While traditional English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms often lack context and authenticity, immersive virtual reality (iVR) provides a valuable alternative opportunity to practice and acquire the target language in a replica of the real world. The present study used iVR ("Immerse") for communicative tasks and investigated how iVR, as an authentic learning environment, promoted students' speaking. For six weeks, Korean EFL university students (N = 19) participated in various communicative tasks in simulated real-life-like places in iVR. The study employed a qualitative research method and analyzed the students' physical and verbal behaviors based on the recordings and their perceptions of learning in iVR through interviews. Analysis of the recordings revealed that the students engaged in authentic conversations in response to the surrounding virtual environments, manipulated virtual objects to engage in dynamic and contextualized conversations, and showed enjoyment and comfort. Triangulating the results of the recording analysis, the interviews confirmed the students' preference for iVR over traditional teaching due to more realistic English-speaking contexts, more natural interactions, more opportunities to speak, and the connection of each scene to their own real-life experiences. Finally, pedagogical implications are proposed to integrate iVR to facilitate students' authentic and meaningful learning.