point Likert scale.
• Consensus criteria: Agreement ≥ 75%, IQR ≤ 1.0, fuzzy distance (d) ≤ 0.20; prioritization by defuzzified value (DV).

Main Results:

• Actionable consensus achieved across six key domains: learning objectives, content, strategies, activities, assessment, and resources.
• Prioritized blueprint developed through expert consensus, ensuring constructive alignment.
• Stability checks confirmed the robustness of the item priority ordering.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a replicable, ranked blueprint for metaverse-enhanced EFL blended learning.
• The developed specification supports staged adoption and validation in higher education.
• This research addresses the gap in curriculum-level design for immersive EFL contexts.