english language research paper

Impact of social media on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic

PSU Research Review

ISSN : 2399-1747

Article publication date: 21 January 2022

This research shows how social media has affected learning at present during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has become the largest and most convenient area of communication. In the current scenario, it seems that social networking sites not only had a profound impact on our social structure and intra-social interaction, but also affected education in general and learning English language in particular. It has been proven that these various social media platforms have created a realm of digital environment in today's new-age learning. Social media platforms are social networking sites through which people interact and communicate with each other easily and conveniently. Undoubtedly and unquestionably, social networking has been proven to be a global phenomenon that has caused a vast paradigm shift in the world of Learning and education during the current pandemic. Therefore, the present study aims to reach the extent of the impact of the various social media platforms on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic from the students' point of view.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted at the undergraduate level for English language learners. The sample comprised 166 undergraduate students at Najran University. A survey questionnaire was administered to find out the impact of various social media platforms and social networking sites on learning English language in the academic year of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to highlight possible suggestions for improving future virtual language learning.

The findings of the study contributed to the area of online learning of English language during the COVID-19 pandemic. Final results confirmed that the utilization of social media has been significantly perceived to have positively impacted learning English language in terms of writing style, reading skills, listening and lexical variation, communication skills and grammar usage.

Practical implications

The findings of the study can serve as fundamental indicators to implement prompt pedagogical reformations, for which a number of pedagogical implications can be proposed. Another equally important pedagogical implication is to design and provide professional development and training sessions to both students and educators on the ultimate utilization of social media as instructional technologies in the context of English language teaching and learning.

Originality/value

This research provides insights in developing policies to assist with the integration and utilization of social media platforms as instructional technologies in the context of English language teaching and learning and how institutions can respond to the advent of advancing technology, especially during and after the COVID-19 era. A model to improve online English language learning process is recommended as a guideline for all educators offering online learning.

• Social media in education
• English language learning
• L2 learning style
• COVID-19 pandemic

Muftah, M. (2022), "Impact of social media on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic", PSU Research Review , Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/PRR-10-2021-0060

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Muneera Muftah

Published in PSU Research Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Social media is constantly changing the way people live in different aspects. Nowadays, various social media platforms are affecting communication, information delivery, knowledge exchange, commerce, education and all different aspects of life ( Rieger and Christoph, 2018 ; Bhatti et al. , 2019 ; Amin et al. , 2020 ). With the vast spread of various social networking sites on the Internet, researchers from different fields have started to direct their attention and shed more light on the importance and impact of social media on different aspects of life including social as well as educational aspects.

To pursue their constant efforts and to look at those aspects as an area of concentration that needs to be investigated further, Language learning professionals and instructors specifically have attempted to investigate the effect of social media and social networking sites in second language acquisition and second/foreign language learning. In one of the researches, it was found out that the group who got learning, commitment and inspiration through social media sites has indicated higher results in an English proficiency test compared to the other one that got training on an eye-to-eye premise ( Wamba and Carter, 2016 ).

Up-to-date data available on Statista (2020) have indicated that there are about 3.96 billion social media users across the world. Social media networking sites range from microblogs such as Twitter and sites and applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat. Yet, these different platforms have influenced the individuals' social, educational and personal aspects of life.

In the area of education, a significant number of research studies have been conducted to estimate their effectiveness in different disciplines. Linguistically speaking, the influx of linguistic output on social media represents numerous opportunities for language learners to process language and obtain input, as young users of social media networks spend more than half of their days using and interacting on these networking sites using their language and communication skills ( Al Jahromi, 2020 ).

Consequently, online chats and discussions, whether oral or written, have replaced conventional face-to-face dialogues, leading to substantial changes in the users' daily language and language skills. The extensive use of smartphones, laptops, and tablets along with prosperous social media applications has perhaps availed rich linguistic input at the fingertips of their users and has contributed in the production of comprehensible L2 output ( Al Jahromi, 2020 ; Pikhart and Botezat, 2021 ).

Regardless of the inevitable impact of social media in individuals' lives everywhere, and taking into account that the students of today are insubordinate to old-fashioned instructing methods and learning techniques, there are not many studies that explore their effects in learning and education particularly in the English language context. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the impact of social media on learning English during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this aim, the present work specifically seeks to address the following research questions.

In what way did social media platforms impact the learning of English Language during the COVID-19 pandemic?

In order to answer this question, the following sub-question was developed to direct the scope of the study: How do Saudi university students perceive the impacts of using social media platforms on their learning of English language during the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to (1) Positive and negative effect? (2) Number of social media platforms used? (3) Motives for using Social Media platforms? (4) Frequency and time spent in using Social Media? (5) Educational or communicative tools? (6) The Rate of using social media on Learning English Language? (7) Aspects of language Skills improved via social media? and (8) Social media effects on students' studies?

2. Literature review

The COVID-19 pandemic led to shocking and unpredicted experiences for Saudi university students. The precautionary measures followed during the pandemic have had a wide impact on the students' social and educational life aspects ( Alghamdi, 2021 ). Recently, we have seen a radical change in favor of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemics, therefore, it could be worthwhile to investigate the impact of social media in the foreign language context as they have been used much more now ( Pikhart and Botezat, 2021 ). The current COVID-19 situation makes us aware that the impact of social media will increase due to social distancing.

Social media platforms are omnipresent and the research into the use of them in foreign language learning has become immense ( Yurdagül and Öz, 2018 ; Artyushina and Sheypak, 2018 ; Ayers, 2020 ). Today, with 2.95 billion social network users worldwide, social media usage is increasingly attractive and accessible, especially among the younger generation ( Pikhart and Botezat, 2021 ). Social network sites have become the main means of communicating and a way to maintain a social life ( Li and Croucher, 2020 ).

Social Media refers to websites, blogs, chats, computer programs, i.e. any content-based form of e-communication that enables users to share information and expose ideas. While social networking sites for language learning represent the corpus of those social media channels and service, mainly designed for specific purposes, devoted to foreign language learning. Furthermore, it is also proposed that English might now be the first truly global language, being the dominant or official language in over 60 countries. The English language as stated is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world ( Akinwamide, 2012 ).

Roelofse (2013) argues that exposure to new literacies found in new technologies definitely impacts the way in which second/foreign language learners perceive the world. Likewise, the amount of contact with these social utilities certainly influences literacy practices by learners. New technologies do not merely alter the way people live, but it influences the way they think. Moreover, Davies (2012, p. 21) in Roelofse (2013) argues that “texts of the new technologies have mutated into complex hybrid systems that have made new demands on reading and writing, viewing, social exchange, and communication”.

Facebook is no exception in that the use of this social network site requires a multimodal approach of embedding and combining words and written texts from many sites. In the same sense, WhatsApp is perceived by the researchers as having the same contaminating effect on learners' writing skills. In this regard, social media is a “dialogue” and “means [of] engaging with people” ( Coons, 2012 , p. 44).

The body of literature reveals a significant number of studies in the area of the impact of social media on the linguistic output of non-native speakers of English. Chomsky (2014) has stated that our language is constantly, inevitably, and naturally changing, transforming and becoming more adaptive to its users due to the changes in our contemporaries. More particularly, the initiation and rapid development of social media networking sites as eminent activity has created a distinguishing language system necessary for practical communication ( Attila, 2017 ).

Baldwin (2012) suggests that social media can be both a friend and a foe for natural language processing. While he considers social media a cause for “spelling inconsistencies, the free-form adoption of new terms, and regular violations of English grammar norms,” he refers to the advantage of “lexical normalization” in the same linguistic setting. In this regard, Thurairaj et al. (2015) examined whether social media networks were “making or marring academic English” and whether infrequent online code-switching and inconsistent spelling affect non-native learners' language learning process. Their findings revealed that the discourse used on social media had not influenced the learners' English language proficiency due to their higher awareness of the deviations between their online informal meta-language and their formal academic language.

Furthermore, simplified online interactions help speakers produce meaningful exchanges whilst using the target language in useful manners ( Mutum and Wang, 2010 ). Another advantage of social media is the reduced communication anxiety. People often exchange and share information and construct new personal and linguistic identities on social media because of being at ease with revealing their preferred identities behind monitors as a result of the anonymity expedited in such situations ( Blattner and Fiori, 2011 ). Lowered anxiety in online settings coined with heightened motivation and self-confidence have been shown to provide L2 learners with anxiety-free zones that enable them to produce language spontaneously and creatively ( Al Jahrami, 2019 ).

Studies conducted by Slim and Hafedh (2019) , Thurairaj et al. (2015) have revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter enhance students' overall language learning process. In connection with particular language skills, a significant number of studies have found that the use of social media enhances learners' grammatical complexity and vocabulary acquisition and learning ( Al Jahrami, 2019 ; Attila, 2017 ; Mills, 2011 ; Stevenson and Liu, 2010 ). Mason and Rennie (2008) notice that vocabulary acquisition on social media has become a phenomenon due to the employment of techniques such as coining and compounding to produce words such as Face + book, Snap + chat and Blog + sphere.

Another employed technique is sound imitation resulting in words such as Twitter which comes from the verb tweet, and Boo which reflects the sound of contempt. Similarly, social media have affected the forms of different words. For instance, the proper names of social media applications and websites have become verbs and adjectives (e.g. Google it, I'll Instagram this). Another technique is the change in the negative form of the verb like and the noun friend to become unlike and unfriend. Additionally, the semantic connotations of many words have undergone change on social media (e.g. wall on Facebook, spam, steam, etc.).

As to the writing skill, the fact that social media exchanges are more written than spoken in what is referred to as “text speak”. Attila (2017) argues that the use of logograms, abbreviations, acronyms and paralinguistic features (e.g. b4 = before, Gr8 = great) has made writing easier, faster and more liberated from the normal constraints of traditional writing. However, spelling can accordingly be negatively affected when frequently using logograms and abbreviations (e.g. 2 day = today).

Longitudinal studies have also indicated a significant improvement of oral proficiency with particular reference to speaking and listening ( Chen, 2013 ; Lin et al. , 2016 ). Lin et al. , however, have asserted caution that learners would need carefully planned instructional guidance and tailored activities in order to be able to use social media efficiently to enhance their language learning process.

Despite the positive effects of social media on language proficiency and language learning, many researchers are more concerned with the harmful effects these networking sites might have on L2 learners' interlanguage with particular reference to inconsistent spelling and violated grammatical rules ( Baldwin, 2012 ). Lin et al. (2016 , p. 143) claim that “language use on the Internet is often criticized as being less correct and less coherent than other forms of language use, and as having disrupted adjacency.” Effects of social media on Pakistani students' L2 learning process have also been reported in a study conducted by Tariq et al. (2012) . Similarly, Akram and Albalawi (2016) found Facebook to be a negative learning distraction for their Saudi students.

Amidst these incompatible claims, the present study aims to confirm the possible impact of social media platforms on learning English language during the Covid-19 Pandemic from the perspectives of undergraduate students in the Saudi context. The precautionary measures followed during the pandemic have led the Saudi government to abundantly utilize the World Wide Web and all its facets for different socioeconomic and educational purposes. It is not surprising, then, that social media platforms and social networking sites are heavily used by L2 learners. Consequently, the purpose of the current study is to evaluate the possible gains of the broad use of social media platforms on the learning of the English language during the pandemic and to view the perceptions of the learners in regard to these possible gains, which is a gap in the literature that the current study aims to fill.

3. Methodology

The purpose of the current study is to find out the impact of various social media platforms and social networking sites on learning English language in the academic year of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to highlight possible suggestions for improving future virtual language learning.

3.1 Participants

The study was conducted at the undergraduate level for English language learners in the College of Languages and Translation–Najran University, KSA. It was performed after completing a full year of online education and teaching classes and during the final examinations in the second semester of 2020. The sample comprised 166 students: 66 male and 100 female students in all bachelor's degrees with English language majors. Students in the English department form the highest number of students with their ages ranging from below 20 years–23 years old. The participants are native speakers of Arabic. Their interaction outside the classroom is low. That's to say, most of them had very little interaction with native English speakers outside the classroom and in most cases no contact at all.

Most of the students do not have any prior experience with online learning. Requirement courses including Arabic, Religious Culture and other general courses were conducted online on the main campus before the recent crisis, and it was optional. However, the examinations were conducted on campus. The following Figure 1 displays the percentage of the participants.

3.2 Research instrument

The method chosen for this study is quantitative; a more in-depth method was designed to estimate the impact of various social media platforms on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative method was used to conduct more detailed studies of a smaller area using closed-questionnaires. This survey-based questionnaire consists of 10 multiple choice questions, which covered the study objectives. The questionnaire was administered to 166 English language learners. It consists of different parts; the first part is looking at students' demographic information, the second part includes a set of multiple-choice questions about learners' experiences with social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, … etc.), and their effect on learning English during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Social Media platforms they use and have access to, the motives for using social media during the pandemic, the Frequently used Social Media platforms, the extent to which social media is used for educational and communication purposes, The rate of social media use on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic, time spent on social media platforms, language skills improved via social media use and finally the effect of social networking sites Students' Studies. The questionnaire was checked for validity and reliability fulfillment.

3.3 Data analysis procedures

In this study, a quantitative approach to data collection has been employed. A descriptive analysis method was applied to analyze the research by counting the answers for every question to get the percentages. A questionnaire was the tool that was used in order to collect data. The questionnaire consisted of ten questions. Thick description and reflective thinking are the two most important elements that have been used while analyzing and interpreting the data. The data were carefully read for possible categories relevant to the purpose of the study. Then, these reported statements were categorized based on the purpose to be achieved.

4. Results and interpretation

The results of the present study were structured based on the varying types and length of questions applied in the close-ended questionnaire. In the scheduled questionnaire, the researchers set certain questions to gain a wide range of answers and opinions regarding the impact of social media platforms on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 2 displays the results of the students who think that social media can affect learning English positively during the pandemic. The results indicate that the majority of the participants use social media as a language learning tool. Almost 86.75% of the students believe that social media can affect learning English positively, while 13.25% of them think that it has a negative effect on the language learning process.

As to the number of social media platforms that students have access to and can straightforwardly use, Figure 3 indicates that 25.91% of the total respondents use only one social networking site, 22.29% use two sites and 37.35% of them use three social networking sites. Yet, only 14.45% of the students use more than three social media platforms.

Concerning the reasons and the motives for using social media during the pandemic, Figure 4 below shows that 60.84% of the participants use social networking sites for the purpose of studying. Likewise, the results indicate that 19.27% of them use social networking sites for playing games, while the students who use these sites for making friends and chatting with friends are 28.31 and 31.74% respectively. The remaining 24.09% reported that they use social networking sites for other purposes.

Figure 5 below shows the most frequently used social media platforms. The data indicate that the most popular online networking site was WhatsApp, with the highest percentage of 72.89% of all university students stating that they use it on a typical day. Facebook is the second mostly-used platform, with 53.01% of the students using it daily. It is also reported that only 31.32% use Twitter, another 26.50 and 21.68% use Google+ and Instagram respectively. The least used social media platform was WeChat, with 3.61% of students using it daily. Moreover, 18.07% of the students prefer to use different other social media platforms and no one of them uses LinkedIn.

Similarly, Figure 6 below presents results related to the use of social media as a communication tool during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The results point out that 81.92% of the students prefer to use social media platforms for learning purposes. They believe that social media provide the facility to communicate among the students during the pandemic, i.e. to communicate with their teachers and classmates. On the other hand, 18.07% did not use social media for educational purposes, as they believe that social networking platforms did not support their studies. They believe that these platforms are supposed to make them feel more connected.

Figure 7 reflects the students' perception towards using social media as an educational tool and as a support for their studies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results point out that the majority of the students 84.94% are interested in using social media as an educational tool as it helps them to get more useful information and to interact with learning groups and other educational systems that make the learning process more convenient. However, only a few students, 15.06% mention that social media platforms did not support their own studies.

Results reported prove that the majority of the students are interested in using social media as an educational tool and that almost 51.20 and 18.08% of the students use social media to learn English language at higher rates “good” and “excellent” respectively. Moreover, it is also reported that only 21.09% of the students rate the use of social media on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic as “average”, another 7.23% rate it as “poor” and only 2.40% rate using social media in learning English as “very poor” (see Figure 8 ).

Concerning how much time do students actively spend on social networking sites, Figure 9 shows that 6.02% of the students do not spend a moment on social networking sites during a typical day, almost 21.08% of them spend 10–30 min a day. Most of the students 31.93% spend about one to two hours on social networking sites during their typical day, while 27.71% spend from 2 to 3 h of their time. It is also reported that 4.22% of the participants spend between 4 and 5 h on social networking sites, and only 9.04% of the participants spend more than 5 h on social networking sites daily.

Interactive social media channels to language learning enable students to develop communication and language skills. Regarding the different aspects of language skills the students improve via social media platforms, the results presented in Figure 10 below showed that 40.96% of the students improved their writing skill, 39.15% improved their reading skill, the third skill is listening and vocabulary with a ratio of 31.92%. In addition, their speaking skill was improved with a percentage of 31.32% and only 22.28% of learners improved their grammar.

The last question discusses the effect of social networking sites on students' studies. The results specified that social networking sites have seriously affected students' studies at a ratio of 24.09%, whereas 31.93% of the participants believe that social networking sites have slightly affected their performance and their language achievement.

On the other hand, 18.07% of the learners agreed that social networking sites have no impact on their studies. Moreover, 14.46% of them believed that such sites are seriously helping, while only 11.45% of the total number of students admitted that social networking sites can slightly help them on their studies. The extent to which social networking sites are affecting the learners' studies is presented in Figure 11 above.

5. Discussion and conclusion

The present work attempts to investigate the most important impacts of using social media for learning English language during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The challenges of the digital world are omnipresent, and different options have to be considered so that educators are able to use them to assist the learners.

Social media is no exception, as it can provide many opportunities in the foreign language learning process. The technological revolution today, like never before, can be obviously reflected in the L2 learners' wide experience, the independence in exploring digital resources and documents that represent powerful support in enhancing oral, written, listening and reading competence. In this sense, L2 learners do no longer depend directly and entirely on the teacher to improve their skills but on other resources such as Internet and technology ( Al Jahromi, 2020 ; Pikhart and Botezat, 2021 ; Slim and Hafedh, 2019 ; Thurairaj et al. , 2015 ).

In other words, social media along with social networking sites have become part of the learners' as well as educators' daily routines, in terms of communication, language experience, practice and exercise, news feed and knowledge sharing. The digital world has seemingly become their way of life inside and outside class settings and that is the reason behind examining their impact on L2 learners.

With the help of social media platforms, L2 learners can learn, read, write, advertise or communicate in a more efficient way. The main questions addressed referred to the impact of social media on learning English language during the Covid-19 pandemic and usage and the degree of facilitation and assistance of foreign language learning by social media, and the findings revealed that students were very positive and felt motivated by social media.

L2 learners do not have to rely on classes or handbooks to get their daily amount of knowledge. It can all be achieved from the social networking sites as indicated in question 2. At least, the learners can use three different types of social media platforms and formats to reach their educational goals and in some cases four types. The learners can follow or get information about their studeis from any part of the world. For instance, Twitter allows a user to get information which is more interactive in nature with the help of embed photo and video. Smartphones are an example of a handheld device through which learners can communicate and exchange information by using any social media platform which is allowed.

The world is getting closer every day and everyone, including L2 learners, needs to be connected. It is moving strongly and more towards “social media”. The information comes to users rather than users have to make effort to get the information. In terms of personal relationships too, social networking is connecting people. Social networking can also be very crucial in educational help. Education support groups can be created from which learners can get information as indicated in question 3 where 60.84% of L2 learners indicated that they use social media platforms for studying and for educational purposes while the rest of them use them for other purposes including chatting with friends, making friends, playing games and for other different purposes.

The kind of interaction a user wants from these social networks depends on the type of information the user is interested in. With reference to question 4, using different platforms depends on users' purposes, for the participants in the study aiming at enhancing proficiency in English language, WhatsApp can be used for chatting or sending many kinds of text-information, assignments or even creating groups for different courses. Facebook was not appealing due to its informal style, while the participants aiming at improving communicating skills found it useful for social and L2 identity construction. Google + can be used for academic purposes, it can greatly enhance the way people learn. Twitter and Instagram have also become popular and integral part of everyday communication. Other platforms such as YouTube, learners can watch videos to understand a topic better or look at photos which might help them to visualize a concept, after all, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Brick (2011) reported it as the main positive aspect of using social networking sites, adding to it the real-time feedback. The immediate response and real-time conversation are also achieved through live sessions on Instagram or Facebook dedicated pages for L2 learners, such as the Instagram stories that offer quizzes focusing on idioms, phrasal verbs or other lexical related items or lives where learners are invited to write down words that they would like to learn the pronunciation.

The fact that technology including social media and the different networking sites should be part of the educational process is not questionable anymore, the way it finds its scope within it and how and to which extent should educators, as well as learners, use it, had better be delivered by a multidisciplinary methodological framework. Among the numerous potential advantages to using social media, L2 learners have perceived that it can be used as a good communication and educational tool (See Question 5 and 6). The opportunities provided by this medium are immense and many L2 learners are making use of this medium to better their practices. Social networks, unlike the common media, do not have a pattern as to how much information has to be conveyed and where to draw the line. Therefore, learners can obtain much information and better performance. Similar findings were found by Sitthirak (2012) , who acknowledged the attitudinal impact of social media on language from an educational perspective. Similarly, Mutum and Wang (2010) and Blattner and Fiori (2011) have declared that social media provides a smoother, more direct communication tool.

In other words, by maximizing the benefits of social networks, whether it be their role in delivering educational outcomes, or facilitating supportive relationships, identity formation, or a sense of belonging and resiliency, the direct contacts that occur in discussion groups, exercises, conversations, videos and other widgets on linguistic social networks cover various language registers. With the expanding demand of various social media platforms, the growing numbers of users in different parts of the world, it is fair to assume that it impacts second language acquisition, at least by the permanent flow of visuals and text that we access on a daily basis. In the broad context of globalization, all visuals improve not only linguistic skills, but they also build an international culture ( Pikhart and Botezat, 2021 ).

The current Covid-19 pandemic has posed some challenges, and like any emergency event, it has some inherent risks. Through increased social media literacy as an educational tool– ensuring all students can utilize these media to develop the skills and to critically understand, analyze and create content – these challenges can be overcome and risks mitigated in a way that ensures the many benefits for both learners and educators. The findings shown in questions 7 and 8 corresponded with the aforementioned ones related to L2 learners' views on the particular effects of social media on the enhancement of these language learning skills. Results have asserted that approximately 69.28% of the frequent users of social media platforms for learning purposes have rated them as excellent and good mediums to enhance language skills, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is in line with Li (2017) study. Li argued that students' comfort with online class design, structure, level of interaction between students and faculty, the quality and amount of class content and overall experience with online class delivery impact the overall learning experience and determine the ultimate success or failure of online mode of education. Haque and Al-Salem (2019) have also found that social media is a good platform for students as it provides opportunities for learners to study foreign languages.

The intensity of using English-language social media content is positively and significantly related to students' perceptions of their ability to speak English including reading, writing, listening and speaking aspects. Hence, social media is needed to be learning media for learning English language as a Foreign Language ( Anwas et al. , 2020 ). Online socialization according to Slim and Hafedh (2019) seems to have positively affected the production of an acknowledged linguistic repertoire independent of age or gender.

With reference to the last question, results show positive perceptions of the respondents of the effects of using social media on their L2 writing (see Figure 11 ). In addition to improved English language learning, these effects included enhanced writing style, quality and quantity. Al Jahromi (2019) and Li (2017) have similarly found that online interactions on social media networks and online facets significantly develop L2 learners' writing accuracy and complexity. These findings could also be related in this regard to the influence of the projection of authorial and social presence and identity practices facilitated on social media due to the increased linguistic input and output on these platforms in comparison to the less-advantageous classroom settings ( Chen, 2013 ).

In addition, L2 learners who acknowledged the positive impact of social media on their English learning reported that their L2 Reading skills are also enhanced. This is due to the improvement of the L2 learners' vocabulary as well as listening skills. This is similar to the findings obtained by Mutum and Wang (2010) , Thurairaj et al. (2015) and Slim and Hafedh (2019) . However, online communication of students raises another important issue discussed by the great majority of authors, that of the nonacademic purposes of social media usage of students. Given that the majority of the students were using written-based social media networks such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram, speaking, grammar and pronunciation skills were perceived as the least enhanced. However, Al Jahrami (2019) has claimed that language accuracy is concerned, extensive reading and writing online can enhance L2 learners' grammatical competence (see also Attila, 2017 ; Mills, 2011 ; Stevenson and Liu, 2010 ).

In sum, the research study investigated the impact of social media platforms on learning English language during the Covid-19 pandemic from undergraduate Saudi users' perspectives. The aforementioned findings suggest that Saudi L2 learners find social media platforms effective in enhancing their L2 proficiency, with particular reference to how positively they influence L2 writing, vocabulary learning and communication skills. They also reported that they use various social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc., and that they find social media as both educational and communicative tools. Based on these findings, it is safe to conclude that social media can be appreciably helpful in enhancing English language learning.

6. Research implications and recommendations

The findings of the study can serve as fundamental indicators to implement prompt pedagogical reformations, for which a number of pedagogical implications can be proposed. Social media can be implemented to make teaching more student-centered through the facilitation of interactive collaboration and exchange of information, resulting in an enhancement of syntactic and lexical complexity.

L2 teachers in particular need to use social media to aid their teaching strategies and amplify their material with interactive and innovative activities on social media such as online debates and group discussions. Another equally important pedagogical implication is to design and provide professional development and training sessions, workshops, seminars to both students and educators on the ultimate utilization of social media as instructional technologies in the context of English language teaching and learning.

Social media networks can be employed in this regard to provide authentic extensive reading tasks that can facilitate intentional and incidental vocabulary learning and writing complexity. Furthermore, awareness campaigns can be conducted by e-learning educationists to recognize the benefits of online learning and teaching and validate the acceptability of social media learning, mobile learning and mixed teaching via learning management systems.

For implementing the positive findings of different studies and for educational technology to be used effectively, educators must be ready for a paradigm shift: from traditional education to pedagogy enhanced by the new technology. Further research is needed into the current realism and prospects of the utilization of digital media in connection with the wellbeing of the learners, increased levels of depression and anxiety, and some other negative psychological, social and economic aspects of the use of social media. This paper is the starting point and should be an impetus for further research into the topic of utilization of social media, especially during and after the COVID-19 era.

To offer online learning, English language undergraduate students require assistance. The following model is recommended as a guideline for all educators offering online learning. The proposed model is demonstrated in Figure 12 .

Participants distribution

The effect of social media platforms on learning English

The use of social media

Motives for using social media platforms

Frequently used social media platforms

Use of social media platforms as a communication tool

Using social media platforms as an educational tool

The rate of social media use on learning English language during the COVID-19 pandemic

Time spent on social media platforms

Language skills improved via social media use

Social networking sites effects on students' studies

Procedure to improve online English language learning process

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Further reading

Bhatti , A. ( 2018 ), “ Sales promotion and price discount effect on consumer purchase intention with the moderating role of social media in Pakistan ”, International Journal of Business Management , Vol. 3 No. 4 .

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Corresponding author

About the author.

Dr. Muneera Muftah is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the Faculty of Arts, Thamar University, Yemen. She is currently working in the Department of English Language at the College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, KSA. She earned PhD in English Language Studies from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. She teaches courses in linguistics, applied linguistics and translation. Her main research interests are in the areas of translation, syntactic and morphological mental representation and development, and vocabulary development in SLA, generative syntax and morphology, discourse studies and second language assessment.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

The effect of language learning strategies on proficiency, attitudes and school achievement.

• Institute of Education, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

This study examines language learning strategy (LLS) use in connexion with foreign language attitude, proficiency and general school achievement among lower secondary students in Years 5 and 8 ( n = 868) in Hungary. An adapted version of the Strategies Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire was used for data collection. The results showed that Hungarian students mainly engage in metacognitive strategies in both years. Differences between more and less proficient language learners’ strategy use have also been found. With regard to the effect of LLS on foreign language attitude, the foreign language mark and school achievement, path analysis indicated a good fit in both years. The metacognitive, social and memory strategies primarily influenced foreign language attitudes and marks in Year 5. The metacognitive strategies had a slight impact on school achievement as well as on foreign language marks. We demonstrated the dominant effect of metacognitive strategies and the low effect of memory strategies in Year 8. In addition, metacognitive strategies also influenced foreign language marks. The effect of foreign language marks on school achievement was also remarkable. There was a strong impact on the children’s attitudes through these variables.

Introduction

In recent decades, a number of studies have focused on foreign language learning, with the emphasis often having been placed on language learning strategies (LLS; Wong and Nunan, 2011 ; Oxford, 2016 ). Several studies have confirmed that these strategies aid students in becoming more effective learners inside the classroom and foster more efficient development of students’ mastery of the target language after leaving school ( Wong and Nunan, 2011 ). However, less is known about the structure and relationship between LLS, foreign language attitude, the foreign language mark and general school achievement (GA). Recent studies have mainly dealt with LLS among university students and upper secondary students, with only a few investigations having been conducted among lower secondary students. In the present study, we aim to examine young Hungarian students’ LLS use and its connexion to foreign language attitude, the foreign language mark and school achievement at the beginning and end of lower secondary school. We believe that it adds value to the article that we have investigated a young age group, as the beginning period of language learning can establish the success of the entire process. Another advantage of our research is that we analysed the whole language learning process in connexion with several other factors to represent the complexity of the language learning process.

Theoretical Background

Studies on LLS in recent decades have identified a large number of strategies which are employed by English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL) learners and several strategy categorisation patterns have also been established. The most frequently used taxonomy was developed by Oxford (1990) . She identified three direct and three indirect strategy types. Direct strategies are specific means of language use: memory, cognitive and compensatory (or compensation) strategies. Indirect strategies, such as metacognitive, affective and social strategies, support LLS indirectly. Recently, Oxford revisited her strategy categories and developed a model with four different strategy categories: cognitive, affective and sociocultural-interactive as well as a master category of “metastrategies.” Metastrategies comprise metacognitive, meta-affective and meta-sociocultural-interactive strategies ( Griffith and Oxford, 2014 ; Oxford, 2016 ). However, she did not elaborate on this strategy classification, and thus our study relied on her original taxonomy.

Various studies have focused on LLS use and aimed to identify the strategies most frequently employed by language learners ( Chamot, 2004 ; Magogwe and Oliver, 2007 ; Wu, 2008 ; Chen, 2009 ; Al-Qahtani, 2013 ; Charoento, 2016 ; Alhaysony, 2017 ; Dawadi, 2017 ). Overall, it can be concluded that the most commonly used LLS in these studies were metacognitive, compensation and cognitive strategies. However, Chamot (2004) pointed out that different strategy preferences were reported by students in different cultural contexts. Chinese and Singaporean students reported a higher level preference for social strategies and lower use of affective strategies than European students.

Some studies have dealt with the implementation of the SILL with a focus on school-aged students ( Magogwe and Oliver, 2007 ; Chen, 2009 , 2014 ; Gunning and Oxford, 2014 ; Platsidou and Kantaridou, 2014 ; Pfenninger and Singleton, 2017 ). The overall conclusion of these studies has been that young learners mostly used social, affective and compensation strategies. The use of memory strategies was relatively low ( Doró and Habók, 2013 ). The attitudes of learners at this age toward language learning are particularly important since they can greatly determine motivation, learning outcomes and later success in language learning ( Platsidou and Kantaridou, 2014 ; Platsidou and Sipitanou, 2014 ).

As the purpose of investigating LLS is to foster learning processes and improve language level, research projects often deal with LLS use in relation to language learning proficiency ( Khaldieh, 2000 ; Magogwe and Oliver, 2007 ; Wu, 2008 ; Chen, 2009 ; Liu, 2010 ; Al-Qahtani, 2013 ; Platsidou and Kantaridou, 2014 ; Charoento, 2016 ; Rao, 2016 ). The notion of proficiency has been defined and involved in analysis in a multitude of ways by various researchers. Charoento (2016) involved self-ratings, Wu (2008) used the results from language proficiency and achievement tests, Magogwe and Oliver (2007) incorporated language course grades into their analysis of their results. Most studies have shown a positive relationship between LLS and proficiency, but the direction of their connexion was often different. Some researchers have stressed that strategy use was mainly specified by proficiency. More proficient students engaged in LLS more frequently and also employed a broader range of strategies overall compared to less proficient students ( Khaldieh, 2000 ; Wu, 2008 ; Rao, 2016 ). Al-Qahtani (2013) and Charoento (2016) demonstrated that successful students mainly used cognitive strategies, while Wu (2008) emphasised significant utilisation of cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies among more proficient university students. Chen (2009) pointed to the use of fewer communication strategies among proficient learners, but noted that they employed them more efficiently than less proficient learners. In addition, Magogwe and Oliver (2007) also established that the basic difference in LLS use between proficient and less proficient learners was that more successful students not only used certain LLS significantly more often, but were also able to select the most adequate strategies depending on the goal of their task.

Some studies have dealt with the effect of LLS use on language proficiency. Both Liu (2010) and Platsidou and Kantaridou (2014) pointed out that learning strategy influences language use and that it plays a significant role in anticipating perceived language performance. Wu (2008) noted that cognitive strategies have the most dominant influence on proficiency. Rao (2016) found that students’ English proficiency significantly affected their learning strategy use and also observed that high-level students avail themselves of more strategies more frequently than low-level students.

Another essential area of LLS research is the study of strategy use in relation to affective variables, such as attitude and motivation ( Shang, 2010 ; Jabbari and Golkar, 2014 ; Platsidou and Kantaridou, 2014 ). Most of these studies have found that learners with a positive attitude employed LLS more frequently compared to learners with a negative attitude. Platsidou and Kantaridou (2014) reported that attitudes toward second language learning influence both direct and indirect strategy uses and that changing learners’ attitudes toward language learning can thus foster their strategy practises. Jabbari and Golkar (2014) established that learners with a positive attitude employ cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and social strategies more frequently.

It can be concluded that LLS use has been studied extensively in recent decades. Most research has found that LLS cannot be analysed separately; it must be examined in relation to certain other factors, among which foreign language attitudes and proficiency play a central role ( Griffiths and Incecay, 2016 ). However, most previous studies preferred university students or adults to primary or secondary school-aged students. Furthermore, a limited amount of research has investigated the relationship of LLS with attitude toward foreign language learning and the foreign language mark. There has also been a dearth of scholarship on how language proficiency and school achievement are determined by LLS use and attitude. Our study aims to fill this gap and attempts to present a comprehensive view of the relationship between LLS use and language attitude and between proficiency and general school achievement by focusing on school children at the beginning and end of lower secondary school. Our specific research question we focus on in this paper is the following:

What are the lower secondary school children’s strategy use preferences and how these are connected with their foreign language attitude, proficiency and general school achievement? Based on the relevant literature we assume that students of this age mainly employ indirect strategies, such as affective, metacognitive and social strategies and these have a significant impact on their foreign language learning attitude, proficiency and general school achievement.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

The participants in the present study were lower secondary students (11- and 14-year-olds) in Hungary ( n Year5 = 450, n Year8 = 418). Participation in the study was voluntary both for schools and students. This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the University of Szeged, the Hungarian law and the municipalities that maintain the schools. The IRB of the Doctoral School (University of Szeged) specifically approved this research project. The agreements are documented and stored in written form in the schools.

Our target group generally started learning a foreign language in Year 4. As one portion of our sample have been learning a foreign language for at least four years, they must have experience of how they learn language. In Hungary, the primary level of education is composed of the elementary and lower secondary school levels; hence, the transition occurs with relatively few major changes, and children have the same language teacher during these school levels. While the foreign language teacher does not change, the other school subjects are taught by specialist teachers as of Year 5. Learning difficulties and differences among children grow considerably from the beginning of lower secondary school; hence, diagnosing language learning attitude is particularly essential.

Instruments

The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, Oxford, 1990 ) was administered to investigate the children’s LLS use. The SILL is a standardised measurement tool, and it is applicable to various foreign languages. The complex questionnaire is clustered into six strategy fields: (1) memory (9 items); (2) cognitive (14 items); (3) compensation (6 items); (4) metacognitive (9 items); (5) affective (6 items); and (6) social strategies (6 items). The participants were asked to respond to each statement on a five-point Likert scale. The answers ranged from ‘1 = never or almost never true of me’ to ‘5 = always or almost always true of me.’ The reported internal consistency reliabilities of the questionnaires ranged between 0.91 and 0.94 (Cronbach’s alpha) ( Oxford and Burry-Stock, 1995 ; Ardasheva and Tretter, 2013 ). The questionnaire was conducted in Hungarian to eliminate differences in English knowledge and make it suitable for the language levels in these age groups. The reliability of the Hungarian version was confirmed in previous research ( Doró and Habók, 2013 ). In addition, the children were asked to self-report their foreign language attitude, foreign language mark (indicating students’ foreign language knowledge) and general school achievement (grade point average, which includes students’ achievement in all subjects) on a five-point scale. In Hungarian schools, the different proficiency levels are rated on a five-point scale: 1 is the weakest mark, and 5 is the most excellent.

Design and Procedure

Quantitative research design was employed through online survey methodology. The SILL questionnaire was administered via the eDia online testing platform, which was developed by the Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction for assessing Year 1–6 children’s foreign language knowledge and attitudes. One school lesson was provided for data collection; however, the children needed approximately 20 min to hand in their ratings. Both the children and teachers are familiar with this system because the online platform has been in use since 2009.

Data were handled confidentially during the testing procedure; the children used an identification code provided by research administrators. The researchers were only able to see the codes, and only the teachers were able to identify their students with the codes. All the instructions were in the online questionnaire, so the children were able to answer the questions individually. The teachers were also requested to report the children’s questions, remarks and difficulties during testing. Finally, the teachers reported no misunderstandings or problematic items during data collection.

The data analyses were twofold. First, SPSS for Microsoft Windows 20.0 was employed for classical test analysis, which included an estimation of frequencies, means and standard deviations. The significance of differences among the variables was determined by ANOVA analysis. Second, path analysis was managed by the SPSS AMOS v20 software package to analyse the effect of strategy use on the variables under observation ( Arbuckle, 2008 ). The model fit was indicated by the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), the normed fit index (NFI), the comparative fit index (CFI) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) ( Byrne, 2010 ; Kline, 2015 ).

Descriptive Analysis

General strategy uses among lower secondary school children.

The mean scores and standard deviations showed moderate LLS use, with the use of metacognitive, affective and social strategies being the highest in Year 5 (Table 1 ). Compensatory strategies were employed significantly the lowest. In Year 8, besides metacognitive and social strategies, cognitive strategies were relied on the most. Metacognitive strategy use was similarly high in both age groups. Significant differences were found between the age groups in memory, compensation and affective strategies ( p ≤ 0.01). While the use of affective strategies was relatively high in Year 5, it was the least frequently employed in Year 8.

TABLE 1. The strategy use results for the sample.

Differences in Strategy Use among Students with Different Proficiency Levels

One of our goals was to identify students’ LLS use preferences according to their proficiency levels. To implement this goal, we grouped the children into categories according to their proficiency, which was derived from their foreign language marks.

We combined the foreign language marks for those children who were evaluated with a 1 or a 2. These children showed a very low knowledge level and demonstrated a large number of difficulties and misunderstandings in foreign language learning. The next group was formed of children who were assessed at mark 3. This mark indicated an average knowledge level with gaps. Children who were evaluated with a mark 4 had fewer significant deficits. Children who received a mark 5 were the highest performers in school. Tables 2 , 3 summarise our results on strategy use according to foreign language marks. The number of children is also indicated according to each category.

TABLE 2. Means of strategy users according to their foreign language mark in Year 5.

TABLE 3. Means of strategy users according to their foreign language mark in Year 8.

Multivariate Analyses

The relationships between lls and foreign language attitude, lls and foreign language marks, and lls and general school achievement.

Our results demonstrated that the sample was evaluated at an approximate level of mark 4 ( M Year5 = 3.84, SD Year5 = 1.17; M Year8 = 3.62, SD Year8 = 1.17); however, Year 5 children achieved significantly higher ( p < 0.01). As regards children’s attitudes, we found no significant differences between the years ( M Year5 = 3.53, SD Year5 = 1.35; M Year8 = 3.43, SD Year8 = 1.23; p < 0.05). On the whole, it can be stated that children’s foreign language marks are higher than their attitude toward foreign language. The average school achievement showed significantly higher means than foreign language marks in both years ( M Year5 = 3.82, SD Year5 = 0.87, p < 0.001; M Year8 = 3.62, SD Year8 = 1.17, p < 0.001).

We also examined the correlation between LLS and attitude toward foreign languages, LLS and the foreign language mark, and LLS and general school achievement. We observed the most significant estimates between language learning strategy use and attitude in Year 5 ( r = 0.53–0.20; p < 0.001–0.05). The correlational coefficient between attitude and the foreign language mark was also significant ( r = 0.37; p < 0.001). We noted that children who achieved higher in foreign languages showed a more positive attitude toward them. We also noticed a significantly strong effect for the foreign language mark and strategy use ( r = 0.49–0.13; p < 0.001–0.05).

In Year 8, we found significant ( r Year5 = 0.70–0.12; p < 0.001–0.01; r Year8 = 0.82–0.66; p < 0.001–0.01) relationships between overall strategy use and foreign language marks, attitudes and general school achievement. However, the relationship between affective strategies and school achievement was not significant. We observed that children who use LLS have positive attitudes toward language learning, except for compensation and affective strategies.

The Effect of Language Learning Strategies on Attitude, School Marks and General School Achievement

We analysed the effect of LLS on foreign language attitude, school marks and general achievement using AMOS. We were looking for causalities between questionnaire fields and further variables by constructing a theoretical model on the basis of Oxford’s strategy taxonomy and children’s background data. We hypothesised that strategy factors largely influence children’s attitude toward language learning and through this the other variables. The model we created showed appropriate fit indices for the final model and indicated a good fit to our data in both years (Figures 1 , 2 ).

FIGURE 1. The path model for LLS influence on foreign language mark through foreign language attitude and general school achievement (GA) in Year 5.

FIGURE 2. The path model for LLS influence on foreign language mark through foreign language attitude and general school achievement (GA) in Year 8.

Year 5 : χ 2 (13) = 18,309, p = 0.146; Year 8 : χ 2 (13) = 23,893, p = 0.18. An analysis of the hypothesised path model indicated a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.998 in Year 5 and 0.994 in Year 8. The RMSEA (root mean squared error of approximation) was also good in both years, 0.030 in Year 5 and.049 in Year 8. Both the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI Year5 = 0.992; TLI Year8 = 0.981) and the normed fit index (NFI Year8 = 0.992; NFI Year8 = 0.989) confirmed that the model we constructed was a good fit to our data.

The main aim of the present study was to investigate our understanding of LLS in a foreign language learning context. Therefore, first, we identified the strategy use preferences in the sample and specified the most and least often used strategies among children with different proficiency levels. Second, we examined the children’s LLS use in connexion with their foreign language attitude, proficiency and general school achievement. Our results confirmed some results from previous studies and also established new relationships among the variables.

Regarding the general strategy use preferences of the sample, the students reported moderate use of the six strategy categories. The use of indirect strategies, more precisely, metacognitive, affective and social strategies, was the highest in Year 5, while metacognitive, cognitive and social strategies were the most frequently employed in Year 8. These findings shed light on the different preferences among the different ages and proficiency levels. While affective strategies play a significant role in Year 5, cognitive strategies become more dominant later. Metacognitive and social strategies remained the most frequently used in both Years. Our result is consistent with those reported by Dawadi (2017) who discovered similar strategy preferences. We can also reinforce Alhaysony’s (2017) results that high school sample did not engage in affective strategies, and Charoento’s (2016) findings about the low use of memory strategies.

We also examined the differences in strategy use among students with different proficiency levels in both Years. In Year 5 the research findings analysis demonstrated significant differences among strategy uses in four areas: the memory, cognitive, metacognitive and social fields. We noted no significant differences among children in compensation and affective strategies. As regards memory strategies, we observed that low-achieving children rarely employed them. Low achievers used cognitive strategies significantly less often than good and high performers. As our results showed, the most excellent learners are also metacognitive strategy users, and they engage in social strategies significantly very often. In Year 8, we observed significant differences in every field among children with different proficiencies. As in Year 5, the use of metacognitive and social strategies was the most frequent among the high-achieving students; however, cognitive strategy use was also relatively high. Charoento (2016) and Rao (2016) reported the same results, so we can confirm his previous research outcomes that high achievers avail themselves of strategies significantly more frequently than low-performing learners.

We also investigated the relationship between LLS and foreign language attitude, LLS and the foreign language mark, and LLS and general school achievement. According to our results, we found that children who prefer foreign language learning reported significantly higher strategy use. As regards foreign language marks, the relationships between different kinds of strategy users and their foreign language marks were low. Children with high proficiency did not necessarily employ each of the strategies at a higher rate. The same result was reached by Chen (2009) . The relationship between affective strategies and school achievement was not significant. We observed that children who use LLS have positive attitudes toward language learning. So our findings partly confirmed previous results reported by Jabbari and Golkar (2014) and Platsidou and Kantaridou (2014) .

Concerning the impact of strategy use on foreign language learning attitudes, proficiency and general school achievement. In Year 5 the effect of the questionnaire fields on foreign language attitude was considerably high; attitudes were strongly influenced by metacognitive strategies, and the effect of social strategies was also high. While memory and cognitive strategies showed positive paths to attitudes, compensation and affective strategies indicated negative effects on attitudes. Foreign language attitudes signified the same effect on foreign language marks as these marks did on general achievement. A lower but significant effect of metacognitive strategies was found on general school achievement in Year 5.

In Year 8, we found similar tendencies. The effect of metacognitive strategies on foreign language attitudes was very high, while that of memory strategies was low. The effect of social strategies was lost in Year 8. The impact of foreign language attitude on the foreign language mark was almost the same as in Year 5, but that of the foreign language mark on general school achievement was twice as high. Shawer (2016) likewise highlighted what our results have also shown: strategy use has a significant effect on general school achievement. Metacognitive strategies also had a direct effect on foreign language marks. On the whole, not only did we observe a strong use of metacognitive strategies, but the effect of metacognitive strategies on attitudes was also dominant in both years. Moreover, metacognitive strategies influenced school achievement in Year 5 and foreign language marks in Year 8.

To sum up, our results demonstrated that like other studies, our Hungarian sample showed significant preferences for metacognitive strategy use. Compensatory strategies were the least frequently preferred in Year 5 and memory strategies were the least common in Year 8, a finding which also reinforced previous research outcomes ( Doró and Habók, 2013 ). We observed significant differences between more and less proficient students in strategy use. In line with other research ( Platsidou and Kantaridou, 2014 ), we conclude that more proficient learners avail themselves of a broader range of strategies than less proficient students and strategy use has a significant effect on foreign language marks.

The research focused on the whole language process in connexion with several other factors among young students. The added value of our research is not only that we discovered relationships between factors required for foreign language learning, but direct and indirect underlying effects have also been brought to light through path analysis. These analyses provide a comprehensive view both of the dominant role of metacognitive strategies and of the foreign language learning process generally.

In spite of its value, the study has certain limitations. First, we employed a self-report instrument for data collection which does not address students’ deeper views on learning. Qualitative methods would make it possible to gain a more detailed understanding of foreign language learning through interviews, including think-aloud procedures and classroom observations. Second, the current research into LLS and proficiency among Hungarian students was conducted with participants from two different years at the lower secondary school level, so generalisation of the results is limited. In addition, our sample was not representative. Further research would be necessary to fully examine the relationship between language learning strategies, language learning attitudes, foreign language proficiency and general achievement among Hungarian students in a variety of years and in a larger sample.

Third, the current research only used two measurement points of proficiency, the foreign language mark and general achievement, which are evaluated by different teachers. In future, we will collect a wider range of language proficiency data, including language proficiency test and interviews. Fourth, a comparison of LLS and general learning strategies would produce a more nuanced overview of students’ strategy use.

Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications

The main purpose of the present study was to ascertain the effect of LLS on other variables, such as foreign language attitude, foreign language proficiency and general school achievement among secondary school children in Hungary at the beginning and end of lower secondary school. In the beginner phase of learning foreign languages, it is important to better understand the relationship between language learning and related factors. Hence, our main objective was to provide a complex overview of these measurement points and to examine how LLS can support children in the first phase of the language learning process.

We used the Hungarian translation of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire and supplemented it with the children’s self-reports of their foreign language attitudes and proficiency indicated by their foreign language mark and school achievement. This provided the basis for our research.

Past research has demonstrated that students with more frequent LLS use have better chances to become more proficient language learners. It has been pointed out that students that are more proficient engage in a wider range of strategies and select learning strategies dependent on learning tasks. Thus, teachers are encouraged to introduce a range of strategies for children to be able to select those that are most appropriate to features of their personality and relevant to learning tasks. At this age, introducing LLS is significant, particularly for children with low and average foreign language marks. It would be essential to motivate children to discover a variety of ways to practise their foreign language and find opportunities to read and engage in conversations with others. Children who are able to recognise the significance of language learning and use a broad range of strategies can find new ways and opportunities to practise language and to improve their proficiency. Hence, it would be highly recommended to integrate LLS consciously into foreign language lessons.

Ethics Statement

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the University of Szeged. According to these recommendations participation in the study was voluntary both for schools and students. The participating schools had consent with the parents in allowing their students’ engagement in the research. According to the Hungarian law, the schools’ responsibility to conduct a written agreement with the parents about their consent to allow their children to take part in researches. The whole process is permitted and coordinated by the school holding municipalities. The agreements are documented and stored in written forms in the schools. The authors declare that data collection and handling strictly adhered to the usual standards of research ethics as approved by the University of Szeged.

Author Contributions

AH and AM substantially contributed to the conception and design of the study, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data for the research. Both have written the manuscript and reviewed all parts of the manuscript. AH and AM have given final approval of the final version to be published. AH and AM agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

The research was founded by the University of Szeged.

Conflict of Interest Statement

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

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Keywords : language learning strategy, foreign language attitude, foreign language mark, general school achievement, lower secondary students

Citation: Habók A and Magyar A (2018) The Effect of Language Learning Strategies on Proficiency, Attitudes and School Achievement. Front. Psychol. 8:2358. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02358

Received: 06 July 2017; Accepted: 26 December 2017; Published: 11 January 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Habók and Magyar. 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) or licensor 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: Anita Habók, [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.

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

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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:

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Scholars whose language differs from English ‘struggle to publish’

Universities in countries that speak dutch or german found to have higher research performance scores than those in japan .

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Universities based in countries where the local language is very different from English find it more difficult to get research published in top journals when compared with those in countries where the language is more similar, according to a new study.

While it has  long been known  that non-English speakers find it harder to publish their work, the new paper in  Research Policy shows that the nature of the language a researcher speaks might also be a determining factor.

Universities based in countries where people speak Dutch, Swedish or German – all languages that have characteristics similar to those of English – tended to have higher research quality scores than those in nations such as Japan and Finland, whose languages diverge more strongly from English.

Research performance was measured through the number of publications in the most influential academic journals, and linguistic differences were judged using an online tool.

Even in multilingual countries – where universities are governed by the same national policies – the study found statistical differences. For example, in Belgium, the universities based in Dutch-speaking regions had research performance scores 12 per cent higher than those in French-speaking regions across all academic subjects.

The researchers – Yihui Cao from the University of Westminster , Robin Sickles from Rice University , Texas, Thomas Triebs from Loughborough University and Justin Tumlinson from the University of Exeter – found that small variations from English in local languages had a large effect: a 1 per cent increase in language distance resulted in 0.2 per cent fewer published papers.

They said the findings were further evidence that the “research playing field for nations, universities and individual researchers is uneven”.

The findings were found to be robust even when controlling for factors including the proportion of international staff at the university, a country’s economic development, youth academic achievement, university degree-issuing rate, and trade with and geographic distance from English-speaking countries.

While improving early education in English and shifting to  teaching in English  might help universities improve their research performance, the researchers cautioned that “such policy changes have costs”.

“More English training would crowd out other subjects,” they write. “Several governments, eg in Belgium and China, now  restrict the amount of teaching  in English to address local employers’ demands for local language skills and domestic educational inequalities.”

Co-author Dr Tumlinson, an associate professor in business analytics, said that he hoped the findings “can inform more equitable and effective strategies for fostering research excellence on a global scale”.

“We urge policymakers to consider these findings when balancing trade-offs between embracing English and the cultural and regional labour market pressures to conform to the local language,” Dr Tumlinson added.

“Our research also asks questions about the influence of English proficiency on the evaluation of research performance, and whether metrics should include a broader range of factors.”

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• Review Article
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• 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

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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.

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.

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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).

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

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

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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.

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Correspondence to Quanjiang Guo .

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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

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Received : 17 October 2023

Accepted : 02 April 2024

Published : 23 April 2024

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

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