摘要：In recent decades, educational technologies have enabled new opportunities for teaching and learning on a recurrent basis. In contemporary educational contexts, which are mainly oriented towards active methodologies and student-centered approaches, educational technologies have led to a significant breakthrough in education. Among emergent educational technologies, it is interesting to specifically highlight the current importance of Augmented Reality (AR), which allows overlaying of virtual objects (that is, ‘augmented’ elements) into the real world. This paper, after exploring the potential of AR in education, is aimed at comparing pre-service English as a Second Language (ESL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and Bilingual Education (BE) teachers’ perceptions, uses and preferences (n = 53) from two universities (Texas Woman’s University, USA, and University of Córdoba, Spain) regarding the use of AR, and analyze whether there are similarities and/or differences based on sociocultural context, approaches to education or teacher practices. The findings reveal the positive attitudes towards integrating AR in ESL/EFL and bilingual contexts of the participants of the two institutions. The most noted advantages of AR are that it enhances classroom engagement and its focus is different from traditional teaching methods, increasing student motivation and facilitating their learning processes. Some reported challenges imposed by AR are that access to mobile devices is limiting, the cost of technology, technical issues and the necessity for specialized teacher training. We also found other challenges and numerous advantages of AR usage in ESL/EFL and bilingual contexts, which are discussed thoroughly. Finally, current needs in the field are identified and suggestions are offered for further research in AR for ESL/EFL and BE.
