literature review english language learners

DigitalCommons@Hamline

A service of the Bush Memorial Library

• < Previous

Home > HSEL > HSEL Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations > 510

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Literature review: english language learners and academic vocabulary.

Jill M Boettcher , Hamline University

Restricted Access Thesis

Degree Name

This literature review seeks to explore effective academic vocabulary instruction for English Language Learners in mixed K-12 classroom settings with native English learners. Key influences include: Zwiers, Beck, McKeown, Kucan, Carlo, Snow, C, and Silverman. The research method consisted of a literature review comprising qualitative, quantitative, meta-analysis, case study, and action research studies. Major findings from this literature review reveal: 1) Content-embedded academic vocabulary must be explicitly taught to attain the highest level of vocabulary acquisition and retention. 2) Explicit teaching of word-analysis skills shows greater target item gains than teaching vocabulary meaning alone. 3) Students engaged in academic talk with the target vocabulary items demonstrated the greatest gains in target and incidental vocabulary acquisition with increased retention as well as increased language skills on post-treatment measures. Implications for teaching and curriculum adaptation is included.

Recommended Citation

Boettcher, Jill M, "Literature review: English language learners and academic vocabulary" (2013). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations . 510. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/510

Since December 18, 2015

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Collections
• Disciplines
• Authors/Creators

For Authors/Creators

• Bush Library
• University Archives
• Faculty & Staff Works

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• v.7(9); 2021 Sep

Evidence-based reading interventions for English language learners: A multilevel meta-analysis

Associated data.

Data included in article/supplementary material/referenced in article.

The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) has been growing worldwide. ELLs are at risk for reading disabilities due to dual difficulties with linguistic and cultural factors. This raises the need for finding practical and efficient reading interventions for ELLs to improve their literacy development and English reading skills. The purpose of this study is to examine the evidence-based reading interventions for English Language Learners to identify the components that create the most effective and efficient interventions. This article reviewed literature published between January 2008 and March 2018 that examined the effectiveness of reading interventions for ELLs. We analyzed the effect sizes of reading intervention programs for ELLs and explored the variables that affect reading interventions using a multilevel meta-analysis. We examined moderator variables such as student-related variables (grades, exceptionality, SES), measurement-related variables (standardization, reliability), intervention-related variables (contents of interventions, intervention types), and implementation-related variables (instructor, group size). The results showed medium effect sizes for interventions targeting basic reading skills for ELLs. Medium-size group interventions and strategy-embedded interventions were more important for ELLs who were at risk for reading disabilities. These findings suggested that we should consider the reading problems of ELLs and apply the Tier 2 approach for ELLs with reading problems.

English language learners, Evidenced-based intervention, Meta-analysis, Reading.

1. Introduction

There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of quality education for learners who study in a language other than their native language ( Estrella et al., 2018 ; Ludwig et al., 2019 ). As cultural, racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversification takes place globally, the number of students studying a second language different from their native language is also increasing worldwide. In the United States, nearly 5 million learners who are not native speakers of English are currently attending public schools, and this figure has increased significantly over the past decade ( NCES, 2016 ). As the number of children whose native language is not English increased, the need for educational support also increased. Furthermore, the implementation of NCLB policy emphasizes the need for quality education for all students included in all schools. Accordingly, NCLB has emerged as a critical policy for learners to study in their second language. In other words, there is an urgent need to ensure that non-native English speakers receive appropriate education due to NCLB, which has not only increased the demand for education but also led to the practice of enhanced education for learners whose English is not their native language.

ELLs (English language learners) refer to the education provided for learners whose native language is not English in English-speaking countries ( National Center for Education Statistics, 2021 ). The education provided to these ELLs is called ESL (English as a second language), ESOL (English to speakers of other languages), EFL (English as a foreign language), and so on. Each term is adopted differently depending on the policy, purpose, and status of operation of the state and/or school district. While a variety of terms have been suggested, this paper uses the term ‘ELLs’ to refer to learners who are not native speakers of English and uses the terms ‘the English education program’ and the ‘ELL program’ to refer to the English education program provided to ELLs.

To ensure quality education, students identified as ELLs can participate in supportive programs to improve their English skills. These ELL programs can be broadly divided into two methods: “pull-out” and “push-in” ( Honigsfeld, 2009 ). In the pull-out program, students are taken to a specific space other than the classroom at regular class time and are separately taught English. In the push-in program, the ELL teacher joins the mainstream ELLs’ classroom and assists them during class time. Through these educational supports, ELLs are required to achieve not only English language improvements addressed in Title III of NCLB but also language art achievements appropriate to their grade level addressed in Title I of NCLB. ELLs are expected to achieve the same level of academic achievement as students of the same grade level, as well as comparable language skills.

A considerable amount of literature has been published on the achievement and learning status of ELLs ( Ludwig, 2017 ; Soland and Sandilos, 2020 ). These studies revealed that despite the intensive, high-quality education support for ELLs, they encounter difficulties learning and academic achievement. The National Reading Achievement Test (NAEP) results show that the achievement gap between non-ELLs and ELLs is steadily expanding in the areas of both mathematics and reading ( Polat et al., 2016 ). Ultimately, ELLs are reported to have the highest risk of dropping out of school ( Sheng et al., 2011 ). These difficulties are not limited to early school age. Fry (2007) reported that the results from a national standardized test of 8th-grade students found that ELLs performed lower than white students in both reading and math. Callahan and Shifrer (2016) analyzed data from a nationally representative educational longitudinal study in 2002 and found that, despite taking into account language, socio-demographic and academic factors, ELLs still have a large gap in high school academic achievement. Additionally, research has suggested that ELLs are less likely to participate in higher education institutions compared to non-ELL counterparts ( Cook, 2015 ; Kanno and Cromley, 2015 ).

Factors found to influence the difficulties of ELLs in learning have been explored in several studies ( Dussling, 2018 ; Thompson and von Gillern, 2020 ; Yousefi and Bria, 2018 ). There are two main reasons for these difficulties. First, ELLs face many challenges in learning a new language by following the academic content required in the school year ( American Youth Policy Forum, 2009 ). Moreover, language is an area that is influenced by sociocultural factors, and learning academic contents such as English language art and math are also influenced by sociocultural elements and different cultural backgrounds, which affects the achievement of ELLs in school ( Chen et al., 2012 ; Orosco, 2010 ). Second, it is reported that the heterogeneity of ELLs makes it challenging to formulate instructional strategies and provide adequate education for them. Due to the heterogeneous traits in the linguistic and cultural aspects of the ELL group, there are limitations in specifying and guiding traits. Therefore, properly reflecting their characteristics is difficult.

The difficulties for ELLs in academic achievement raise the necessity for searching practical and efficient reading interventions for ELLs to improve English language and academic achievement, including ELLs' English language art achievement. These needs and demands led to the conduct of various studies that analyze the difficulties of ELLs. Over the past decade, these studies have provided important information on education for ELLs. The main themes of the studies are difficulties in academic achievement and interventions for ELLs, including reading ( Kirnan et al., 2018 ; Liu and Wang, 2015 ; Roth, 2015 ; Shamir et al., 2018 ; Tam and Heng, 2016 ), writing ( Daugherty, 2015 ; Hong, 2018 ; Lin, 2015 ; nullP ) or both reading and math ( Dearing et al., 2016 ; Shamir et al., 2016 ). The influences of teachers on children's guidance ( Kim, 2017 ; Daniel and Pray, 2017 ; Téllez and Manthey, 2015 ; Wasseell, Hawrylak, Scantlebuty, 2017 ) and the influences of family members ( Johnson and Johnson, 2016 ; Walker, Research on 2017 ) are also examined.

Reading is known to function as an important predictor of success not only in English language art itself but also in overall school life ( Guo et al., 2015 ). This is because reading is conducted throughout the school years, as most of the activities students perform in school are related to reading. Furthermore, reading is considered one of the major fundamental skills in modern society because it has a strong relationship with academic and vocational success beyond school-based learning ( Lesnick et al., 2010 ). In particular, for ELLs, language is one of the innate barriers; thereafter, reading is one of the most common and prominent difficulties in that it is not done in their native language ( Rawian and Mokhtar, 2017 ; Snyder et al., 2017 ). In this respect, several studies have investigated reading for ELLs. These studies explore effective interventions and strategies ( Kirnan et al., 2018 ; Mendoza, 2016 ; Meredith, 2017 ; Reid and Heck, 2017 ) and suggest reading development models or predictors for reading success ( Boyer, 2017 ; Liu and Wang, 2015 ; Rubin, 2016 ). For these individual studies to provide appropriate guidance to field practitioners and desirable suggestions for future research, aggregation of the overall related studies, not only of the individual study, and research reflections based on them are required. Specifically, meta-analysis can be an appropriate research method. Through meta-analysis, we can derive conclusions from previous studies and review them comprehensively. Furthermore, meta-analysis can ultimately contribute to policymakers and decision-makers making appropriate decisions for rational strategies and policymaking.

Although extensive research has been carried out on the difficulties of ELLs and how to support them, a sufficiently comprehensive meta-analysis of these studies has not been carried out. Some studies have focused on specific interventions, such as morphological interventions ( Goodwin and Ahn, 2013 ), peer-mediated learning ( Cole, 2014 ), and video game-based instruction ( Thompson and von Gillern ). Ludwig, Guo, and Georgiou (2019) demonstrated the effectiveness of reading interventions for ELLs. However, they divided reading-related variables into “reading accuracy”, “reading fluency”, and “reading comprehension” and examined the effectiveness of the reading-related attributes in each of the variables. Therefore, the study has limitations for exploring the various aspects of reading and their effectiveness for reading interventions.

Individual studies have their characteristics and significance. However, for individual studies to be more widely adopted in the field and to be a powerful source for future research, it is necessary to analyze these individual studies more comprehensively. Meta-analysis reviews past studies related to the topic by 'integrating' previous studies, analyzes and evaluates them through 'critical analysis', provides implications to the field, and gives rise to intellectual stimulation to future studies by ‘identifying issues’ ( Cooper et al., 2019 ). Through this, meta-analysis can be a useful tool for diagnosing the past where relevant research has been conducted, taking appropriate treatment for the present, and providing intellectual stimulation for future studies.

Therefore, the purposes of this study are to examine evidence-based reading interventions for ELLs presented in the literature to analyze their effects and to identify the actual and specific components for creating the most effective and efficient intervention for ELLs. The findings of this study make a major contribution to research on ELLs by demonstrating the implications for the field and future study.

2.1. Selection of studies

A meta-analysis of peer-reviewed articles on ELL reading interventions published between January 2008 and March 2018 was conducted. According to the general steps of a meta-analysis, data related to reading interventions for English language learners were collected as follows. First, educational and psychological publication databases, such as Google Scholar ( https://scholar.google.co.kr ), ERIC ( https://eric.ed.gov/ ), ELSEVIER ( http://www.elsevier.com ), and Springer ( https://www.springer.com/gp ) were used to find the articles to be analyzed using the search terms “ELLs,” ESL,” “Reading,” “Second language education,” “Effectiveness,” and “Intervention” separately and in combination with each other. We reviewed the results of the web-based search for articles and included all relevant articles on the preliminary list. We selected the final list of the articles to be analyzed by applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to the preliminary list of articles. Studies were included in the final list based on three primary criteria. First, each study should evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based reading intervention using an experimental or quasi-experimental group design. In this process, single case, qualitative, and/or descriptive studies for ELLs were excluded from the analysis. Second, we included all types of reading-related interventions (i.e., phonological awareness, word recognition, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension). Third, each study needed to report data in a statistical format to calculate an effect size. Fourth, we only included studies whose subjects were in grades K-12. The preliminary list had 75 articles, but since some of these studies did not meet the inclusion criteria, we excluded them from the final list for analysis. In total, this meta-analysis included 28 studies with 234 effect sizes (see Figure 1 ).

Prisma flow diagram.

2.2. Data analysis

2.2.1. coding procedure.

To identify the relevant components of the evidence-based reading interventions for ELLs, we developed an extensive coding document. Our interest was in synthesizing the effect sizes and finding the variables that affect the effectiveness of reading interventions for ELLs. The code sheet was made based on a code sheet used in Vaughn et al. (2003) and Wanzek et al. (2010) . All studies were coded for the following: (a) study characteristics, including general information about the study, (b) student-related variables, (c) intervention-related variables, (d) implementation-related variables, (e) measurement-related variables, and (f) quantitative data for the calculation of effect sizes.

Within the study characteristics category, we coded the researchers’ names, publication year, and title from each study to identify the general information about each study. For the student-related variables, mean age, grade level(s), number of participants, number of males, number of females, sampling method, exceptionality type (reading ability level), identification criteria in case of learning disabilities, race/ethnicity, and SES were coded. We divided grade level(s) into lower elementary (K-2), upper elementary (3–5), and secondary (6–12). When students with learning disabilities participated in the study, we coded the identification criteria reported in the study. For race/ethnicity, we coded white, Hispanic, black, Asian, and others. Within intervention-related variables, we coded for the title of the intervention, the key instructional components of the intervention, the type of intervention, and the reading components of the intervention. The reading components coded were phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and others. If an intervention contained multiple reading components, all reading components included in the intervention were coded. Fourth, within implementation-related variables, we coded group size, duration of the intervention (weeks), the total number of sessions, frequency of sessions per week, length of each session (minutes), personnel who provided the intervention (i.e., teacher, researchers, other), and the setting. Fifth, in measurement-related variables, we coded the title of the measurement, reliability coefficient, validity coefficient, type of measurement, type of reliability, and type of validity. We also coded quantitative data such as the pre- and posttest means, the pre- and posttest standard deviations, and the number of participants in the pre- and posttests for both the treatment and control groups. These coding variables are defined in Table 1 . The research background and sample information are in Appendix 1 .

Table 1

Coding variables.

2.2.2. Coding reliability

The included articles were coded according to the coding procedure described above. Two researchers coded each study separately and reached 91% agreement. Afterward, the researchers reviewed and discussed the differences to resolve the initial disagreements.

2.2.3. Data analysis

First, we calculated 234 effect sizes from the interventions included in the 28 studies. The average effect size was calculated using Cohen's d formula. In addition, we conducted a two-level meta-analysis through multilevel hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) using the HLM 6.0 interactive mode statistical program to analyze the computed effect sizes and find the predictors that affect the effect sizes of reading interventions. HLM is appropriate to quantitatively obtain both overall summary statistics and quantification of the variability in the effectiveness of interventions across studies as a means for accessing the generalizability of findings. Moreover, HLM easily incorporates the overall mean effect size using the unconditional model, and HLM is useful to explain variability in the effectiveness of interventions between studies in the conditional model. The aim of the current study is to provide a broad overview of interventions for ELLs. To achieve this aim, we conducted an unconditional model for overall mean effect size and conducted a conditional model to identify factors that have an impact on the strength of effect sizes. In regard to variables related to the effectiveness of interventions, we conducted a conditional model with student-related, measurement-related, intervention-related, and implementation-related variables. In the case of quantitative meta-analyses, it is assumed that observations are independent of one another ( How and de Leeuw, 2003 ). However, this assumption is usually not applied in social studies if observations are clustered within larger groups ( Bowman, 2003 ) because each effect size within a study might not be homogeneous ( Beretvas and Pastor, 2003 ). Thus, a two-level multilevel meta-analysis using a mixed-effect model was employed because multiple effect sizes are provided within a single education study. To calculate effect size (ES) estimates using Cohen's d, we use the following equation [1]:

The pooled standard deviation, SD pooled , is defined as

In HLM, the unconditional model can be implemented to identify the overall effect size across all estimates and to test for homogeneity. If an assumption of homogeneity is rejected by an insignificant chi-square coefficient in the unconditional model, this means that there are differences within and/or between studies. This assumption must go to the next step to find moderators that influence effect sizes. This step is called a level two model or a conditional model. A conditional model is conducted to investigate the extent of the influence of the included variables.

The level one model (unconditional model) was expressed as [3], and the level two model (the conditional model was expressed as [4].

In equation (3) , δ j represents the mean effect size value for study j, and e j is the within-study error term assumed to be theoretically normally distributed with a mean of 0 and a variance of V j . In the level two model equation [4], γ 0 represents the overall mean effect size for the population, and u j represents the sampling variability between studies presumed to be normally distributed with a mean of 0 and a variance τ .

Regarding publication bias, we looked at the funnel plot with the 'funnel()' command of the metafor R package ( Viechtbauer, 2010 ), and to verify this more statistically, we used the dmetar R package ( Harrer et al., 2019 ). Egger's regression test ( Egger et al., 1997 ) was conducted using the 'eggers.test()' command to review publication bias. Egger's regression analysis showed that there was a significant publication error (t = 3.977, 95% CI [0.89–2.54], p < .001). To correct this, a trim-and-fill technique ( Duval and Tweedie, 2000 ) was used. As a result, the total effect size corrected for publication bias was also calculated. The funnel plot is shown in [ Figure 2 ].

Funnel plot.

We analyzed 28 studies to identify influential variables that count for reading interventions for ELLs. Before performing the multilevel meta-analysis, the effect size of 28 studies was analyzed by traditional meta-analysis. The forest plots for the individual effect sizes of 28 studies are shown in Appendix 2. We present our findings with our research questions as an organizational framework. First, we showed an unconditional model for finding the overall mean effect size. Then, we described the variables that influenced the effect size of reading interventions for ELLs using a conditional model.

3.1. Unconditional model

An unconditional model of the meta-analysis was tested first. In the analysis, restricted maximum likelihood estimation was used. This analysis was conducted to confirm the overall mean effect size and to examine the variability among all samples. The results are shown in Table 2 .

Table 2

Results of the unconditional model analysis.

∗∗∗ p < 0.001, df: degree of freedom.

The intercept coefficient in the fixed model is the overall mean effect size from 234 effect sizes. This means that the effect of reading intervention for English language learners is medium based on Cohen's d. Cohen's d is generally interpreted as small d = 0.2, medium d = 0.5 and large d = 0.8. The variance component indicates the variability among samples. The estimate was 0.589 and remained significant (χ 2 = 1245.90, p < . 001). This statistical significance means that moderator analysis with dominant predictors in a model is required to explore the source of variability.

3.2. Conditional model

Moderator analysis using the conditional model was expected to identify factors that have an impact on the strength of effect sizes. In this study, the moderator analysis was administered by nine critical variable categories: students’ grade, exceptionality, SES, reading area, standardized test, test reliability, intervention type, instructor, and group size. Variables in each category were coded by dummy coding. Dummy coding was used to identify the difference in dependent variables between the categories of independent variables. For example, we used four dummy variables to capture the five dimensions. The parameter estimates capture the differences in effect sizes between the groups that are coded 1 and a reference group that is coded 0. From a mathematical perspective, it does not matter which categorical variable is used as the referenced group ( Frey, 2018 ). We labeled one variable in each category as a reference group to make the interpretation of the results easier. We used an asterisk mark to denote the reference group for each category; if a word has an asterisk next to it, this indicates that it is the reference group for that category.

• 1) Student-related variables

The results of the conditional meta-analysis for students' grade variables are presented in Table 3 . In Table 3 , the significant coefficients mean that mean effect sizes are significantly larger for studies in reference conditions. For student grades, upper elementary students showed significantly larger mean effect sizes than secondary students (2.720, p = 0.000), but preschool students showed significantly lower mean effect sizes than secondary students (-0.103, p = 0.019). The Q statistic was significant for students’ grades ( Q = 27.20, p < 0.001) (see Table 4 ).

Table 3

Results of the moderator analysis for student grade.

df: degree of freedom.

Table 4

Results of the moderator analysis for exceptionality.

For the student-related variables, students with low achievement showed significantly larger mean effect sizes scores than general students (0.707, p = 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between students with low achievement and general students. The Q statistic was significant for students’ exceptionality ( Q = 0.0278, p < 0.001).

Table 5 shows that low and low-middle SES was not significantly different from students with no information about SES (0.055, p = 0.666). Moreover, students with middle and upper SES did not have significantly smaller effect sizes than students with nonresponse (-0.379, p = 0.444). The Q statistic was significant for students’ SES ( Q = 68.50, p < 0.001).

Table 5

Results of the moderator analysis for SES.

• 2) Measurement-related variables

Table 6 shows the results of the moderator analysis for measurement types. The coefficient for the standardized measurement-related variable was not significant. The Q statistic was significant for the standardization of measurement tools ( Q = 5.28, p < 0.001).

Table 6

Results of the moderator analysis for standardization of measurement tools.

Table 7 shows the results of the moderator analysis for the reliability of the measurement tools. The coefficient for the measurement reliability-related variable was significant (0.409, p = 0.003), which means that the effect sizes of measurements that reported reliability (ES = 0.770) were significantly larger than the effect sizes of measurements that had information about reliability (ES = 0.361). The Q statistic was significant for the reliability of the measurement tools ( Q = 5.82, p < 0.001) (see Table 8 ).

Table 7

Results of the moderator analysis for reliability.

Table 8

Results of the moderator analysis for content of the intervention.

• 3) Intervention-related variables

The content of the intervention was divided into phonological awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and other areas. Studies measured other areas that functioned as a reference group. For the measurement area, all reading areas were significantly larger than other areas. Reading fluency (1.150, p = 0.001), reading comprehension (0.971, p = 0.000) and listening comprehension (0.834, p = 0.002) were significantly larger than those in the other areas. However, phonological awareness and vocabulary were significantly larger than other areas but lower than reading fluency, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension (0.528, p = 0.013; 0.442, p = 0.000). The Q statistic was significant for the content of the intervention ( Q = 24.005, p < 0.001).

For intervention types, strategy instruction, peer tutoring, and computer-based learning were compared to other methods, which were fixed as a reference group. Table 9 shows that strategy instruction was significantly larger than other methods in mean effect sizes (0.523, p = 0.001). However, studies that applied peer tutoring and computer-based learning showed lower than other methods, but these differences were not statistically significant (-0.113, p = 0.736; -0114, p = 0.743). The Q statistic was significant for intervention types ( Q = 73.343, p < 0.001).

Table 9

Results of the moderator analysis for intervention types.

• 4) Implementation-related variables

For instructor-related variables, other instructor-delivered instructions were assigned as a reference group. Table 10 shows that the teacher and researcher groups showed significantly larger than the other instructors. Moreover, the teacher group showed larger than the researcher group (0.909, p = 0.000). The Q statistic was significant for instructor-related variables ( Q = 14.024, p < 0.001).

Table 10

Results of the moderator analysis for instructor.

For group size, mixed groups were fixed as a reference group. Group size variables were divided into a small group (1 or more and 5 or less), a middle group (6 or more and 15 or less), and a large group or class size (16 or more). Table 11 shows that the middle group (6 or more and 15 or less) and the small group (1 or more and 5 or less) were significantly larger than the mixed group (0.881, p = 0.000; 0.451, p = 0.006). However, the difference between the large group and the mixed group was not significant (0.120, p = 0.434). The Q statistic was significant for group size variables ( Q = 17.756, p < 0.001).

Table 11

Results of the moderator analysis for group size.

4. Discussion

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore the effects of reading interventions for ELLs and to identify research-based characteristics of effective reading interventions for enhancing their reading ability. To achieve this goal, this study tried to determine the answers to two research questions. What is the estimated mean effect size of reading interventions for ELLs in K-12? To what extent do student-, intervention-, implementation-, and measurement-related variables have effects on improving the reading ability of ELLs in K-12? Therefore, our study was limited to recent K-12 intervention studies published between January 2008 and March 2018 that included phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension as intervention components and outcome measures. A total of 28 studies were identified and analyzed. To inquiry the two main research questions, a two-level meta-analysis was employed in this study. For the first research question, the unconditional model of HLM was conducted to investigate the mean effect size of reading interventions for ELLs. The conditional model of HLM was conducted to determine which variables have significant effects on reading interventions for ELLs. Below, we briefly summarized the results of this study and described the significant factors that seem to influence intervention effectiveness. These findings could provide a better understanding of ELLs and support implications for the development of reading interventions for ELLs.

4.1. Effectiveness of reading interventions for ELLs

The first primary finding from this meta-analysis is that ELLs can improve their reading ability when provided appropriate reading interventions. Our findings indicated that the overall mean effect size of reading interventions of ELLs yielded an effect size of 0.653, which indicates a medium level of effect. From this result, we can conclude that the appropriate reading interventions generally have impacts on reading outcomes for ELLs in K-12. This is consistent with prior syntheses reporting positive effects of reading interventions for ELLs ( Vaughn et al., 2006 ; Abraham, 2008 ).

Effect size information is important to understand the real effects of the intervention. Therefore, this finding indicated that supplementary reading interventions for ELLs will be developed and implemented. This finding also showed that states are required to develop a set of high-quality reading interventions for ELLs. Language interventions for ELLs have become one of the most important issues in the U.S. Increasing numbers of children in U.S. schools have come from homes in which English is not the primary language spoken. NCES (2016) showed that 4.9 million students, or 9.6% of public school students, were identified as ELLs, which was higher than the 3.8 million students, or 8.1%, identified in 2000 ( NCES, 2016 ). While many students of immigrant families succeed in their academic areas, too many do not. Some ELLs lag far behind native English speakers in the school because of the strong effect of language factors on the instruction or assessment. Although English is not their native language, ELLs should learn educational content in English. This leads to huge inequity in public schools. Thus, improving the English language and literacy skills of ELLs is a major concern for educational policymakers. This finding can support practitioners’ efforts and investments in developing appropriate language interventions for ELLs.

4.2. The effects of moderating variables

The second primary finding of this meta-analysis relates to four variable categories: student-, intervention-, implementation-, and measurement-related variables. Effective instruction cannot be designed by considering one factor. The quality of instruction is the product of many factors, including class size, the type of instructions, and other resources. This finding showed which factors affected the effectiveness of reading interventions. Specifically, we found that the variables that proved to have significant effects on reading outcomes of ELLs were as follows: upper elementary students, reliable measurement tools, reading and listening comprehension-related interventions, strategy instruction, and the middle group consisting of 6 or more and 15 or less. Teachers and practitioners in the field may choose to adopt these findings into their practices. ELL teachers may design their instruction as strategy-embedded instruction in middle-sized groups.

We found that grades accounted for significant variability in an intervention's effectiveness. Specifically, we found that reading interventions were substantially more effective when used with upper elementary students than secondary students. This means that the magnitude of an intervention's effectiveness changed depending on when ELLs received reading interventions. Specifically, the larger effect sizes on upper elementary students than secondary schools showed the importance of early interventions to improve ELLs' language abilities. Students who experience early reading difficulty often continue to experience failure in later grades. ELLs, or students whose primary language is other than English and are learning English as a second language, often experience particular challenges in developing reading skills in the early grades. According to Kieffer (2010) , substantial proportions of ELLs and native English speakers showed reading difficulties that emerged in the upper elementary and middle school grades even though they succeeded in learning to read in the primary grades.

Regarding students’ English proficiency and academic achievement, there was no statistically significant difference between students with low achievement and general students. Given the heterogeneity of the English language learner population, interventions that may be effective for one group of English language learners may not be effective with others ( August and Shanahan, 2006 ). This result is similar to the results achieved by Lovett et al. (2008) . Lovett et al. (2008) showed that there were no differences between ELLs and their peers who spoke English as a first language in reading intervention outcomes or growth intervention. This finding suggests that systematic and explicit reading interventions are effective for readers regardless of their primary language.

For students' socioeconomic status (SES), there was no significant difference between the low-middle group and the nonresponse group. However, we cannot find that students' SES is critical for implementing reading interventions. Low SES is known to increase the risk of reading difficulties because of the limited access to a variety of resources that support reading development and academic achievement ( Kieffer, 2010 ). Many ELLs attend schools with high percentages of students living in poverty ( Vaughn et al., 2009 ). These schools are less likely to have adequate funds and resources and to provide appropriate support for academic achievement ( Donovan and Cross, 2002 ). Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998) highlighted multiple and complex factors that contribute to poor reading outcomes in school, including a lack of qualified teachers and students who come from poverty. Although this study cannot determine the relationship between the effectiveness of reading interventions and the SES of students, more studies are needed. In addition, these results related to students’ characteristics showed that practitioners and teachers can consider for whom to implement some interventions. Researchers should provide a greater specification of the student samples because this information will be particularly critical for English language learners.

Although many of the studies measured a variety of outcomes across all areas of reading, interventions that focused on improving reading comprehension and listening comprehension obtained better effects than other reading outcomes. This result is similar to those discussed in previous findings ( Wanzek and Roberts, 2012 ; Carrier, 2003 ).

With regard to effective intervention types, the findings indicated that strategy instruction was statistically significant for improving the reading skills of ELLs. However, computer-based interventions, which are frequently used for reading instruction for ELLs in recent years, showed lower effect sizes than mixed interventions. Strategy instructions are known as one of the effective reading interventions for ELLs ( Proctor et al., 2007 ; Begeny et al., 2012 ; Olson and Land, 2007 ; Vaughn et al., 2006 ). These strategies included activating background knowledge, clarifying vocabulary meaning, and expressing visuals and gestures for understanding after reading. Some studies have shown that computer-based interventions are effective for ELLs ( White and Gillard, 2011 ; Macaruso and Rodman, 2011 ), but this study does not. Therefore, there is little agreement in the research literature on how to effectively teach reading to ELLs ( Gersten and Baker, 2000 ). Continued research efforts must specify how best to provide intervention for ELLs.

With respect to the implementation of the intervention, teachers and researchers as instructors would produce stronger effects than other instructors. In this study, multiple studies showed that various instructors taught ELLs, including teachers, graduate students, and researchers. The professional development of instructors is more important than that of those who taught ELLs. This finding is consistent with Richards-Tutor et al. (2016) . They also did not find differences between researcher-delivered interventions and school personnel-delivered interventions. Continuing professional development should build on the preservice education of teachers, strengthen teaching skills, increase teacher knowledge of the reading process, and facilitate the integration of newer research on reading into the teaching practices of classroom teachers ( Snow et al., 1998 ). Overall, professional development is the key factor in strengthening the reading skills of ELLs.

This study showed that medium-sized groups of 6 or more and 15 or less had larger effect sizes than the mixed groups. In addition, the medium-sized group showed a larger effect size than the small group of 5 or less. This finding showed that a multi-tiered reading system should be needed in the general classroom. This finding is linked to the fact that the reaction to intervention (RTI) approach is more effective for ELLs. Linan-Thompson et al. (2007) pointed out that RTI offers a promising alternative for reducing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education by identifying students at risk early and providing preventive instruction to accelerate progress. Regarding interventions for ELLs who are struggling with or at risk for reading difficulties, Ross and Begeny (2011) compared the effectiveness between small group interventions and implementing the intervention in a 1/1 context for ELLs. They showed that nearly all students benefitted from the 1/1 intervention, and some students benefitted from the small group intervention. This finding is commensurate with a previous study investigating the comparative differences between group sizes and suggests research-based support for the introduction of the RTI approach.

However, most implementation-related variables, including duration of intervention, the total number of sessions, frequency per week, length of each session, settings, and instructor, did not have any significant effect on the reading ability of ELLs. That is, ELLs are able to achieve their reading improvement regardless of the duration of intervention, where they received the reading intervention, and who taught them. This finding is similar to those discussed by Snyder et al. (2017) . They also synthesized the related interventions for ELLs and showed that the length of intervention did not seem to be directly associated with overall effect sizes for reading outcomes. This finding is also the same as recent research on intervention duration with native English speakers ( Wanzek et al., 2013 ). Wanzek and colleagues examined the relationship between student outcomes and hours of intervention in their meta-analysis. The findings showed no significant differences in student outcomes based on the number of intervention hours. Elbaum et al. (2000) stated that the intensity of the interventions is most important for effectiveness. Our results somewhat support these researchers’ opinions, but we cannot be certain that a brief intervention would have the same overall effect on reading outcomes as a year-long intervention. Thus, we should consider the intervention intensity, such as student attendance at the sessions, with the duration of the intervention.

4.3. Implications for practice and for research

The most effective and efficient education refers to education that is made up in the right ways, that includes proper content, and that is delivered on time so that the students can benefit the most. To implement this, research to identify a particular framework based on the synthesis of research results through meta-analysis, such as this study, must be conducted. Furthermore, the implications based on the results must be deeply considered. In this respect, important implications for the practice and research of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers on enhancing reading competence for ELLs of this study are as follows.

First, reading interventions for ELLs are expected to be the most efficient when conducted on a medium-sized group of 6–15 students. This indicates that implementing reading interventions for ELLs requires a specially designed group-scale configuration rather than simply a class-wide or one-to-one configuration. Second, the implementation of reading interventions for ELLs is most effective when conducted for older elementary school students. This is in contrast to Morgan and Sideridis (2006) , who demonstrated the characteristics of students with learning disabilities using multilevel meta-analysis and showed that age groups were irrelevant in the effect size of reading interventions for students with learning disabilities. Therefore, it can be seen that the ELLs group, unlike the learning disability group, the students of which have reading difficulty due to their disabilities, is in the normal development process but has reading difficulty due to linguistic differences. Accordingly, it can be seen that the senior year of elementary school, in which a student has been exposed to the academic environment for a sufficiently long time and language is sufficiently developed, is the appropriate time for learning English for ELLs. Third, effective reading interventions for ELLs should be performed with a strategy-embedded instruction program. This is based on the fact that strategic instructions are effective for vocabulary or concepts in unfamiliar languages ( Carlo et al., 2005 ; Chaaya and Ghosn, 2010 ).

The above implications require the implementation of Tier 2 interventions for reading interventions for ELLs in practice. In Tier 2 interventions, students can participate in more intensive learning through specially designed interventions based on their personal needs ( Ortiz et al., 2011 ). In other words, in policymaking and administrative decision-making, intensive education programs for ELLs who have been exposed to the academic environment for a certain period but still have reading difficulties, including having achievements that fall short of the expected level, are needed.

Considering further applications, these findings could guide practitioners and policymakers to develop effective evidence-based reading programs or policies. The significant variables in this study can be considered to develop new programs for ELLs.

Declarations

Author contribution statement.

All authors listed have significantly contributed to the development and the writing of this article.

Funding statement

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A3A2A02103411).

Data availability statement

Declaration of interests statement.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

The following is the supplementary data related to this article:

• Abraham L.B. Computer-mediated glosses in second language reading comprehension and vocabulary learning: a meta-analysis. Comput. Assist. Lang. Learn. 2008; 21 (3):199–226. [ Google Scholar ]
• August D., Shanahan T. In: Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth. August D., Shanahan T., editors. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; Mahwah, NJ: 2006. Synthesis: instruction and professional development; pp. 351–364. [ Google Scholar ]
• Begeny J.C., Ross S.G., Greene D.J., Mitchell R.C., Whitehouse M.H. Effects of the Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) reading fluency program with Latino English language learners: a preliminary evaluation. J. Behav. Educ. 2012; 21 (2):134–149. [ Google Scholar ]
• Beretvas S.N., Pastor D.A. Using mixed-effects models in reliability generalization studies. Educ. Psychol. Meas. 2003; 63 (1):75–95. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bowman N.A. Effect sizes and statistical methods for meta-analysis in higher education. Res. High. Educ. 2003; 53 :375–382. [ Google Scholar ]
• Boyer K. The Relationship Between Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension in Third Grade Students Who Are English Language Learners and Reading Below Grade Level. 2017. (Masters Thesis) [ Google Scholar ]
• Carlo M.S., August D., Snow C.E. Sustained vocabulary-learning strategy instruction for English-language learners. Teach. Learn. Vocabul.: Bring. Res. Pract. 2005:137–153. [ Google Scholar ]
• Carrier K.A. Improving high school English language learners' second language listening through strategy instruction. Biling. Res. J. 2003; 27 (3):383–408. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chaaya D., Ghosn I.K. Supporting young second language learners reading through guided reading and strategy instruction in a second grade classroom in Lebanon. Educ. Res. Rev. 2010; 5 (6):329–337. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen X., Ramirez G., Luo Y.C., Geva E., Ku Y.M. Comparing vocabulary development in Spanish-and Chinese-speaking ELLs: the effects of metalinguistic and sociocultural factors. Read. Writ. 2012; 25 (8):1991–2020. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cole M.W. Speaking to read: meta-analysis of peer-mediated learning for English language learners. J. Lit. Res. 2014; 46 (3):358–382. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cooper H., Hedges L.V., Valentine J.C., editors. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis. Russell Sage Foundation; 2019. [ Google Scholar ]
• Daniel S.M., Pray L. Learning to teach English language learners: a study of elementary school teachers’ sense-making in an ELL endorsement program. Tesol Q. 2017; 51 (4):787–819. [ Google Scholar ]
• Daugherty J.L. 2015. Assessment of ELL Written Language Progress in Designated ESL Noncredit Courses at the Community College Level. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dearing E., Walsh M.E., Sibley E., Lee-St. John T., Foley C., Raczek A.E. Can community and school-based supports improve the achievement of first-generation immigrant children attending high-poverty schools? Child Dev. 2016; 87 (3):883–897. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Donovan M.S., Cross C.T. National Academies Press; Washington, DC: 2002. Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Lockbox 285, 20055. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dussling T.M. Examining the effectiveness of a supplemental reading intervention on the early literacy skills of English language learners. Liter. Res. Instr. 2018; 57 (3):276–284. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duval S., Tweedie R. Trim and fill: a simple funnel-plot–based method of testing and adjusting for publication bias in meta-analysis. Biometrics. 2000; 56 (2):455–463. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Egger M., Smith G.D., Schneider M., Minder C. Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. Bmj. 1997; 315 (7109):629–634. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Elbaum B., Vaughn S., Tejero Hughes M., Watson Moody S. How effective are one-to-one tutoring programs in reading for elementary students at risk for reading failure? A meta-analysis of the intervention research. J. Educ. Psychol. 2020; 92 (4):605–619. [ Google Scholar ]
• Estrella G., Au J., Jaeggi S.M., Collins P. Is inquiry science instruction effective for English language learners? A meta-analytic review. AERA Open. 2018; 4 (2) 2332858418767402. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Frey B.B. Sage Publications; 2018. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gersten R., Baker S. What we know about effective instructional practices for English-language learners. Except. Child. 2000; 66 (4):454–470. [ Google Scholar ]
• Guo Y., Sun S., Breit-Smith A., Morrison F.J., Connor C.M. Behavioral engagement and reading achievement in elementary-school-age children: a longitudinal cross-lagged analysis. J. Educ. Psychol. 2015; 107 (2):332–347. [ Google Scholar ]
• Goodwin A.P., Ahn S. A meta-analysis of morphological interventions in English: effects on literacy outcomes for school-age children. Sci. Stud. Read. 2013; 17 (4):257–285. [ Google Scholar ]
• Harrer M., Cuijpers P., Furukawa T.A., Ebert D.D. Doing meta-analysis with R: A hands-On guide. from. 2019. https://bookdown.org/MathiasHarrer/Doing_Meta_Analysis_in_R/ [ Google Scholar ]
• Hong H. Exploring the role of intertextuality in promoting young ELL children’s poetry writing and learning: a discourse analytic approach. Classr. Discourse. 2018; 9 (2):166–182. [ Google Scholar ]
• Honigsfeld A. ELL programs: not ‘one size fits all’ Kappa Delta Pi Rec. 2009; 45 (4):166–171. [ Google Scholar ]
• How J.J., de Leeuw E.D. In: Multilevel Modeling: Methodological Advances, Issues, and Applications. Reise S.P., Duan N., editors. Lawrence Erlbaum; Mahwah, NJ: 2003. Multilevle model for meta-analysis; pp. 90–111. [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnson E.J., Johnson A.B. Enhancing academic investment through home-school connections and building on ELL students' scholastic funds of knowledge. J. Lang. Literacy Educ. 2016; 12 (1):104–121. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kieffer M.J. Socioeconomic status, English proficiency, and late-emerging reading difficulties. Educ. Res. 2010; 39 (6):484–486. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kim K. Global Conference on Education and Research (GLOCER 2017) 2017. May). Influence of ELL instructor’s culturally responsive attitude on newly arrived adolescent ELL students’ academic achievement; pp. 239–242. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kirnan J., Ventresco N.E., Gardner T. The impact of a therapy dog program on children’s reading: follow-up and extension to ELL students. Early Child. Educ. J. 2018; 46 (1):103–116. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lesnick J., Goerge R., Smithgall C., Gwynne J. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; Chicago, IL: 2010. Reading on Grade Level in Third Grade: How Is it Related to High School Performance and College Enrollment. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lin S.M. A study of ELL students' writing difficulties: a call for culturally, linguistically, and psychologically responsive teaching. Coll. Student J. 2015; 49 (2):237–250. [ Google Scholar ]
• Linan-Thompson S., Cirino P.T., Vaughn S. Determining English language learners' response to intervention: questions and some answers. Learn. Disabil. Q. 2007; 30 (3):185–195. [ Google Scholar ]
• Liu S., Wang J. Reading cooperatively or independently? Study on ELL student reading development. Read. Matrix: Int. Online J. 2015; 15 (1):102–120. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lovett M.W., De Palma M., Frijters J., Steinbach K., Temple M., Benson N., Lacerenza L. Interventions for reading difficulties: a comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers. J. Learn. Disabil. 2008; 41 (4):333–352. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ludwig C. University of Alberta; Canada: 2017. The Effects of Reading Interventions on the Word-Reading Performance of English Language Learners: A Meta-Analysis (Unpublished Master’s Thesis) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ludwig C., Guo K., Georgiou G.K. Are reading interventions for English language learners effective? A meta-analysis. J. Learn. Disabil. 2019; 52 (3):220–231. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Macaruso P., Rodman A. Benefits of computer-assisted instruction to support reading acquisition in English language learners. Biling. Res. J. 2011; 34 (3):301–315. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mendoza S. Reading strategies to support home-to-school connections used by teachers of English language learners. J. English Lang. Teach. 2016; 6 (4):33–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• Meredith D.C. Trevecca Nazarene University; 2017. Relationships Among Utilization of an Online Differentiated Reading Program, ELL Student Literacy Outcomes, and Teacher Attitudes. [ Google Scholar ]
• Morgan P.L., Sideridis G.D. Contrasting the effectiveness of fluency interventions for students with or at risk for learning disabilities: a multilevel random coefficient modeling meta-analysis. Learn. Disabil. Res. Pract. 2006; 21 (4):191–210. [ Google Scholar ]
• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 2021. English Language Learners in Public Schools. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf Retrieved from. [ Google Scholar ]
• Olson C.B., Land R. A cognitive strategies approach to reading and writing instruction for English language learners in secondary school. Res. Teach. Engl. 2007:269–303. [ Google Scholar ]
• Orosco M.J. A sociocultural examination of response to intervention with Latino English language learners. Theory Into Pract. 2010; 49 (4):265–272. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ortiz A.A., Robertson P.M., Wilkinson C.Y., Liu Y.J., McGhee B.D., Kushner M.I. The role of bilingual education teachers in preventing inappropriate referrals of ELLs to special education: implications for response to intervention. Biling. Res. J. 2011; 34 (3):316–333. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pang Y. Empowering ELL students to improve writing skills through inquiry-based learning. N. Engl. Read. Assoc. J. 2016; 51 (2):75–79. [ Google Scholar ]
• Polat N., Zarecky-Hodge A., Schreiber J.B. Academic growth trajectories of ELLs in NAEP data: The case of fourth-and eighth-grade ELLs and non-ELLs on mathematics and reading tests. J. Educ. Res. 2016; 109 (5):541–553. [ Google Scholar ]
• Proctor C.P., Dalton B., Grisham D.L. Scaffolding English language learners and struggling readers in a universal literacy environment with embedded strategy instruction and vocabulary support. J. Literacy Res. 2007; 39 (1):71–93. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rawian R.M., Mokhtar A.A. ESL reading accuracy: the inside story. Soc. Sci. 2017; 12 (7):1242–1249. [ Google Scholar ]
• Reid T., Heck R.H. Exploring reading achievement differences between elementary school students receiving and not receiving English language services. AERA Online Paper Repositor. 2017 [ Google Scholar ]
• Richards-Tutor C., Baker D.L., Gersten R., Baker S.K., Smith J.M. The effectiveness of reading interventions for English learners: a research synthesis. Except. Child. 2016; 82 (2):144–169. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ross S.G., Begeny J.C. Improving Latino, English language learners' reading fluency: the effects of small-group and one-on-one intervention. Psychol. Sch. 2011; 48 (6):604–618. [ Google Scholar ]
• Roth A. Northwest Missouri State University; United States: 2015. Does Buddy Reading Improve Students' Oral Reading Fluency? Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rubin D.I. Growth in oral reading fluency of Spanish ELL students with learning disabilities. Interv. Sch. Clin. 2016; 52 (1):34–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• Shamir H., Feehan K., Yoder E. EdMedia+ Innovate Learning. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE); 2016. June). Using technology to improve reading and math scores for the digital native; pp. 1425–1434. [ Google Scholar ]
• Shamir H., Feehan K., Yoder E., Pocklington D. MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING (MAC-EMM 2018); 2018. Can CAI Improve Reading Achievement in Young ELL Students? ECONOMICS; p. 229. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sheng Z., Sheng Y., Anderson C.J. Dropping out of school among ELL students: implications to schools and teacher education. Clear. House. 2011; 84 (3):98–103. [ Google Scholar ]
• Snow C.E., Burns S.M., Griffin P. Predictors of success and failure in reading. Prevent. Read. Difficul. Young Child. 1998:100–134. [ Google Scholar ]
• Snyder E., Witmer S.E., Schmitt H. English language learners and reading instruction: a review of the literature. Prev. Sch. Fail.: Alter. Educ. Child. Youth. 2017; 61 (2):136–145. [ Google Scholar ]
• Soland J., Sandilos L.E. English language learners, self-efficacy, and the achievement gap: understanding the relationship between academic and social-emotional growth. J. Educ. Stud. Placed A. T. Risk. 2020:1–25. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tam K.Y., Heng M.A. Using explicit fluency training to improve the reading comprehension of second grade Chinese immigrant students. Mod. J. Lang. Teach Methods. 2016; 6 (5):17. [ Google Scholar ]
• Téllez K., Manthey G. Teachers’ perceptions of effective school-wide programs and strategies for English language learners. Learn. Environ. Res. 2015; 18 (1):111–127. [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson C.G., von Gillern S. Video-game based instruction for vocabulary acquisition with English language learners: a Bayesian meta-analysis. Educ. Res. Rev. 2020; 30 :100332. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vaughn S., Kim A., Sloan C.V.M., Hughes M.T., Elbaum B., Sridhar D. Social skills interventions for young children with disabilities: a synthesis of group design studies. Remedial Spec. Educ. 2003; 24 :2–15. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vaughn S., Martinez L.R., Linan-Thompson S., Reutebuch C.K., Carlson C.D., Francis D.J. Enhancing social studies vocabulary and comprehension for seventh-grade English language learners: findings from two experimental studies. J. Res. Educ. Effect. 2009; 2 (4):297–324. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vaughn S., Mathes P., Linan-Thompson S., Cirino P., Carlson C., Pollard-Durodola S., Francis D. Effectiveness of an English intervention for first-grade English language learners at risk for reading problems. Elem. Sch. J. 2006; 107 (2):153–180. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Viechtbauer W. Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. J. Stat. Softw. 2010; 36 (3):1–48. [ Google Scholar ]
• Walker S.A. Chicago State University; 2017. Exploration of ELL Parent Involvement Measured by Epstein's Overlapping Spheres of Influence. Doctoral dissertation. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wanzek J., Roberts G. Reading interventions with varying instructional emphases for fourth graders with reading difficulties. Learn. Disabil. Q. 2012; 35 (2):90–101. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wanzek J., Wexler J., Vaughn S., Ciullo S. Reading interventions for struggling readers in the upper elementary grades: a synthesis of 20 years of research. Read. Writ. 2010; 23 (8):889–912. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wanzek J., Vaughn S., Scammacca N.K., Metz K., Murray C.S., Roberts G., Danielson L. Extensive reading interventions for students with reading difficulties after grade 3. Rev. Educ. Res. 2013; 83 (2):163–195. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wassell B.A., Hawrylak M.F., Scantlebury K. Barriers, resources, frustrations, and empathy: teachers’ expectations for family involvement for Latino/a ELL students in urban STEM classrooms. Urban Educ. 2017; 52 (10):1233–1254. [ Google Scholar ]
• White E.L., Gillard S. Technology-based literacy instruction for English language learners. J. Coll. Teach. Learn. 2011; 8 (6):1–5. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yousefi M.H., Biria R. The effectiveness of L2 vocabulary instruction: a meta-analysis. Asian-Pacific J. Second Fore. Lang. Educ. 2018; 3 (1):1–19. [ Google Scholar ]

References for studies included in the meta-analysis

• Amendum S.J., Bratsch-Hines M., Vernon-Feagans L. Investigating the efficacy of a web-based early reading and professional development intervention for young English learners. Read. Res. Q. 2018; 53 (2):155–174. [ Google Scholar ]
• American Youth Policy Forum. (2009). Issue brief Moving English language learners to college and career readiness. Retrieved November 22,2009, from: www.aypf.org/documents/ELLIssueBrief
• Callahan R.M., Shifrer D. Equitable access for secondary English learner students: course taking as evidence of EL program effectiveness. Educ. Admin. Q. 2016; 52 (3):463–496. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cho H., Brutt-Griffler J. Integrated reading and writing: a case of Korean English language learners. Read. Foreign Lang. 2015; 27 (2):242. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chow B.W.Y., McBride-Chang C., Cheung H. Parent–child reading in English as a second language: effects on language and literacy development of Chinese kindergarteners. J. Res. Read. 2010; 33 (3):284–301. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cruz de Quiros A.M., Lara-Alecio R., Tong F., Irby B.J. The effect of a structured story reading intervention, story retelling and higher order thinking for English language and literacy acquisition. J. Res. Read. 2012; 35 (1):87–113. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cook A.L. Exploring the role of school counselors. J. Sch. Couns. 2015; 13 (9):1–33. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dabarera C., Renandya W.A., Zhang L.J. The impact of metacognitive scaffolding and monitoring on reading comprehension. System. 2014; 42 :462–473. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dockrell J.E., Stuart M., King D. Supporting early oral language skills for English language learners in inner city preschool provision. Br. J. Educ. Psychol. 2010; 80 (4):497–515. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Filippini A.L., Gerber M.M., Leafstedt J.M. A vocabulary-added reading intervention for English learners at-risk of reading difficulties. Int. J. Spec. Educ. 2012; 27 (3):14–26. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fry R. How far behind in math and reading are English language learners? Pew Hispanic Center; Washington, DC: 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jamaludin K.A., Alias N., Mohd Khir R.J., DeWitt D., Kenayathula H.B. The effectiveness of synthetic phonics in the development of early reading skills among struggling young ESL readers. Sch. Effect. Sch. Improv. 2016; 27 (3):455–470. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kanno Y., Cromley J. English language learners’ pathways to four-year colleges. Teachers College Record. 2015; 117 (12):1–44. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mancilla-Martinez J. Word meanings matter: cultivating English vocabulary knowledge in fifth-grade Spanish-speaking language minority learners. Tesol Q. 2010; 44 (4):669–699. [ Google Scholar ]
• McMaster K.L., Kung S.H., Han I., Cao M. Peer-assisted learning strategies: a “Tier 1” approach to promoting English learners' response to intervention. Except. Child. 2008; 74 (2):194–214. [ Google Scholar ]
• Olivier A.M., Anthonissen C., Southwood F. Literacy development of English language learners: the outcomes of an intervention programme in grade R. S. Afr. J. Commun. Disord. 2010; 57 (1):58–65. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pollard-Durodola S.D., Gonzalez J.E., Saenz L., Resendez N., Kwok O., Zhu L., Davis H. The effects of content-enriched shared book reading versus vocabulary-only discussions on the vocabulary outcomes of preschool dual language learners. Early Educ. Dev. 2018; 29 (2):245–265. [ Google Scholar ]
• Proctor C.P., Dalton B., Uccelli P., Biancarosa G., Mo E., Snow C., Neugebauer S. Improving comprehension online: effects of deep vocabulary instruction with bilingual and monolingual fifth graders. Read. Writ. 2011; 24 (5):517–544. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rodríguez C.D., Filler J., Higgins K. Using primary language support via computer to improve reading comprehension skills of first-grade English language learners. Comput. Sch. 2012; 29 (3):253–267. [ Google Scholar ]
• Silverman R., Hines S. The effects of multimedia-enhanced instruction on the vocabulary of English-language learners and non-English-language learners in pre-kindergarten through second grade. J. Educ. Psychol. 2009; 101 (2):305–314. [ Google Scholar ]
• Slavin R.E., Madden N., Calderón M., Chamberlain A., Hennessy M. Reading and language outcomes of a multiyear randomized evaluation of transitional bilingual education. Educ. Eval. Pol. Anal. 2011; 33 (1):47–58. [ Google Scholar ]
• Solari E.J., Gerber M.M. Early comprehension instruction for Spanish-speaking English language learners: teaching text-level reading skills while maintaining effects on word-level skills. Learn. Disabil. Res. Pract. 2008; 23 (4):155–168. [ Google Scholar ]
• Spycher P. Learning academic language through science in two linguistically diverse kindergarten classes. Elem. Sch. J. 2009; 109 (4):359–379. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tong F., Irby B.J., Lara-Alecio R., Koch J. Integrating literacy and science for English language learners: from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn. J. Educ. Res. 2014; 107 (5):410–426. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tong F., Irby B.J., Lara-Alecio R., Mathes P.G. English and Spanish acquisition by Hispanic second graders in developmental bilingual programs: a 3-year longitudinal randomized study. Hisp. J. Behav. Sci. 2008; 30 (4):500–529. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tong F., Irby B.J., Lara-Alecio R., Yoon M., Mathes P.G. Hispanic English learners' responses to longitudinal English instructional intervention and the effect of gender: a multilevel analysis. Elem. Sch. J. 2010; 110 (4):542–566. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tong F., Lara-Alecio R., Irby B.J., Mathes P.G. The effects of an instructional intervention on dual language development among first-grade Hispanic English-learning boys and girls: a two-year longitudinal study. J. Educ. Res. 2011; 104 (2):87–99. [ Google Scholar ]
• Townsend D., Collins P. Academic vocabulary and middle school English learners: an intervention study. Read. Writ. 2009; 22 (9):993–1019. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vadasy P.F., Sanders E.A. Efficacy of supplemental phonics-based instruction for low-skilled kindergarteners in the context of language minority status and classroom phonics instruction. J. Educ. Psychol. 2010; 102 (4):786–803. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vadasy P.F., Sanders E.A. Efficacy of supplemental phonics-based instruction for low-skilled first graders: how language minority status and pretest characteristics moderate treatment response. Sci. Stud. Read. 2011; 15 (6):471–497. [ Google Scholar ]
• Van Staden A. Reading in a second language: considering the 'simple view of reading' as a foundation to support ESL readers in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Per Linguam: J. Lang. Learn. 2016; 32 (1):21–40. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yeung S.S., Siegel L.S., Chan C.K. Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children. Read. Writ. 2013; 26 (5):681–704. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ne025

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• My Account Login
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Review Article
• Open access
• Published: 23 April 2024

Research on flipped classrooms in foreign language teaching in Chinese higher education

• Wen Kong 1 ,
• Di Li 2 &
• Quanjiang Guo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7846-1363 3  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  525 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

• Language and linguistics

This review examines 233 articles published in Chinese academic journals between 2011 and 2021, documenting the state of research concerning flipped classrooms (FCs) in foreign language teaching within the context of higher education in China. Employing the methodological approach of a scoping review, the investigation is underpinned by the five-stage framework articulated by Arksey and O’Malley. The results reveal a notable surge in FC-related studies between 2013 and 2017, with a subsequent decline in scholarly attention. The majority of the reviewed studies on FCs focused on English instruction at the college level, with a conspicuous dearth of inquiry into the application of FCs in the teaching of other foreign languages. All studies were categorized as either empirical or non-empirical, and the most frequently used instruments for data collection were surveys and interviews; case studies were underrepresented in the literature. Early studies focused on the introduction of the new model, while more recent investigations focused on the impact of its implementation. The findings of the in-depth content analysis unearthed a prevailing trend of high learner satisfaction with the FC model, along with favorable direct and indirect educational outcomes. Noteworthy factors influencing the efficacy of FCs included learners’ foreign language proficiency and their self-regulation or self-discipline abilities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges in FC implementation and a call for future research on this promising pedagogy.

Similar content being viewed by others

The implementation of a flipped classroom approach at a UK dental school

Rebecca S. L. Binnie & Stephen J. Bonsor

Effectiveness of the flipped classroom model on students’ self-reported motivation and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

José María Campillo-Ferrer & Pedro Miralles-Martínez

Content validity of the Constructivist Learning in Higher Education Settings (CLHES) scale in the context of the flipped classroom in higher education

Turki Mesfer Alqahtani, Farrah Dina Yusop & Siti Hajar Halili

Introduction

The flipped classroom (FC), also known as the “inverted classroom”, is a pedagogical approach that first emerged in the 1980s and came into more widespread use in the 2000s (Baker, 2000 ; Bergmann and Sams, 2012 ; Khan, 2012 ). It has gained prominence as advances in technology afford increasing opportunities for ubiquitous access to a variety of online resources. The FC model removes in-class lectures, freeing up classroom time for more in-depth exploration of topics through discussion with peers or problem-solving activities facilitated by instructors. The removed content is often delivered to learners through pre-class materials like video recordings. As a result, in the FC, learning activities that are active and social occur inside the classroom while most information transmission occurs outside the classroom. Today, the FC has been implemented in many different disciplines and in schools and universities around the world (Akcayir and Akcayir, 2018 ).

Proponents of the FC assert its pedagogical merits on several fronts. First, it alleviates the constraints associated with requiring all learning to happen at the same time and place, furnishing learners with an individualized education that enables flexible online study at their own pace as long as an internet connection is available (Hung, 2014 ). Second, it allocates class time to the cultivation of learners’ higher-order cognitive skills, emphasizing application, analysis, and evaluation, as opposed to lower-order skills such as knowledge and comprehension (Brinks-Lockwood, 2014 ; Lee and Wallace, 2018 ). Third, in contrast to traditional lecturing, the FC is a student-centered approach emphasizing engagement and active learning (Steen-Utheim and Foldnes, 2018 ), fostering students’ autonomy by endowing them with heightened responsibility for their learning (Brinks-Lockwood, 2014 ; O’Flaherty and Philips, 2015 ).

Vygotsky’s social constructivism ( 1978 ) has frequently been adopted as a theoretical foundation for designing learning experiences in technologically rich environments (Marzouki et al., 2017 ), and this framework highlights the particular benefits of technology-enhanced FC pedagogy (Jarvis et al., 2014 ). As mentioned above, in an FC model, learners can watch pre-recorded videos in their own time before class to remember basic information and understand concepts as they prepare for classroom activities, while the higher-order skills of analyzing, applying, evaluating, and creating can be collaborative and interactive, taking place in class with the guidance of a teacher, and thus facilitating progression within the learners’ proximal developmental zone.

Since its introduction in foreign language teaching (FLT) in China in 2011, the FC has attracted increasing research attention and has been welcomed by foreign language teachers (Yan and Zhou, 2021 ). Over the past decade, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China has exerted increasing pressure on higher education institutions to transition from traditional teacher-centered lecture-style approaches to innovative methods integrating technology and the internet, with the goals of enhancing learning, sustaining student engagement, and improving student satisfaction (Ministry of Education of People’s Republic China, 2021 ). The FC model, combined with traditional face-to-face teaching and personalized online learning, has emerged as a popular strategy in China to meet ministry requirements while delivering cost-effective and learner-centered curricula in response to the increasing student enrollment in higher education.

Despite the wide adoption of FCs in FLT in China, literature reviews about their implementation and effects have been notably scarce in the last decade. A search of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the largest national research and information publishing company housing China’s most extensive academic database, revealed only three reviews—by Deng ( 2016 ), Qu ( 2019 ), and Su et al. ( 2019 )—published prior to the end of 2021. These reviews primarily focused on FCs in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) education, overlooking most of the over 100 foreign languages taught in Chinese higher education. As a result, these reviews fell short of delivering a comprehensive analysis of research pertaining to FCs, and the reliability and generalizability of their findings in non-EFL contexts are questionable. Moreover, Deng ( 2016 ) and Su et al.’s (2019) reviews included all published papers without establishing clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. For example, they did not exclude articles that made a passing or token reference to the FC model, short papers of only one or two pages in length, book reviews, or editorials. Qu’s study ( 2019 ), on the other hand, was constrained in scope to articles within the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI), a sub-database developed by Nanjing University of China Academy of Social Sciences Research Evaluation Center and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and thus omitted relevant contributions from other academic journals. The CNKI incorporates both the CSSCI and the Core Journals of China (CJC), an equally significant sub-database overseen by the Peking University Library and experts from relevant institutions. Given the exclusion of the latter, a reevaluation of the scope and potential limitations of Qu’s study is warranted.

Thus, there persists an imperative for a comprehensive synthesis of the extant studies on FCs in FLT within Chinese higher education over the past decade. The restricted visibility of studies conducted in China, owing to their publication in Chinese and confinement to Chinese academic journals, makes it difficult for international researchers and practitioners to access and comprehend this body of literature. Such understanding among the global academic community is necessary for exploring both the strengths and limitations of FCs in diverse cultural and linguistic contexts.

Research method

The current study adopts a scoping review approach based on the methodological framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley ( 2005 ) to provide both quantitative and qualitative data for researchers and practitioners.

A scoping review is a relatively new approach to synthesizing research data which has been gaining popularity in many disciplines (Davis et al., 2009 ; Daudt et al., 2013 ). It is often undertaken as an independent project when a research area is complex, and no review of that area has previously been made available. A scoping review serves to highlight the relevant literature to researchers with the aim of rapidly mapping the key concepts characterizing a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available (Arksey and O’Malley, 2005 ; Mays et al., 2005 ; Levac et al., 2010 ). According to Arksey and O’Malley ( 2005 ), this kind of review addresses four goals: to examine the extent, range, and nature of research activity; to determine the value of undertaking a full systematic review; to summarize and disseminate research findings; and to identify research gaps in the existing literature. The scoping review is increasingly being employed in the field of foreign language education to provide a comprehensive view of FLT studies, identify implications for theory and pedagogy, or inform subsequent in-depth reviews and empirical studies (Chan et al., 2022 ; Hillman et al., 2020 ; Tullock and Ortega, 2017 ).

The difference between a scoping review and a narrative or traditional literature review lies in the transparency of the review process. A narrative review usually depends on the author’s own knowledge or experience to describe the studies reviewed and uses an implicit process to provide evidence (Garg et al., 2008 ). The reader cannot determine how much literature has been consulted or whether certain studies have been ignored due to contradictory findings. A scoping review, in contrast, uses an explicit, rigorous, and systematic approach to retrieve relevant articles to ensure the transparency and replicability of the data extraction process. For example, the methodological framework adopted by Arksey and O’Malley ( 2005 ) for conducting a scoping study comprises five stages: identifying the research questions; identifying relevant studies; selecting studies for inclusion; charting the data; and collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. By presenting the process and results in an accessible and summarized format, reviewers are in a position to illustrate the field of interest in terms of the volume, nature, and characteristics of the primary research, enabling researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to make effective use of the findings.

Figure 1 presents the process of the scoping review in the current study based on the five-stage methodological framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley ( 2005 ).

Process of the scoping review.

Process of the scoping review

Identifying research questions.

This scoping review is driven by four research questions:

RQ1. What is the current state of FC research in FLT within the context of higher education in China?

RQ2. What research methods and instruments have been employed in the included FC studies?

RQ3. What research foci and trends are displayed in the included FC studies?

RQ4. What are the major findings of the included FC studies?

RQ1 aims to provide an overview of studies on FCs in FLT in Chinese higher education by providing details about the basic information about existing publications, such as the number of publications per year and the distribution of publications by foreign language context. RQ2 leads to a classification of the research methods and instruments used to collect data in FC research. RQ3 explores the topics and trends in FC research over the past decade with the help of the literature visualization and analysis tool CiteSpace5.8R3. RQ4 reveals the effects of the FC model on direct and indirect educational outcomes, learners’ satisfaction with FCs, and the factors influencing the impact of FCs, as documented in the reviewed sources.

Searching for relevant studies

To be as comprehensive as possible in identifying primary evidence and to ensure the quality of the published articles, we searched both CSSCI and CJC in the CNKI database. The key search terms were developed and categorized based on two dimensions according to the purpose of the review. One dimension related to teaching or learning in FCs, while the other dimension related to the types of foreign languages. The key search terms and search methods are listed in Table 1 .

As the FC approach was introduced into FLT in China in 2011, the search included articles published between 2011 and 2021. Further inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed to focus on the scope of the review; these are outlined in Table 2 .

Study selection

Figure 2 shows a process diagram of the study selection process, which consisted of four phases: searching the databases; identifying the total number of articles in each database; screening titles, abstracts, and full texts; and selecting eligible articles for inclusion.

Flowchart diagram for article selection.

The final database search was conducted on January 16, 2022, and resulted in the identification of a total of 333 articles. Subsequently, all potentially relevant articles went through a three-step screening process. The first step excluded 9 duplicates. The second step excluded irrelevant articles by screening titles and abstracts; 37 articles were removed at this stage as they were book reviews, conference proceedings, reports, editorials, or other non-refereed publications. The third step filtered articles by screening full texts; 54 articles were excluded because they made only passing reference to the FC or were not related to higher education. This meticulous selection yielded a corpus of 233 articles suitable for in-depth analysis, each of which was scrutinized by the authors to confirm its suitability for inclusion. During the selection process, the 233 articles were also systematically categorized into two groups: 131 non-empirical and 102 empirical studies. The non-empirical studies were further divided into two subcategories. The first type was literature reviews; the second type was those drawing on personal observations, reflections on current events, or the authority or experience of the author (Dan, 2021 ). The empirical studies used a variety of systematic methods of collecting materials and analyzing data, including quantitative methods (e.g., survey, correlational research, experimental research) and/or qualitative methods (e.g., interview, case study, record keeping, observation, ethnographic research) (Dan, 2021 ).

Data charting and collation

The fourth stage of Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework is the charting of the selected articles. Summaries of each study were developed. for all studies, these summaries included the author, year of publication, citations per year, foreign language taught, and a brief description of the outcomes. For empirical sources, details related to the research design, study population, and sample size were also provided. Tables 3 and 4 list the top ten most-cited non-empirical and empirical sources. In Table 4 , which references experimental and control groups in results summaries, the experimental group (EG) was the group that took courses in the FC model, while the control group (CG) took courses in a traditional classroom.

Results and analysis

In accordance with the fifth stage of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework for a scoping review, the findings from the 233 included studies are summarized and discussed in the following three sections. Section 4.1 summarizes basic information regarding the included studies; section 4.2 presents a holistic analysis of the research foci and trends over time using keyword clustering analysis and keyword burst analysis; and section 4.3 offers an in-depth content analysis focusing on the categorization of the included studies and discussion of the major findings.

Basic information on the included studies

Distribution by year of publication.

As Fig. 3 shows, the first studies on FCs in the field of FLT in China emerged in 2013. The number of such studies began to steadily increase and reached a peak in 2016 and 2017. Although there was some decrease after that, the FC model has continued to attract research attention, in line with global trends. According to Akçayir and Akçayir’s (2018) review of the literature on FCs published in Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) journals as of 31 December 2016, the first article about the FC was published in 2000, but the second was not published until more than a decade later, in 2012; 2013 was also the year that FC studies became popular among scholars. A possible explanation for this increase in interest is the growing availability of internet technologies and the popularity of online learning platforms, such as MOOCs and SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses), along with the view of the FC as a promising model that can open doors to new approaches in higher education in the new century.

Number of articles published by year.

Distribution by foreign language

Figure 4 shows the distribution of foreign languages discussed in the FC literature. The FC model was mainly implemented in EFL teaching (93%), which reflects the dominance of English in FLT in Chinese higher education. Only five articles discussed the use of FC models in Japanese teaching, while one article was related to French teaching. Ten non-empirical studies (4%) reported the feasibility of FC models in FLT without mentioning a specific foreign language.

Distribution by foreign language type.

Research methods of the included studies

Figure 5 shows a breakdown of the methodologies adopted by the studies included in our review. Among the 131 non-empirical studies, three were literature reviews, while the remaining 128 (55%) were descriptive studies based on the introduction of the FC model, including descriptions of its strengths and associated challenges and discussions of its design and implementation in FLT.

Methodological paradigms.

Of the 102 empirical studies, 60 (26%) used quantitative methods for data collection, eight (3%) used qualitative methods, and 34 (15%) used mixed methods. It is interesting to note that although quantitative methods are more common in FC studies, seven of the top ten most-cited empirical studies (as listed above in Table 4 ) used mixed methods. A potential reason may be that research findings collected with triangulation from various data sources or methods are seen as more reliable and valid and, hence, more accepted by scholars.

A breakdown of the data collection approaches used in the 102 reviewed empirical studies is displayed in Table 5 . It is important to note that most studies used more than one instrument, and therefore, it is possible for percentages to add up to more than 100%. The survey, as a convenient, cost-effective, and reliable research method, was the tool most frequently used to gain a comprehensive picture of the attitudes and characteristics of a large group of learners. Surveys were used in 79 of the 102 studies—73 times with learners and six times with teachers—to explore students’ learning experiences, attitudes, and emotions, as well as teachers’ opinions. Some studies used paper-based surveys, while others used online ones. Interviews with learners were used in 33 studies to provide in-depth information; one study used interviews with teachers. Surveys and interviews were combined in 24 studies to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data. Other research approaches included comparing the test scores between experimental and control groups (used in 25 studies) or using the results of course assessments (17 studies) to investigate the effects of the FC on academic performance. Learners’ self-reports (9 studies) were also used to capture the effects of the FC on learners’ experience and cognitive changes that could not be obtained in other ways, while one study used a case study for a similar purpose. Teachers’ class observations and reflections were used in eight studies to evaluate students’ engagement, interaction, activities, and learning performance.

Holistic analysis of the research foci and the changing trends of the included studies

A holistic analysis of the research foci in studies of FCs in China was conducted using CiteSpace5.8.R3, a software developed by Chaomei Chen ( http://cluster.cis.drexel.edu/~cchen/citespace/ , accessed on 20 February 2022), to conduct a visual analysis of the literature. This software can help conduct co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, keyword clustering analysis, keyword burst analysis, and social network analysis (Chen, 2016 ). In this study, keyword clustering analysis and keyword burst analysis were chosen to capture important themes and reveal changing trends in FC research.

Keyword clustering analysis primarily serves to identify core topics in a corpus. Figure 6 presents a graph of the top ten keyword clusters identified in the included studies. In this graph, the lower the ID number of a given cluster, the more keywords are in that cluster. As shown in the top left corner of Fig. 6 , the value of modularity q is 0.8122, which is greater than the critical value of 0.3, indicating that the clustering effect is good; the mean silhouette value is 0.9412, which is >0.5, indicating that the clustering results are significant and can accurately represent hot spots and topics in FC research (Hu and Song, 2021 ). The top ten keyword clusters include #0翻转课堂 (flipped classroom), #1大学英语 (college English), #2 MOOC, #3教学模式 (teaching model), #4元认知 (metacognition), #5微课 (micro lecture), #6微课设计 (micro lecture design), #7英语教学 (English teaching), #8 SPOC, and #9 POA (production-oriented approach).

The graph of the top ten keyword clusters.

Keyword burst analysis is used to showcase the changes in keyword frequencies over a given period of time. By analyzing the rise and decline of keywords, and in particular, the years in which some keywords suddenly become significantly more prevalent (“burst”), we can identify emerging trends in the evolution of FC research. Figure 7 displays the 11 keywords with the strongest citation bursts. We can roughly divide the evolution of FC research documented in Fig. 7 into two periods. The first period (2014 to 2017) focused on the introduction of the new model and the analysis of its feasibility in FLT. The keywords that underwent bursts in this period included “MOOC”, “自主学习” (independent learning), “模式” (model), “学习模式” (learning model), “教师话语” (teacher discourse), “茶文化” (tea culture), and “可行性” (feasibility). The reason for the appearance of the keyword “tea culture” lies in the fact that three articles discussing the use of FCs in teaching tea culture in an EFL environment were published in the same journal, entitled Tea in Fujian , during this period. The second period (2018–2021) focused on the investigation of the effect of FCs and the design of micro lectures. Keywords undergoing bursts during this period included “互联网+” (internet plus), “课堂环境” (classroom environment), “教学效果” (teaching effect), and “微课设计” (micro lecture design). The latter two topics (“teaching effect” and “micro lecture design”) may continue to be prevalent in the coming years.

Top 11 keywords with the strongest citation bursts.

In-depth content analysis of the included studies

Along with the findings from the keyword clustering analysis and keyword burst analysis, an open coding system was created to categorize the research topics and contents of the 233 articles for in-depth analysis. Non-empirical and empirical studies were classified further into detailed sub-categories based on research foci and findings. It is important to note that some studies reported more than one research focus. For such studies, more than one sub-category or more than one code was applied; therefore, it is possible for percentages to add up to more than 100%. The findings for each category are discussed in detail in the following sections.

Non-empirical studies

The 131 non-empirical studies can be roughly divided into two categories, as shown in Table 6 . The first category, literature reviews, has no sub-categories. The second, descriptive studies, includes discussions of how to use FCs in FLT; descriptions of the process of implementing the FC in FLT; and comparisons between FCs and traditional classes or comparisons of FCs in Chinese and American educational contexts.

The sub-categories of “introduction and discussion” and “introduction and description” in Table 6 comprise 91.6% of the non-empirical studies included in our review. The difference between them lies in that the former is based on the introduction of the FC literature, while the latter is based both on the introduction of the FC literature and exploration of researchers’ teaching experience; the latter might have become qualitative studies if researchers had gone further in providing systematic methods of collecting information or an analysis of the impact of FCs.

Empirical studies

The 102 empirical studies were divided into four categories based on the domain of their reported findings: the effect of FCs on learners; learners’ satisfaction with FCs; factors influencing FCs; or other research foci. Each group was further classified into more detailed sub-categories.

Effect of FCs on learners

Studies on the effect of FCs on learners were divided into two types, as presented in Table 7 : those concerned with the direct effect of FCs on learning performance and those exploring the indirect effect on learners’ perceptions. Eight codes were applied to categorize the direct effect of FCs on learning performance, which was usually evaluated through test scores; 14 codes were used to categorize the indirect effect of FCs on learners’ perceptions, which were usually investigated through surveys or questionnaires. We do not provide percentages for each code in Tables 7 – 9 because, given that the total number of empirical studies is 102, the percentages are almost identical to the frequencies.

The results shown in Table 7 reveal that 84 studies of direct educational outcomes reported that FCs had a positive effect on basic language skills, content knowledge, and foreign language proficiency. Of these, 64 were concerned with the positive effect of FCs on foreign language proficiency, speaking skills, or listening skills. This result might be explained by the features of FCs. The main difference between FCs and traditional classrooms is that the teaching of content in FCs has been removed from the classes themselves and is often delivered to the students through video recordings, which can be viewed repeatedly outside of the class. In-class time can thus be used for discussion, presentations, or the extension of the knowledge provided in the videos. It is evident that students have more opportunities to practice listening and speaking in FCs, and foreign language proficiency is naturally expected. Only three studies reported that FCs had no effect or a negative effect on the development of foreign language proficiency, speaking, listening, and writing skills. Yan and Zhou ( 2021 ) found that after the FC model had been in place for one semester, college students’ reading abilities improved significantly, while there was no significant improvement in their listening and writing abilities. Yin ( 2016 ) reported that after FC had been implemented for one semester, there was no significant difference in college students’ speaking scores.

A total of 96 studies reported positive effects on indirect educational outcomes, including: boosting learners’ motivation, interest, or confidence; enhancing engagement, interaction, cooperation, creativity, independent learning ability, or critical thinking ability; fostering information literacy, learning strategies, learning efficiency, or self-efficacy; or relieving stress or anxiety. The most frequently documented indirect effect of FCs is improvement in students’ independent learning ability. Only one study found that the FC did not significantly increase student interest in the course (Wang, 2015 ). Similarly, only one study found that students’ anxiety in the FC was significantly higher than that in a traditional class (Gao and Li, 2016 ).

Learners’ satisfaction with FCs

Table 8 presents the results regarding learners’ satisfaction with FCs. Nine codes were used to categorize the different aspects of learners’ satisfaction investigated in the 102 empirical studies. Some researchers represented learner satisfaction using the percentage of students choosing each answer on a five-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), while others used average scores based on Likert scale values. For the purposes of our synthesis of findings, if the percentage is above 60% or the average score is above 3, the finding is categorized as satisfied; otherwise, it is categorized as not satisfied.

The results in Table 8 show that among the nine aspects investigated, teaching approach and learning outcomes were most frequently asked about in the research, and learners were generally satisfied with both. Only one study (Li and Cao, 2015 ) reported significant dissatisfaction; in this case, 76.19% of students were not satisfied with the videos used in college English teaching due to their poor quality.

Factors influencing the effect of FCs

Eleven factors were found to influence the effect of FCs; these are categorized in Table 9 .

The results shown in Table 9 indicate that learners’ foreign language proficiency and self-regulation or self-discipline abilities are two important factors influencing the effect of FCs. Learners with high foreign language proficiency benefited more from FCs than those with low foreign language proficiency (Lv and Wang, 2016 ; Li and Cao, 2015 ; Wang and Zhang, 2014 ; Qu and Miu, 2016 ; Wang and Zhang, 2013 ; Cheng, 2016 ; Jia et al., 2016 ; Liu, 2016 ), and learners with good self-regulation and self-discipline abilities benefited more than those with limited abilities (Wang and Zhang, 2014 ; Lu, 2014 ; Lv and Wang, 2016 ; Dai and Chen 2016 ; Jia et al. 2016 ; Ling, 2018 ). It is interesting to note that two studies explored the relationship between gender and FCs (Wang and Zhang, 2014 ; Zhang and He, 2020 ), and both reported that girls benefited more from FCs because they were generally more self-disciplined than boys.

Studies with other research foci

There were six studies with other research foci, three of which investigated teachers’ attitudes toward FCs (Liao and Zou, 2019 ; Zhang and Xu, 2018 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ). The results of the surveys in these three studies showed that teachers generally held positive attitudes towards FCs and felt that the learning outcomes were better than those of traditional classes. However, some problems were also revealed in these studies. First, 56% of teachers expressed the desire to receive training before using FCs due to a lack of theoretical and practical expertise regarding this new model. Second, 87% of teachers thought that the FC increased their workload, as they were spending a significant amount of time learning to use new technology and preparing online videos or materials, yet no policy was implemented in the schools to encourage them to undertake this work. Third, 72% of teachers felt that the FC increased the academic burden students faced in their spare time (Zhang and Xu, 2018 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ). The final three studies include Cheng’s ( 2016 ) investigation of the mediative functions of college EFL teachers in the FC, Wang and Ma’s ( 2017 ) construction of a model for assessing the teaching quality of classes using the FC model, and Luo’s ( 2018 ) evaluation of the learning environment of an FC-model college English MOOC.

Discussion and conclusions

This investigation employed literature visualization to systematically analyze 233 research papers sourced from CSSCI and CJC in the CNKI database, thereby conducting a scoping review delineating the landscape of FC research within the domain of FLT in the context of higher education in China.

Our findings in relation to RQ1 highlight a substantial surge in the number of articles relating to FCs in FLT between 2013 and 2017, followed by a discernible, albeit moderate, decrease. Despite this trend, FC studies continue to be of significant interest to foreign language educators and researchers. This may be attributed to Chinese government policies encouraging higher education reform, increased internet access among educators and learners, and the burgeoning popularity of online courses such as MOOCs and SPOCs. However, the majority of the reviewed FC studies were conducted in college English classes, with only 6 studies on classes teaching foreign languages other than English. It seems that foreign language education in China (and in much of the world) has become synonymous with the teaching and learning of English, with other languages occupying a marginal position, struggling to find space in educational programs. In a multilingual world in which each language offers different possibilities for understanding others, their cultures, their epistemologies, and their experiences, this monolingual approach to FLT is dangerous (Liddicoat, 2022 ). The promotion of linguistic diversity in foreign language education policies and research is thus imperative. Another gap that needs to be addressed is the paucity of studies on the implementation of FCs in adult education. The FC model is expected to be potentially effective for teaching adult learners because it is similar in some respects to online distance learning.

In answer to RQ2, we found that the commonly used research methods and instruments in studies of the FC model include surveys, interviews, comparisons of academic measures between EGs and CGs, and course assessments. The case study is the least used method, likely due to limitations such as time demand, researcher bias, and the fact that it provides little basis for the generalization of results to the wider population. However, more case studies are needed in future research on FCs because they can provide detailed and insightful qualitative information that cannot be gathered in other ways.

Our findings regarding RQ3 show that research foci within the FC domain have evolved over time from initial exploration and feasibility discussions to a subsequent focus on the design of FCs incorporating micro-lectures based on MOOC or SPOC structures, and then to the present focus on the examination of FCs’ impacts on learners. The results of the keyword burst analysis indicate that these thematic areas are likely to persist as prominent subjects of research interest for the foreseeable future.

In response to RQ4, our in-depth content analysis found that FCs, on the whole, yield positive outcomes, although isolated studies identify limited negative impacts. FCs are most frequently associated with enhancements in student learning performance, fostering independent learning, promoting engagement and cooperation, and mitigating stress or anxiety. The results of this study suggest that well-designed FCs present a significant opportunity for foreign language educators to revolutionize instructional approaches. Furthermore, well-structured FCs can facilitate the development of learners’ potential while concurrently enabling the seamless integration of digital technology into FLT.

Most learners are satisfied with FCs, particularly with the innovative pedagogical approach of reversing traditional classes. FCs are perceived as beneficial for improving learning outcomes, creating an environment conducive to peer interaction, and gaining immediate teacher feedback and support. In addition, students’ interest in classes is enhanced by the rich and diverse online learning materials uploaded by teachers, which can be accessed conveniently at any time in any place. Furthermore, the dynamic and formative online assessment approach is also welcomed by students because it provides immediate feedback and the ability to discuss any problems they have with teachers or peers online or offline.

However, it is worth noting that most of the reviewed studies on FCs focused on one course, usually over only one semester. Students’ increase in motivation or improvements in learning outcomes might, therefore, be a result of the Hawthorne effect. Compared with the traditional didactic lecture format, the novelty of FCs, when used for the first time, might generate excitement among students, thus increasing their attention and enhancing learning outcomes, but such benefits will diminish over time. Therefore, there is a need to examine whether this model is suitable for large-scale implementation and whether its effects might be sustained over longer periods of implementation.

Learners’ foreign language proficiency and self-regulation or self-discipline abilities are the two key factors influencing the effect of FCs. These two factors are closely related; self-regulation or self-discipline is a prerequisite for successful foreign language learning in FC contexts and plays a crucial role in students’ success in the pre-class sessions for which they are personally responsible. In addition, factors such as learners’ attitudes, expectations of and adaptability to the FC model, the learning tasks and learning environment, the teaching organization and assessment methods, and the learner’s gender also have some impact on the effect of FCs. However, due to the limited number of studies, there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the generalization of any of these effects.

This scoping review highlights some potential challenges that need to be addressed for the effective implementation of FCs.

First, despite the benefits of the FC model, FCs are not equally advantageous to all students due to the self-regulated nature of the model. Many learners have reported difficulties in completing their individual online tasks outside the classroom (Yoon et al., 2021 ). The non-traditional configuration of FCs poses a formidable challenge, particularly for students less inclined to engage in pre-class online activities characterized by a lack of interactivity and for those who are less self-disciplined. Consequentially, students may attend class without having assimilated the pre-assigned material, thereby diminishing the efficacy of this instructional approach. To address this issue, additional support or prompts for students should be provided to remind them of the need to self-regulate their learning. For example, Park and Jo ( 2015 ) employed a learning analytics dashboard displaying visual representations of students’ learning patterns derived from login traces, such as login frequency and interval regularity, within the course’s learning management system. These visual indicators allowed students to monitor their learning engagement and performance in comparison to those of their peers.

Second, a persistent problem with FCs is the inability of students to interact with their peers or receive prompt feedback from instructors after completing independent online learning activities. While some researchers identified a need for teachers to provide immediate online feedback or opportunities for peer discussion, our review of the literature shows that scant attention has been given to this issue. Researchers note that under-stimulation, low perceived control over tasks, and delayed or insufficient feedback in online learning contribute significantly to learner boredom or absenteeism (Yazdanmehr et al., 2021 ; Tao and Gao, 2022 ). Online pedagogical innovations are needed to solve these new problems. For instance, the establishment of online groups employing chat software like QQ or WeChat could facilitate instantaneous feedback or peer interaction through text-based communication, thereby enhancing learners’ satisfaction with FC courses.

Third, despite recognizing the value of FCs in enhancing the learning experience for students, teachers often lack the requisite training to implement FCs effectively. Insights derived from interviews with teachers, as noted in several of the reviewed studies, reveal a pronounced desire for increased opportunities to learn about the underlying theories of FCs and acquire the skills necessary for the translation of FC concepts into pedagogical practice. Specifically, teachers express a need for guidance in creating engaging instructional videos, determining optimal video length to sustain learner interest, and ascertaining the ideal duration for online quizzes to foster optimal learner performance. Further research is required on strategies and technologies that can help teachers produce high-quality videos despite limited time and technical skills. Support from professional communities, institutions, and technology specialists is thus essential for the provision of effective hybrid offline and online instruction.

Fourth, additional research is required to determine whether workloads for students and teachers are increased by the use of FCs. If this is the case, as found in some of the reviewed studies, then the compelling benefits of FCs would be offset by the extra time needed, making it difficult to draw the conclusion that FCs are more efficient than traditional classes. The majority of language teachers, due to limited skills in technology, online environment management, and online interaction, feel too physically and emotionally overworked to expend more time and energy on enhancing teaching effectiveness. With few teachers having excess spare time, the thought of designing and creating new content might discourage even the most enthusiastic teachers.

Finally, robust empirical evidence is needed to evaluate whether FCs can facilitate students’ higher-order thinking through the use of creative technologies and assessment approaches. Constructs such as creativity and critical thinking are not always easily reduced to measurable items on survey instruments or scores on examinations (Haladyna et al., 2002 ).

In conclusion, the insights garnered from this study have the potential to enrich the global discourse on the benefits and limitations of FCs in diverse cultural and linguistic contexts. Our review included literature accessible through CSSCI and CJC in the CNKI database, and while this provides a thorough selection of the Chinese literature on the subject, our search approach may have excluded valuable FC-related papers published in other languages and countries. Consequently, different search criteria might yield different selection and data results. Future researchers are encouraged to undertake more comprehensive literature reviews encompassing broader databases to fill the gaps in our work and to augment the depth and breadth of knowledge in this domain.

Data availability

The raw data for this paper were collected from articles in Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) journals and A Guide to the Core Journals of China of Peking University (PKU journals) in the database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) ( https://www.cnki.net/ ). The raw data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Akcayir G, Akcayir M (2018) The flipped classroom: a review of its advantages and challenges. Comput Educ 126:334–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.07.021

Article   Google Scholar  

Arksey H, O’Malley L (2005) Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616

Baker JW (2000) The ‘Classroom Flip’: using web course management tools to become the guide by the side. In: Chambers JA ed Selected papers from the 11th international conference on college teaching and learning. Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL

Google Scholar  

Bergmann J, Sams A (2012) Flip your classroom: reach every student in every class every day. International Society for Technology in Education, Eugene, OR

Brinks-Lockwood R (2014) Flip it! Strategies for the ESL classroom. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI

Book   Google Scholar  

Cao P (2020) Construction of blended learning and evaluation of its effect based on a flipped class approach in an ESP course. Foreign Lang World 6:87–94

Chan L, Woore R, Molway L, Mutton T (2022) Learning and teaching Chinese as a foreign language: a scoping review. Rev Educ 10:1–35. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3370

Chen C (2016) CiteSpace: a practical guide for mapping scientific literature. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY, USA

Cheng Y (2014) Facing the challenge and flipping ourselves—opportunities and challenges faced by foreign language teachers under the new paradigm of education. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 157:44–47

Cheng X (2016) An empirical study of implementations of mediative functions of college EFL teachers in flipped classrooms. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 168:48–53

Cui Y, Wang Y (2014) Flipped class model and its application to college English teaching. China Educ Technol 334:116–121

Dan V (2021) Empirical and nonempirical methods. https://www.ls1.ifkw.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/dan_viorela/empirical_and_non_empirical.pdf . Accessed 23 Aug 2021

Daudt HM, van Mossel C, Scott SJ (2013) Enhancing the scoping study methodology: a large, inter-professional team’s experience with Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. BMC Med Res Methodol 13:48, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/13/48

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Dai C, Chen J (2016) An analysis of contributing factors of college English flipped classroom with MOOC philosophy. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 172:35–41

Davis K, Drey N, Gould D (2009) What are scoping studies? A review of the nursing literature. Int J Nurs Stud 46:1386–1400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.02.010

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Deng D (2016) A review of the research on the application of the flipped classroom model in college English teaching. Foreign Lang World 175:89–96

Dou J, Wen S (2015) The teaching reform exploration of college English flipped classroom based on APP. Heilongjiang Res High Educ 5:162–167

Gao Z, Li J (2016) English classroom anxiety of Chinese learners: flipped vs. traditional. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 167:37–42

Garg AX, Hackam D, Tonelli M (2008) Systematic review and meta-analysis: When one study is just not enough. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 3:253–260. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.01430307

Haladyna T, Downing S, Rodriguez M (2002) A review of multiple-choice item writing guidelines for classroom assessment. Appl Meas Educ 15:309–334. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324818AME15035

Hillman S, Selvi AF, Yazan B (2020) A scoping review of world Englishes in the Middle East and North Africa. World Englishes 40:1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12505

Hu J, Wu Z (2014) An empirical study on the MOOC-based college English flipped classroom instructional model. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 160:40–45

Hu Z, Song J (2021) Research hotspots and trends of online and offline hybrid teaching in China—bibliometric analysis of journal literature based on CNKI (2015–2020). In: 2021 2nd international conference on education, knowledge and information management. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICEKIM52309.2021.00032

Hung HT (2014) Flipping the classroom for English language learners to foster active learning. Comput Assist Lang Learn 28:81–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2014.967701

Jarvis W, Halvorson W, Sadeque S, Johnston S (2014) A large class engagement(LCE) model based on service-dominant logic (SDL) and flipped classrooms. Educ Res Perspect 41:1–24. http://www.erpjournal.net/

Jia L, Zhang G, Shi C (2016) Flipping medical English reading class based on Wechat public platform and Wechat community. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 168:65–69

Jiang Q, Tao Y (2018) The application of “flipped classroom” in teaching MTI translation theory and its effect analysis. Foreign Lang Educ 5:70–74

ADS   Google Scholar  

Jiang Y, Hu J (2018) A study on the large-scale instruction mechanism of SPOC-based college English flipped classroom. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 182:9–15

Khan S (2012) The one world schoolhouse: education reimagined. Hodder and Stoughton, London

Lee G, Wallace A (2018) Flipped learning in the English as a foreign language classroom: outcomes and perceptions. TESOL Q 52:62–84

Levac D, Colquhoun H, O’Brien K (2010) Scoping studies: advancing the methodology. Implement. Sci. 5(69):1–9

Li X, Cao H (2015) Research on flipped classroom based on micro-lecture—a case study in college English teaching through videos. Mod Educ Technol 9:70–76. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2015.09.011

Li X, Wang B (2017) An empirical study on college English flipped classroom model based on context awareness. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 178:71–77

Li J, Wu Z (2015) Practice and reflections on flipped college English class. Foreign Lang China 6:4–9. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2015.06.002

Liao G, Zou X (2019) Optimizing the teaching design to develop learners’ autonomous study. Educ Res Mon 10:105–111

Liddicoat AJ (2022) Language planning for diversity in foreign language education. Curr Issues Lang Plan 23(5):457–465. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2022.2088968

Ling R (2018) Research on Japanese pronunciation teaching with the flipped classroom model. Jpn Learn Res 4:68–76. https://doi.org/10.13508/j.cnki.jsr.2018.04.010

Article   ADS   Google Scholar  

Liu Y (2016) Research on the construction of flipped classroom model for vocabulary instruction and its effectiveness. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 167:43–49

Liu Z, Wu Q (2015) Cultivation of college students’ learning autonomy from the perspective of “Flipped Classroom”. Mod Educ Technol 11:67–72. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2015.11.010

Lu H (2014) Feasibility analysis on the application of micro-class based “Flipped Classroom” mode in college English teaching. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 158:33–36

Luo S (2018) Evaluating the learning environment of MOOC-based college English flipped classrooms. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 182:16–22

Lv T, Wang N (2016) A study on the effect of the flipped classroom based on SPOC+teaching resource platform. China Educ Technol 352:85–90

Mays N, Pope C, Popay J (2005) Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field. J Health Serv Res Policy 1:6–20. https://doi.org/10.1258/1355819054308576

Marzouki OF, Idrissi MK, Bennani S (2017) Effects of social constructivist mobile learning environments on knowledge acquisition: a meta-analysis. Int J Interact Mob Technol 11(1):18–39. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v11i1.5982

Ministry of Education of People’s Republic China (2021) 10-year development plan for education information (2011–2020). http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A16/s3342/201203/t20120313_133322.html . Accessed 30 Dec 2021

O’ Flaherty J, Philips C (2015) The use of flipped classroom in higher education: a scoping review. Internet High Educ 25:85–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.002

Park Y, Jo I-H (2015) Development of the learning analytics dashboard to support students’ learning performance. J Univers Comput Sci 21(1):110–133. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-021-01-0110

Qiao H (2017) Study of blended English learning model based on community of inquiry. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 176:43–48

Qu S (2019) A content analysis of researches on EFL flipped classrooms in China’s universities. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 187:62–68

Qu Q, Miu R (2016) A research on learning strategies of flipped classroom teaching model. China Educ Technol 350:114–119

Shen Y, Sheng Y (2015) Construction of the flipped college English classroom based on Community of Inquiry. Foreign Lang. World 4:81–89

Steen-Utheim AT, Foldnes NA (2018) Qualitative investigation of student engagement in a flipped classroom. Teach High Educ 23:30–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1379481

Su X, Liu S, Ma W (2019) The use of flipped classrooms in Chinese college English teaching: a review. Foreign Lang Lit 35:142–148. 1674-6414(2019) 01-0142-07

Tao J, Gao X (2022) Teaching and learning languages online: challenges and responses. System 107:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102819

Tullock B, Ortega L (2017) Fluency and multilingualism in study abroad: Lessons from a scoping review. System 71:7–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.09.019

Vygotsky LS (1978) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

Wan M(2016) An empirical study on the application of flipped classroom in college English teaching High Educ Explor 5:69–72. www.cnki.net

Wang H (2015) An action research on interpreting teaching based on the flipped classroom. Chin Transl J 1:59–62

Wang X (2014) College foreign language teaching based on MOOC. Heilongjiang Res High Educ 8:157–159

Wang Y (2016) Research on English learning anxiety of non-English majors under flipped class model. J Guangxi Norm Univ: Philos Soc Sci Ed 4:134–139. https://doi.org/10.16088/j.issn.1001-6597.2016.04.020

Wang N, Chen J, Zhang D (2016) SPOC-based flipped classroom of college English: Construction of an efficient learning model. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 169:52–57

Wang G, Ma S (2017) A study on college English classroom “Flip Degree” assessment index. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 177:23–28

Wang H, Zhang L (2014) The application of flipped classroom in English teaching. Teach Manag 7:141–144. www.cnki.net

Wang S, Zhang L (2014) A study of college EFL learners’ acceptance towards flipped classroom. Mod Educ Technol 3:71–78. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2014.03.010

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Wang X, Zhang C (2013) The application research of flipped classroom in university teaching. Mod Educ Technol 8:11–16. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2013.08.002

Wang L, Zhao M, Yang W (2018) An empirical study of the instructional model of college oral English flipped classroom based on principles of CDIO engineering education. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 180:72–77

Wang Z, Wu M (2017) The analysis of the impact factors on students’ learning behaviors under flipped classroom model. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 177:29–34

Wu L (2015) A study on the flipped classroom model in teaching listening and speaking for academic English for general purposes. E-Educ Res 11:81–87. https://doi.org/10.13811/j.cnki.eer.2015.11.013

Xie P (2020) Applying MOOC-based blended learning to the courses of English education. Foreign Lang Educ China 2:43–49

Xu H (2017) An explorative study of college students’ critical thinking under flipped classroom. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 173:29–33

Xu T, Li X (2014) Exploration to project-based flipped classroom—new concept, method and technology in English teaching: a case study based on new college English. Foreign Lang China 15:81–87. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2014.05.011

Yan J, Zhang W, Yu Y (2016) School-based flipped classroom teaching reform on video-aural-oral course of college English. Mod Educ Technol 2:94–99. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2016.02.014

Yan Z, Zhou P(2021) Effect of flipped teaching on college students’ EFL acquisition. Foreign Language Learn Theory Pract 2:86–96

Yazdanmehr E, Shirvan ME, Saghafi K (2021) A process tracing study of the dynamic patterns of boredom in an online L3 course of German during COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Lang Ann 54(3):714–739. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12548

Yin H (2016) An empirical study and critical reflection on the flipped classroom model. J Res Educ Ethn Minor 1:25–30

Yoon M, Hill J, Kim D (2021) Designing supports for promoting self-regulated learning in the flipped classroom. J Comput High Educ 33:398–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-021-09269-z

Yu P (2014) The application of flipped classroom in English teaching. Teach Manag 9:62–64. www.cnki.net

Yu Z, Chen W (2016) The Influence of clicker-aided college English flipped classroom on meta-cognition, cognitive loads and learning achievements. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 170:32–37

Zhai X, Lin L (2014) Factors analysis of Chinese learners’ satisfaction in western flipped classroom model (FCM) teaching—an empirical study based on college English. China Educ Technol 327:104–109

Zhang D (2021) Construction and application of a blended golden course framework of college English. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 197:71–77

Zhang M, Deng L(2021) Construction and application of “emergent flipped learning” teaching model in the integration of Chinese culture into college English teaching Foreign Language Learn Theory Pract 1:61–70

Zhang M, He X (2020) A study on the adaptability of blended college English learning. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang. 4:89–94

Zhang M, Sun X (2015) MOOC-based flipped classroom teaching model for follow-up college English courses. Mod Educ Technol 8:81–87. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2015.08.01

Zhang J, Li K, Du X (2015) College English classroom: based on the survey of the current situation. Mod Educ Technol 7:68–74. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-8097.2015.07.011

Zhang Y, Xu Z (2018) Research on the acceptance of college English teachers’ flipped classroom. Theory Pract Educ 36:53–55

ADS   CAS   Google Scholar  

Zhou P (2015) Flipped classroom based on modern educational technology and its theoretical foundations. Technol Enhanc Foreign Lang 162:72–76

Zhu L, Xu Y, Han J (2021) An approach for the integration of foreign language teaching and information technology. Foreign Lang World 2:46–62

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by The 14th Five-year Plan for Education Science of Jiangsu Province (Grant number: D/2021/01/79), Changzhou University (Grant number: GJY2021013), and Department of Education of Zhejiang Province, China (Project of Ideological and Political Construction of Courses 2021-337).

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of English, Changzhou University, 213100, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

School of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 510006, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

College of Science & Technology, Ningbo University, 315200, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

Quanjiang Guo

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization, WK and Q-JG; methodology, WK; software, DL; validation, WK, DL, and Q-JG; formal analysis, WK and Q-JG; investigation, WK and Q-JG; resources, DL; data curation, DL; writing—original draft preparation, WK and Q-JG; writing—review and editing, WK and Q-JG; visualization, WK and Q-JG; supervision, WK; project administration, WK; funding acquisition, WK and Q-JG. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Quanjiang Guo .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was not required as the study did not involve human participants.

Informed consent

Informed consent was not required as the study did not involve human participants.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Kong, W., Li, D. & Guo, Q. Research on flipped classrooms in foreign language teaching in Chinese higher education. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 525 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03019-z

Download citation

Received : 17 October 2023

Accepted : 02 April 2024

Published : 23 April 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03019-z

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Foreign language anxiety research in system between 2004 and 2023: looking back and looking forward.

• Faculty of Humanities and Foreign Languages, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

With the deepening of the research on emotional factors, foreign language anxiety (FLA) has become the focus of researchers in the field of foreign language learning (FLL) and teaching. This paper aims to provide an overview of the historical trajectory of FLA research that has been published in System between 2004 and 2023. While examining the retrieved 49 studies, focus has been laid on the methodologies including research instruments, methods, participants, major themes and key findings of FLA research. Although almost all of the studies employed quantitative and mix-methods methodologies, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were the most preferred research methods. FL learners from 21 countries/regions were represented, but a significant number of the studies came from China, Japan and Iran. And an overwhelming majority of the studies focused on FLA among the learners learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The review concluded with some research lacunae and possible directions for future research on FLA.

Introduction

FLA, prevalent among foreign language (FL) learners ( Dewaele and Macintyre, 2014 ; Li, 2020 ), is a very special and complex psychological phenomenon during the process of FLL ( Gardner, 1985 ; Macintyre and Gardner, 1994 ). FLA is regarded as the biggest emotional obstacle during the process of FLL ( Arnold and Brown, 1999 ), which may undermine students’ confidence and motivation in FLL ( Macintyre, 2017 ). Horwitz (2010) considered FLA as one of the strongest predictors of success or failure in FLL. Previously, anxiety in FFL, as an auxiliary variable in FLL research, had only drawn scarcity of attention from researchers ( Chastain, 1975 ; Dewaele and Li, 2021 ). It was not until 1986 that Horwitz et al. (1986) , for the first time, proposed the concept of FLA, reckoning that FLA is a unique synthesis of self-perception, belief, emotion and behavior associated with FLL. Meanwhile, Horwitz et al. (1986) developed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which has become the most widely accepted FLA scale. Since then, researchers have conducted a plethora of studies on the connotations ( Macintyre and Gardner, 1994 ; Oxford, 1999 ), categorization ( Horwitz et al., 1986 ; Ellis, 1994 ; Macintyre and Gardner, 1994 ), impacts ( Steinberg and Horwitz, 1986 ; MacIntyre and Charos, 1996 ), sources ( Young, 1991 ; Macintyre, 2017 ), and measurement tools ( Macintyre and Gardner, 1994 ; Satio et al., 1999 ; Kim, 2000 ; Elkhafaifi, 2005 ; Woodrow, 2006 ; Cheng, 2017 ) of FLA.

System , one of the most influential and prestigious international journals devoted to FL teaching and learning, has stayed abreast of the development of FLA research. The articles having been published on FLA in System represent to a large extent the development trajectory of FLA research. Therefore, this review paper chooses System as the material to provide the historical trajectory of FLA research and suggest some under-researched topics and future directions of FLA research.

Foreign language anxiety

FLA, a principal learner emotional factor in foreign language learning (FLL), has become one of the significant research focuses in FLL since the 1970s. Originating from psychology, anxiety is defined as “an unpleasant state of mind that is characterized by individual perceived feelings like nervous, fear, and worry, and is activated by the autonomic nervousness system” ( Spielberger, 1972 ). FLA is a unique form of anxiety in the specific context of foreign language learning ( Horwitz et al., 1986 ; MacIntyre, 1995 ). Horwitz et al. (1986) conceptualized FLA as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process.”

Horwitz et al. (1986) first studied FLA as an independent phenomenon. In order to resolve the deficiency and insufficiency of traditional research tools in respect of FLA, Horwitz et al. (1986) framed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), putting an end to the history of FLA study having no standardized measurement tools ( Guo and Xu, 2014 ), foreboding that FLA research entered a period of relative maturity when researchers began to focus on the overall performance of FLA and its relationship with a variety of variables ( Young, 1986 , 1992 ; Aida, 1994 ), as well as the relationship between FLA and some basic language skills like listening, speaking, reading and writing ( Gungle and Taylor, 1989 ; Vogely, 1998 ; Sellers, 2000 ).

Simply put, FLA is the feeling of tension, fear and nervousness in self-consciousness, emotions, beliefs, and behaviors ( Aida, 1994 ) associated with a context which requires an individual to use a foreign language he or she is not proficient with ( MacIntyre and Gardner, 1991 ).

Research design

In order to present a systematic analysis of FLA research published in System , a narrative approach of systematic review was adopted. Systematic review involves “a clearly formulated question” and adopts “systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review” ( Cochrane Collaboration, 2003 ). A narrative approach relies “primarily on the use of words and text to summarize and explain the findings,” and is considered helpful to systematically review topics that have been studied differently researchers ( Popay et al., 2006 ), highlight the strengths and limitations of studies being reviewed ( Wong et al., 2013 ).

The review aims to provide a systematic analysis of FLA research during the past two decades between 2004 and 2023 by answering the following questions:

Question 1: What is the overall trend in FLA research published in System during the past two decades? Question 2: What are the major themes and the key findings of FLA research? Question 3: What are the existent gaps in the current research and the potential directions for future research?

Data collection

Following the PRISMA guidelines ( Moher et al., 2009 ), an extensive literature search was conducted to ensure a comprehensive analysis of the current FLA research published in System . The data selection criteria and collection process are summarized in Figure 1 .

Figure 1 . PRISMA flow chart.

Firstly, relevant studies published until and including December 15, 2023 were searched in the database of Elsevier ScienceDirect. The author conducted advanced searches in the database with the following searching parameters: In this journal or book title  = ( System ) AND Title, abstract, or author-specific keywords  = (anxiety). Overall, the database returned 185 publications, among which 95 were published in journals other than System and therefore were deleted. Then, 2 book reviews and 1 review article were deleted. The remaining 87 publications were evaluated for the eligibility by reading and analyzing the titles, abstracts and full texts, and 38 publications were excluded based on the following criterion that the studies focused on topics other than FLA.

Data analysis

This review first conducted a bibliometric analysis of the retrieved records. A coding analysis was then performed through iterative reading with the highlights on the following categories that guided the data analysis: year of publication, characteristics of samples, research methodologies, and key findings.

Descriptive characteristics of studies

Publishing years.

There is a dynamic upward trend in the number of studies on FLA over the past two decades (see Figure 2 ). 2021 witnessed a surge in the number of publications, reaching an all-time peak of 8 papers. There is a gradual downward trend in the following 2 years, but compared with the average of about 2 papers per year, there is still an increase in the number of papers in 2022 and 2023.

Figure 2 . Trend of FLA research in System (2004–2023).

Countries/regions of research

There was diversity of countries/ regions where the studies took place, with 21 countries/regions represented. Twenty-one papers (42.86%) came from China, followed by 6 papers (12.24%) from Japan and 4 papers (8.16%) from Iran. Three papers were conducted in Korea and USA each, followed by 2 papers from Saudi Arabia, and 1 paper from Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia, Macau, Chile, Thailand, Turkey, and UK each.

Research participants

The overwhelming majority of the studies ( n = 43, 87.76%) focused on FLA among university students, with 3 papers focused on primary school students and 5 on secondary school students. It is noteworthy to point out that there were 3 studies which focused on PhD students, adult students, and vocational high school students, respectively.

Foreign languages studied

Since the status of English as a universal language is beyond doubt, almost all the studies examined FLA in the context of EFL learning. Among the 49 papers, there were only 4 papers focusing on FLA in the context of FLL other than EFL learning. These foreign languages included Korean, Arabic, German and Chinese. There was 1 paper comparing the possible FLA differences between the contexts of German as L1 learning and English as LX learning.

Research methodologies

Of the retrieved records, 38 were cross-sectional studies and 11 were longitudinal studies. The average length of time for the longitudinal studies was approximately 11.36 weeks, ranging from the shortest length of 1 week to the longest length of 18 weeks. The studies adopting quantitative methods ( n  = 24, 48.98%) and the studies using mix-methods ( n  = 24, 48.98%) markedly dwarfed the only one study using qualitative methods (2.04%).

Questionnaires were the most common research method in both quantitative studies and mix-methods studies. The FLCAS was the most frequently-used scale ( n = 22, 48.83%), which a significant number of studies used directly ( n = 7, 14.58%), adapted ( n = 4, 8.33%), modified ( n = 6, 12.50%) or translated ( n = 5, 10.42%). Besides, a number of studies used questionnaires that adopted, modified or translated other scales such as the FLRAS ( Satio et al., 1999 ), the FLLAS ( Elkhafaifi, 2005 ), and the S-FLCAS ( Dewaele and Macintyre, 2014 ) among many others. Notwithstanding, some researchers devised targeted questionnaires ( Hurd, 2007 ; Woodrow, 2011 ; Lee, 2016 ; Li, 2018 ; Wang H. et al., 2021 ; Alrabai, 2022 ).

With regard to qualitative methodology, the research methods frequently used to measure FLA embraced interviews ( n  = 15, 62.50%), classroom observations ( n  = 5, 20.83%), students’ reflective journals ( n  = 5, 20.83%), open-ended questions ( n  = 3, 12.50%). Of note, Hurd (2007) employed audio-recorded think-aloud protocols combined with questionnaires and one-to-one semi-structured telephone interviews to explore FLA in a distance learning environment. Dryden et al. (2021) used linguistic ethnography to investigate how four migrant EFL learners in Australia experienced FLA.

Research themes and key findings

Level of fla.

Twelve papers (24.49%) were found to investigate FLA level of FL learners, however, no consensus has been reached on the level of FLA among FL learners, possibly due to the fact that the participants of the retrieved studies were different. For example, Jiang and Dewaele (2020) found 1,031 university freshmen in China experienced a moderate level of FLA. Zuniga and Simard (2022) and Lee et al. (2023) had similar findings. However, Jiang and Dewaele (2019) found a higher level of FLA among 564 EFL university freshmen in China than the counterpart participants in the study of Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) . Similarly, Bekleyen (2009) found the language teacher candidates in Turkey experienced a high level of FL listening anxiety.

Dynamicity of FLA drew attention from some scholars. Koga (2010) investigated the dynamicity of FLA among 88 first-year university students in Japan and found FLA decreased significantly at the end of the 15-week English courses. Veenstra and Weaver (2022) investigated 341 students from two private universities in Japan and a continuum of FL speaking anxiety showed that the participants’ overall level of FL speaking anxiety decreased after finishing an English presentation course lasting 15 weeks.

Some studies explored some potential differences of FLA among different participants or among the same participants in different contexts. For example, Chen et al. (2022) found Chinese undergraduates had a higher level of EFL reading anxiety than Spanish undergraduates. Resnik and Dewaele (2020) found the participants experienced a higher level of FLA in English (LX) classes than in German (L1) classes.

Sources of FLA

Nine studies (18.37%) explored sources or causes of FLA. Bekleyen (2009) revealed some major sources of FL listening anxiety, including low priority of listening in previous FLL, and failure to recognize the spoken form of word, phrase or sentence. Jiang and Dewaele (2019) uncovered a number of factors contributing to FL class anxiety, including exams and quizzes, speaking in front of the class without preparation, challenging classroom activities, and teacher questioning. Bashori et al. (2021) identified insufficient vocabulary knowledge as one of the factors provoking FL speaking anxiety. Besides, speaking strategies, willingness to communicate, speaking self-efficacy and speaking proficiency were found to have positive direct effects on FLA ( Sun and Teng, 2021 ). Of note, Zare et al. (2022) focused on FLA outside the traditional face-to-face classroom and found that autonomous learning was the source of the participants’ anxiety during the data-driven FFL.

Correlation of FLA with other variables

Some studies ( n = 5, 10.20%) explored the correlation of FLA with demographic variables of the participants. Park and French (2013) found female students had significantly higher levels of FLA than male students. However, Jiang and Dewaele (2020) found gender and ethnic affiliation were not correlated with FLA while geographical background and experience in traveling abroad had a weak correlation with FLA. Similarly, Matsuda and Gobel (2004) found EFL learners with overseas experience experienced lower anxiety when speaking English and gender did not have a significant effect on FLA. However, Yim (2014) found gender had a significant effect of FLA. The discrepancies in the correlation with demographic variables may be attributed to the different samples or the possibility that male learners are not inclined to willingly admit anxiety than female learners ( Williams, 1996 ; Pappamihiel, 2002 ).

A number of studies ( n = 9, 18.37%) explored the correlation of FLA with academic performance/ achievement. For example, Pyun et al. (2014) found that oral achievement of the participants was negatively correlated with FLA. However, Tsang and Lee (2023) found FL speaking anxiety was not significantly related to speaking proficiency. Hamada and Takaki (2021) found FL reading anxiety had significantly direct effects on course achievement. Woodrow (2011) and Li et al. (2023) found FL writing anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with writing performance, but FLA did not have a significant prediction on writing achievement ( Li et al., 2023 ). Besides, In’nami (2006) found that test anxiety did not affect FL listening test performance.

Many studies ( n = 19, 38.78%) focused on the correlation of FLA with other student-specific variables, including learning motivation ( Tsai and Liao, 2021 ), willingness to communicate ( Lee and Hsieh, 2019 ; Wang H. et al., 2021 ), language proficiency ( Jiang and Dewaele, 2020 ) and trait emotional intelligence ( Resnik and Dewaele, 2020 ; Li et al., 2021 ) among many others. Several studies ( n = 5, 10.20%) focused on the correlation of FLA with teacher-specific variables, such as teachers’ oral corrective feedback ( Lee, 2016 ), perceived teacher emotional support ( Jin and Dewaele, 2018 ), and teaching styles ( Briesmaster and Briesmaster-Paredes, 2015 ).

Ways to relieve FLA

Ways to relieve FLA was also a topic of immense interest to researchers. Ten studies (20.41%) explored how to relieve or alleviate FLA. Jin et al. (2021) and Alrabai (2022) applied positive psychology intervention to reduce leaners’ FLA. Alrabai (2022) revealed that the integration of positive and negative emotions in FLL could result in alleviation of FLA among Saudi EFL learners. Jin et al. (2021) uncovered that reminiscing about language achievements significantly mitigated the levels of FLA among Chinese EFL learners. Similarly, Lee et al. (2023) found that constructing learners’ growth language mindset relieved their FLA.

Besides, Tsai and Liao (2021) found using machine translation systems had a positive effect on lowering FLA among EFL learners in Taiwan. Bashori et al. (2021) investigated the potential effects of Automatic Speech Recognition-based websites on EFL learners’ vocabulary, FLA and FLE. Other studies found that self-regulatory strategies ( Guo et al., 2018 ), recasts ( Li, 2018 ), and translanguaging ( Dryden et al., 2021 ) had a significant effect on mitigating the levels of FLA among EFL learners. Of note, Kralova et al. (2017) employed psycho-social training as a strategy to alleviate FLA among 68 Slovak EFL learners.

During the past two decades between 2004 and 2023, System has been an ardent supporter of FLA research, committed to probing into and resolving FLA-related problems of foreign language teaching and learning. However, based on the review, some research lacunae are discerned concerning samples, methodologies and themes of FLA research, and some possible directions for future FLA research are also suggested.

Research samples

Notwithstanding the FLA studies in System involved a variety of FL learners as the participants, there was a serious polarization phenomenon concerning the diversity of the research samples. An overwhelmingly large number of the studies focused on FLA among the FL learners in school and few studies focused on FLA among non-school FL learners. Moreover, a majority of the studies explored FLA among undergraduate students, especially the non-English-major university students, and there is a scarcity of studies investigating FLA among students in primary schools, secondary schools, vocational colleges as well as postgraduate students. In terms of geographical distribution of the research samples, most studies focused on FL learners from Asian countries including China, Japan and Iran among many others, and less attention was paid to FL learners from Europe, North America and South America. And no studies on FLA involving FL learners in Africa have been found. Meanwhile, most participants were from urban places, and only a couple of studies explored FLA among rural FL learners ( Hamada and Takaki, 2021 ; Li et al., 2023 ). Last but not the least, with regard to the types of FL, a plethora of studies concentrated on English as a FL. Of the 49 retrieved studies, only 4 studies focused on FLA among the participants learning Korean, Arabic, German and Chinese as a FL, respectively.

Future research should diversify the research objects and focus increasing attention on the FLA research among primary school students, secondary school students, vocational college students and non-school FL adult learners, and moderate attention should be paid to the FLA research among preschool children and postgraduate students, so as to avoid the polarization of research samples. Besides, the dominance of English as a lingua franca has made English the FL taught in schools around the globe ( Rose et al., 2020 ), facilitating FLA studies among EFL learners. However, recent years has witnessed frequent calls for conducting research on teaching and learning of foreign languages other than English ( Zhang et al., 2019 ; Guo et al., 2021 ). Future studies can also focus on FLA among learners of foreign languages other than English as well as FL learners in countries and regions outside Asia.

Notwithstanding an increasing number of studies combined quantitative methods and qualitative methods in recent years, questionnaires were still the staple tool for quantitative data collection, and semi-structured interviews for qualitative data collection. A few mix-methods studies used classroom observation, student journals, field investigation and case studies for qualitative analysis. In addition, the FLCAS was the most popular scale for quantitative data collection and analysis, and only a few studies devised target questionnaires for their research. Moreover, cross-sectional studies far exceeded longitudinal studies, and the average length of time for longitudinal studies were relatively short, lasing about 10 weeks. Finally, there were only three comparative studies on FLA, probing into FLA differences among the participants ( Resnik and Dewaele, 2020 ; Hamada and Takaki, 2021 ; Chen et al., 2022 ).

Future FLA research should adopt mix-methods studies with qualitative research not just being confined to semi-structured interviews, but embracing a variety of methods, such as classroom observation, video recording, student journals, field investigation, case study and particularly audio-recorded think-aloud protocols. And path analysis and structural equation modeling analysis should be increasingly employed to analyze the quantitative data. Meanwhile, some advanced techniques such as Event-related Potentials (ERP), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) can be used in future research to analyze FLA from the perspective of neural mechanism by measuring the electromagnetic, blood flow and neuronal activities of the human brain. In addition, it is necessary to devise localized FLA scale with ideal validity and reliability in accordance with the cultural background and educational environment of the country or region where the research objects are located. Moreover, the dynamic nature of FLA requires more longitudinal studies to explain how FLA changes dynamically and what impacts FLA exerts on FLL. Finally, future studies can pay more attention to the comparative study of FLA differences among different groups, which is more conducive to understanding the characteristics and distribution of FLA among different groups of FL learners, so as to put forward targeted strategies to mitigate FLA in FLL.

Research themes

Research themes of the studies on FLA in System were of rich variety. However, no research has been found on translation anxiety and interpretation anxiety. Besides, there was a scarcity of research on the effectiveness of alleviating FLA. Studies on strategies to reduce FLA were mostly conducted from the perspective of teachers, and few studies revealed how to alleviate FLA from the perspective of learners. And most of the specific strategies to mitigate FLA were only at the theoretical level, lacking sufficient theoretical and empirical evidence, which were not applicable in practical FL teaching.

The following research themes deserve more attention in future research: translation anxiety and interpretation anxiety, types and effectiveness of strategies for alleviating FLA among different groups of FL learners, FLA among learners of heritage languages as well as non-heritage languages, and comparative studies on the effects of regional locations and mother languages on FLA. Moreover, future studies should not only focus on the theoretical research of FLA, but also carry out more empirical studies on strategies on how to alleviate FLA among different FL learners, such as learners from different regional locations, learners in monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism, and the effectiveness of FLA-alleviating strategies.

By reviewing the 49 studies on FLA published in System between 2004 and 2023, this paper demonstrates that the journal’s commitment to FLA research embraces a wide range of research themes being explored with different research methods. Based on the findings of the review, some research lacunae regarding samples, methodologies and themes of FLA research are discussed, and some possible directions for future FLA research are also suggested.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author contributions

QY: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by grants from the Research Project of Humanities, Foreign Languages and Arts, Xi’an University of Technology (110-451623011) and the Research Project on Graduate Education and Teaching Reform, Xi’an University of Technology (310-252042342).

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's construct of foreign language anxiety: the case of students of Japanese. Mod. Lang. J. 78, 155–168. doi: 10.2307/329005

Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar

Alrabai, F. (2022). The role of mixed emotions in language learning and teaching: a positive psychology teacher intervention. System 107:102821. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2022.102821

Arnold, J., and Brown, H. D. (1999). “A map of the terrain” in Affect in language learning . ed. J. Arnold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Google Scholar

Bashori, M., van Hout, R., Strik, H., and Cucchiarini, C. (2021). Effects of ASR-based websites on EFL learners’ vocabulary, speaking anxiety, and language enjoyment. System 99:102496. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102496

Bekleyen, N. (2009). Helping teachers become better English students: causes, effects, and coping strategies for foreign language listening anxiety. System 37, 664–675. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2009.09.010

Briesmaster, M., and Briesmaster-Paredes, J. (2015). The relationship between teaching styles and NNPSETs’ anxiety levels. System 49, 145–156. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2015.01.012

Chastain, K. (1975). Affective and ability factors in second language acquisition. Lang. Learn. 25, 153–161. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1975.tb00115.x

Chen, S., Du, H., Wang, S., and Yang, L. (2022). Understanding EFL reading anxiety in relation to learning motivation, attitudes and strategies for Chinese and Spanish undergraduates. System 108:102842. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2022.102842

Cheng, Y. (2017). Development and preliminary validation of four brief measures of L2 language-skill-specific anxiety. System 68, 15–25. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2017.06.009

Cochrane Collaboration (2003). Glossary . London: Cochrane Collaboration.

Dewaele, J. M., and Li, C. (2021). Teacher enthusiasm and students’ social-behavioral learning engagement: the mediating role of student enjoyment and boredom in Chinese EFL classes. Lang. Teach. Res. 25, 922–945. doi: 10.1177/13621688211014538

Dewaele, J. M., and Macintyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Stud. Second Lang. Learn. Teach. 4, 237–274. doi: 10.14746/ssllt.2014.4.2.5

Dryden, S., Tankosić, A., and Dovchin, S. (2021). Foreign language anxiety and translanguaging as an emotional safe space: migrant English as a foreign language learners in Australia. System 101:102593. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102593

Elkhafaifi, H. (2005). Listening comprehension and anxiety in the Arabic language classroom. Mod. Lang. J. 89, 206–220. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2005.00275.x

Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation . London: Edward Arnold.

Gungle, B. W., and Taylor, V. (1989). “Writing apprehension and second language writers” in Richness in writing: Empowering ESL students . eds. D. M. Johnson and D. H. Roen (White Plains, NY: Longman), 235–248.

Guo, Y., and Xu, J. (2014). A multi-dimensional study on foreign language anxiety of non-English major college students in China. Foreign Lang. World 4, 2–11.

Guo, Y., Xu, J., and Liu, X. (2018). English language learners’ use of self-regulatory strategies for foreign language anxiety in China. System 76, 49–61. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2018.05.001

Guo, Q., Zhou, X., and Gao, X. (2021). Research on the teaching and learning of languages other than English in system. System 100:102541. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102541

Hamada, A., and Takaki, S. (2021). Effects of multidimensional foreign language reading anxiety on achievement in Japanese EFL classrooms. System 101:102613. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102613

Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Lang. Teach. 43, 154–167. doi: 10.1017/S026144480999036X

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., and Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Mod. Lang. J. 70, 125–132. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Hurd, S. (2007). Anxiety and non-anxiety in a distance language learning environment: the distance factor as a modifying influence. System 35, 487–508. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2007.05.001

In’nami, Y. (2006). The effects of test anxiety on listening test performance. System 34, 317–340. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2006.04.005

Jiang, Y., and Dewaele, J. M. (2019). How unique is the foreign language classroom enjoyment and anxiety of Chinese EFL learners? System 82, 13–25. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2019.02.017

Jiang, Y., and Dewaele, J. M. (2020). The predictive power of sociobiographical and language variables on foreign language anxiety of Chinese university students. System 89:102207. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2020.102207

Jin, Y. X., and Dewaele, J. M. (2018). The effect of positive orientation and perceived social support on foreign language classroom anxiety. System 74, 149–157. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2018.01.002

Jin, Y., Dewaele, J. M., and MacIntyre, P. D. (2021). Reducing anxiety in the foreign language classroom: a positive psychology approach. System 101:102604. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102604

Kim, J. H. (2000). Foreign language listening anxiety: a study of Korean students learning English . Austin: The University of Texas.

Koga, T. (2010). Dynamicity of motivation, anxiety and cooperativeness in a semester course. System 38, 172–184. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2010.03.001

Kralova, Z., Skorvagova, E., Tirpakova, A., and Markechova, D. (2017). Reducing student teachers' foreign language pronunciation anxiety through psycho-social training. System 65, 49–60. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2017.01.001

Lee, E. J. (2016). Reducing international graduate students’ language anxiety through oral pronunciation corrections. System 56, 78–95. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2015.11.006

Lee, J. S., and Hsieh, J. C. (2019). Affective variables and willingness to communicate of EFL learners in in-class, out-of-class, and digital contexts. System 82, 63–73. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2019.03.002

Lee, H., Jin, S., and Lee, J. H. (2023). Ending the cycle of anxiety in language learning: a non-recursive path analysis approach. System 118:103154. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2023.103154

Li, H. (2018). Recasts and output-only prompts, individual learner factors and short-term EFL learning. System 76, 103–115. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2018.05.004

Li, C. (2020). A positive psychology perspective on Chinese EFL students’ trait emotional intelligence, foreign language enjoyment and EFL learning achievement. J. Multiling. Multicult. Dev. 41, 246–263. doi: 10.1080/01434632.2019.1614187

Li, C., Huang, J., and Li, B. (2021). The predictive effects of classroom environment and trait emotional intelligence on foreign language enjoyment and anxiety. System 96:102393. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2020.102393

Li, C., Wei, L., and Lu, X. (2023). Contributions of foreign language writing emotions to writing achievement. System 116:103074. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2023.103074

MacIntyre, P. D. (1995). How does anxiety affect second language learning? A reply to Sparks and Ganschow. Mod. Lang. J. 1, 90–99. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1995.tb05418.x

Macintyre, P. D. (2017). “An overview of language anxiety research and trends in its development” in New insights into language anxiety: theory, research and educational implications . ed. J. M. Dewaele (Bristol: Multilingual Matters)

MacIntyre, P. D., and Charos, C. (1996). Personality, attitudes and affect as predictors of second language communication. J. Lang. Soc. Psychol. 15, 3–26. doi: 10.1177/0261927X960151001

MacIntyre, P. D., and Gardner, R. C. (1991). Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: a review of the literature. Lang. Learn. 41, 85–117. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1991.tb00677.x

Macintyre, P. D., and Gardner, R. C. (1994). The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language. Lang. Learn. 44, 283–305. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01103.x

Matsuda, S., and Gobel, P. (2004). Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom. System 32, 21–36. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2003.08.002

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., and Altman, D. G. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med. 6:e1000097. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097

PubMed Abstract | Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar

Oxford, R. L. (1999). “Anxiety and the language learner: new insights” in Affect in language learning . ed. J. Arnold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Pappamihiel, N. E. (2002). English as a second language students and English language anxiety: issues in the mainstream classroom. Res. Teach. Engl. 36, 327–355. doi: 10.1023/A:1013074218134

Park, G. P., and French, B. F. (2013). Gender differences in the foreign language classroom anxiety scale. System 41, 462–471. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2013.04.001

Popay, J., Roberts, H., Sowden, A., Petticrew, M., Arai, L., Rodgers, M., et al. (2006). Guidance on the conduct of narrative synthesis in systematic reviews. A product from the ESRC methods Programme (version 1) . Lancaster: Lancaster University.

Pyun, D. O., Kim, J. S., Cho, H. Y., and Lee, J. H. (2014). Impact of affective variables on Korean as a foreign language learners’ oral achievement. System 47, 53–63. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2014.09.017

Resnik, P., and Dewaele, J. M. (2020). Trait emotional intelligence, positive and negative emotions in first and foreign language classes: a mixed-methods approach. System 94:102324. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2020.102324

Rose, H., Syrbe, M., Montakantiwong, A., and Funada, N. (2020). Global TESOL for the 21st century: teaching English in a changing world . Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters

Satio, Y., Garza, T. J., and Horwitz, E. K. (1999). Foreign language reading anxiety. Mod. Lang. J. 83, 202–218. doi: 10.1111/0026-7902.00016

Sellers, V. D. (2000). Anxiety and Reading comprehension in Spanish as a foreign language. Foreign Lang. Ann. 33, 512–520. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2000.tb01995.x

Spielberger, C. D. (1972). “Conceptual and methodological issues in anxiety research” in Anxiety: current trends in theory and research . ed. C. D. Spielberger (New York, NY: Academic Press)

Steinberg, F. S., and Horwitz, E. K. (1986). The effect of induced anxiety on the denotative and interpretative content of second language speech. TESOL Q. 20, 131–136. doi: 10.2307/3586395

Sun, P. P., and Teng, L. S. (2021). Why so nervous? Revisiting the sources of speech anxiety in Chinese as a second language. System 103:102647. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102647

Tsai, P. S., and Liao, H. C. (2021). Students’ progressive behavioral learning patterns in using machine translation systems– a structural equation modeling analysis. System 101:102594. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102594

Tsang, A., and Lee, J. S. (2023). The making of proficient young FL speakers: the role of emotions, speaking motivation, and spoken input beyond the classroom. System 115:103047. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2023.103047

Veenstra, R., and Weaver, C. (2022). Examining a continuum of FL speaking anxiety over time in an EFL classroom in Japan. System 110:102889. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2022.102889

Vogely, A. J. (1998). Listening comprehension anxiety: students’ reported sources and solutions. Foreign Lang. Ann. 31, 67–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1998.tb01333.x

Wang, H., Peng, A., and Patterson, M. M. (2021). The roles of class social climate, language mindset, and emotions in predicting willingness to communicate in a foreign language. System 99:102529. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2021.102529

Williams, J. E. (1996). Gender-related worry and emotionality test anxiety for high-achieving students. Psychol. Schools 33, 159–162. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6807(199604)33:23.0.CO;2-M

Wong, G., Greenhalgh, T., Westhorp, G., Buckingham, J., and Pawson, R. (2013). RAMESES publication standards: meta-narrative reviews. BMC Med. 11, 11–20. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-20

Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC J. 37, 308–328. doi: 10.1177/0033688206071315

Woodrow, L. (2011). College English writing affect: self-efficacy and anxiety. System 39, 510–522. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2011.10.017

Yim, S. Y. (2014). An anxiety model for EFL young learners: a path analysis. System 42, 344–354. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2013.12.022

Young, D. J. (1986). The relationship between anxiety and foreign language Oral proficiency ratings. Foreign Lang. Ann. 19, 439–445. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1986.tb01032.x

Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: what does language anxiety research suggest? Mod. Lang. J. 75, 426–437. doi: 10.2307/329492

Young, D. J. (1992). Language anxiety from the foreign language Specialist's perspective: interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin. Foreign Lang. Ann. 25, 157–172. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1992.tb00524.x

Zare, J., Karimpour, S., and Delavar, K. A. (2022). The impact of concordancing on English learners’ foreign language anxiety and enjoyment: an application of data-driven learning. System 109:102891. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2022.102891

Zhang, L. J., Thomas, N., and Qin, L. T. (2019). Language learning strategy research in system: looking back and looking forward. System 84, 87–92. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2019.06.002

Zuniga, M., and Simard, D. (2022). Exploring the intricate relationship between foreign language anxiety, attention and self-repairs during L2 speech production. System 105:102732. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2022.102732

Keywords: foreign language anxiety, foreign language learning, English as a foreign language, foreign language learners, literature review

Citation: Yu Q (2024) Foreign language anxiety research in System between 2004 and 2023: looking back and looking forward. Front. Psychol . 15:1373290. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1373290

Received: 19 January 2024; Accepted: 09 April 2024; Published: 22 April 2024.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2024 Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Qiangfu Yu, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.