literature review of language learning

Developing mobile language learning applications: a systematic literature review

• Published: 04 November 2022
• Volume 28 , pages 5651–5671, ( 2023 )

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• Bimal Aklesh Kumar   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3622-7541 1 &
• Munil Shiva Goundar 1  

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Mobile language learning (MLL) is an emerging field of research, and many MLL applications have been developed over the years. In this paper, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to establish a body of knowledge on the development of MLL applications. The SLR analyzed forty seven papers from seven different digital libraries reporting on the development of MLL applications. The objective was to consolidate information on; (i) requirements elicitation, (ii) design and implementation, and (iii) evaluation processes. The results highlighted literature reviews and interviews as the main source for gathering requirements, while app development technologies, speech technology, and gamification technology are widely used in the design and implementation process. Usability testing is the most commonly used evaluation method. Finally, future work is recommended to scientifically strengthen the field.

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Kumar, B.A., Goundar, M.S. Developing mobile language learning applications: a systematic literature review. Educ Inf Technol 28 , 5651–5671 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11377-x

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Mobile-assisted and gamification-based language learning: a systematic literature review

Kashif ishaq.

1 Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

Nor Azan Mat Zin

Fadhilah rosdi, muhammad jehanghir.

2 Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Samia Ishaq

3 School Education Department, Sheikhupura, Pakistan

4 Department of Computer Science, University of Management & Technology, Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

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This is a Systematic Literature Review and does not depend on raw data or code.

Learning a new language is a challenging task. In many countries, students are encouraged to learn an international language at school level. In particular, English is the most widely used international language and is being taught at the school level in many countries. The ubiquity and accessibility of smartphones combined with the recent developments in mobile application and gamification in teaching and training have paved the way for experimenting with language learning using mobile phones. This article presents a systematic literature review of the published research work in mobile-assisted language learning. To this end, more than 60 relevant primary studies which have been published in well-reputed venues have been selected for further analysis. The detailed analysis reveals that researchers developed many different simple and gamified mobile applications for learning languages based on various theories, frameworks, and advanced tools. Furthermore, the study also analyses how different applications have been evaluated and tested at different educational levels using different experimental settings while incorporating a variety of evaluation measures. Lastly, a taxonomy has been proposed for the research work in mobile-assisted language learning, which is followed by promising future research challenges in this domain.

Introduction

Mobile technology developments are quickly expanding the field of learning in non-formal education areas by rendering universal and instance-oriented access to privileged digital resources ( Cheon et al., 2012 ). Mobile learning (m-learning) technology requires mobile devices to improve learning and academic performance by having the opportunity to learn remotely at all times in compliance with students' comforts. There have been many advantages to m-learning, including cost reductions, ubiquitous communication, research assistance, and location-based services. The goal of m-learning is to put the educational sector and associations at the center of academic progress to satisfy the users' demand for flexibility and ubiquity ( Ishaq et al., 2020d ). Mobile devices are mostly used in developed countries, particularly for language learning purposes. Specifically, Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) implies mobile phones in the learning and teaching of languages. The mobile phone allows pupils to learn quickly to develop their language comprehension skills. Besides, a significant improvement in pedagogical methods was brought about by integrating smartphone apps and games with the curriculum, thus enabling the students to learn freely in time, space and motivation on an individual basis ( Ishaq et al., 2019 ).

A significant trend in mobile learning apps development involves gamification concepts that incorporates play and fun elements to inspire and attract the learner, generally referred to as serious games. A serious game’s key objective is to accomplish a learning objective in a fun mode, whereby the locus of control is with the learner ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ). Currently, schooling is not limited to a single life stage and not exclusively in traditional education institutions. Children should not only study at school but also informally outside of school. Their casual reactions outside of the classroom provide an almost as valuable learning experience as the classrooms’ organized learning environment. The integration of multimedia learning content enables learners to access appropriate information within and outside the school ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ).

The previous review studies in the MALL domain mostly concentrated on technology-based learning and handheld devices, while less on the research frameworks, content, learning, and teaching resources, as shown in Table 1 . This table compares current measures based on five essential viewpoints: targeted digital repositories, teaching and learning methods, quality assessment evaluation, research framework, and learning material. Only quality articles were reviewed published in quality journals (except workshops and seminars) and performed quality assessments by discussing research frameworks, content, and teaching and learning tools.

This article was structured as follows: “Literature Review” presented a review of relevant literature. “Research Methodology” presented the methodology adopted to perform this study, along with questions and objectives, whereas “Assessment and Discussion of Research Questions” identified and summarized answers to specific study questions. “Discussion and Future Directions” presented a blend of the discussed research by defining its taxonomy, while “Conclusion” concluded this article.

Literature review

Most of the surveys and systematically reviewed on MALL do not cover publication channels (Books or Scientific Journals), quality assessment, frameworks/model used, mobile and gamified applications used for teaching and learning, and comparison of these applications. Also, the focus was more on higher education students than on primary education. A more recent systematic review on the usage of mobile devices for language learning evaluated limited studies and from restricted repositories ( Mahdi, 2018 ) ( Cho et al., 2018 ). The author reviewed 20 studies for mobile devices’ effect on students’ achievement in which student’s vocabulary learning results using handheld devices were compared to those using conventional learning ( Cho et al., 2018 ).

In another study, the effects of embedded portable devices in learning and teaching were examined by reviewing 110 experimental and quasi-experimental journal papers published in 1993–2013. For the usage of mobile devices in school, a moderate mean efficiency was 0.523. Sung, Chang & Liu (2016) analyzed the impact size of moderators and the benefits and drawbacks of mobile learning, then synthesized based on the descriptive analysis from individual experiments at various levels of moderator variables. Another SLR of researches from 2007 to the present was on mobile education in K–12 in which ( Liu et al., 2014 ) reviewed a maximum of 63 articles from 15 journals, mostly exploratory and concentrated on the educational facilities associated with smartphone usage in learning. Furthermore, patterns and critical problems are also discussed for future research. Burston (2013) summarized 345 MALL research studies from 1994 to 2012, in a short overview of 80 words, to encourage researchers by presenting their historical background. The analysis included the home country, first or second or foreign language, the technologies employed for mobile apps, targeted research areas, type of students, demographic, study time, and the outcome summary.

Finally, ( Hwang & Tsai, 2011 ) targeted influential journals from 2001 to 2010 to investigate mobile and ubiquitous learning researches related to enhanced learning technology. The publications included Educational Technology & Society, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Computers and Education, Educational Technology Research & Development, and British Education Technology Journal. The researcher presented information for many journals, a selected search sample (primary school, secondary school, tertiary education, instructors and employees), study fields (language and arts, engineering, science, math, social sciences, and more), and countries involved. However, none focused on quality assessment, framework/models, grade or education level, adopted content, approaches, statistical analyses, and comparisons between MALL and gamified apps. In our review, both areas were thoroughly discussed and differentiated from the above studies then systematically chose methods and coded them with standard naming, according to strict guidelines.

This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) discusses MALL—learners in-depth, mobile, and game-based languages, and involves the five perspectives as in Table 1 . Based on the structural analysis criteria, 67 research articles have been finalized and assessed in quantitative and qualitative terms for further analysis. The SLR’s significance presents the new classification criteria, MALL research trends, developed/adopted research models, learning and teaching methods, learning content, comparisons of mobile and game-based apps, research methodologies, and approaches used to evaluate the studies. This SLR may allow instructors to build a standardized MALL environment with learning and teaching apps, learning materials, frameworks, and relevant methodologies.

The study of Sung, Chang & Liu (2016) chose experimental and quasi-experimental journal articles from the period 1993–2013 from ERIC and SSCI repositories (only eight journals were selected) to know the use of mobile experimental studies of teaching and learning achievement of students through these devices. The study Hwang & Tsai (2011) published in 2011, in which journal articles were selected from SSCI repository of the 2001–2010 period to know the status of mobile and ubiquitous learning, as well as research sample group along with learning domains related to technology, were adopted in selected articles. In the study of Liu et al. (2014) , the selected articles were taken from 2007 to 2012 for teaching and learning of K-12 education. The study aimed to know the effectiveness and trends of mobile devices in K-12 education, and the participants were younger than 18 years.

The study of Burston (2013) selected the studies from the period of 1994 to 2012 in the area of MALL and annotation in which only 80 words summary was provided consisted of country, native language, mobile technology used, learning area, type of learners, and numbers, and an overview of results. The study Mahdi (2018) examined the effect of vocabulary learning using mobile devices by selecting 16 studies from ERIC, IEEE Xplore, IGI, Sage, ScienceDirect and Springer. The study Cho et al. (2018) finalized 20 studies to see the effect of mobile devices in language learning on students’ achievement, and ERIC, EBSCOhost, JSTOR and ProQuest repositories were filtered for the literature search. This systematic literature review aims to explore the Web of Science core collection for high-quality literature search to know the research trends of Mobile and Gamification based language learning. Moreover, a quality assessment of the selected articles was conducted along with the discussion of research frameworks/models and teaching and learning tools at all education levels.

Research methodology

This survey implemented recommendations for systematic reviews given in information engineering analysis by ( Brereton et al., 2007 ). Based on these criteria, a search method was defined to eliminate possible study biases after finalizing research queries. Within this procedure, three critical phases of our analysis approach were to prepare, conduct, and review the study, as shown in Fig. 1 and discussed in the following sections.

Review plan

An appropriate search strategy was created for all related studies. As shown in Figs. 1 and ​ and2, 2 , the analysis methods indicate search procedures for the associated articles, describing the classification system and mapping of items. This study follows an organized approach:

• Research objectives
• Specifying research questions (RQs)
• Organizing searches of databases
• Studies selection
• Screening relevant studies
• Data extraction
• Results synthesizing
• Finalizing the review report

(i) RQ1 attempted to report our objective to develop an articles’ library related to the MALL pupils and make the dataset accessible to other scholars. Furthermore, significant work was identified that provided direction to investigate students’ issues in learning English. The answer to RQ1 discovered trends, geographical areas, and publication channels in the articles.

(ii) To identify the theories and frameworks/conceptual models used for MALL research and relate them with one another and to different application areas for MALL. The solution of RQ2 provided the answer to this objective.

(iii) RQ3 attempted to identify different target application areas of MALL from teaching and learning perspectives. Furthermore, other modes of exposition were identified for these MALL applications.

(iv) How the researchers accommodated different MALL applications content focusing on reading, writing, speaking, and listening perspectives. For this purpose, RQ4 attempted to achieve this objective.

(v) RQ5 attempted to outline the standard process, tools, and instruments used to evaluate MALL applications. Furthermore, MALL applications’ evaluation measures were identified concerning different perspectives, including teaching and learning, and technical perspectives.

(vi) RQ6 attempted to perform a comparative analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of simple mobile application-based language learning with gamified mobile applications for language learning.

The research objectives and motivations of this research are transformed into relevant research questions (RQ), as shown in Table 2 .

Review conduct

There were four steps in the review process formulated. In the first step, examination was made from web of science ( WoS, 2020 ) with SCI-Expended, SCIE, ESCI and A&HCI indices consisting of high-impact research papers, for relevant primary studies. In the second step, the collection of studies was filtered based on predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. We also established quality assessment standards to boost further the consistency in the third step of our analysis. Backward snowballing was then carried out in the final fourth step, to retrieve relevant candidate articles.

Automated search in web of science (WoS core collection)

A systematic investigation was made to filter irrelevant research and obtain adequate information. Our source was a curated database, Web of Science Core library that included over 21,100 peer-reviewed journals, top-class academic journals distributed worldwide (including Open Access journals), covering more than 250 disciplines ( WoS, 2020 ). WoS is a tool that helps users collect, interpret, and share information from databases promptly ( Princeton University, 2020 ). To conduct an SLR in an organized and timely manner, the researcher used this platform to retrieve the research articles by incorporating ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ Boolean operators with keywords to develop a search string. Figure 3 presented an overview of the search result obtained from the Web of Science.

Table 3 lists the final search string incorporated ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ Boolean operators with keywords, used to explore WoS Core Collection. Only titles were searched from the database, and a filter of indices and period were applied to restrict the search query for the study.

Selection based on inclusion/exclusion criteria

• 1. Inclusion criteria

The paper comprised in the review must be in MALL, mobile learning, and m-learning that must target the research questions. Paper published in the journals or conferences also from 2010 to 2020 was included in the review. Papers discussing MALL at school, college, and university level, focusing on learning, teaching, learning, and teaching (both), games (Example: Serious Game, Mobile games, learning application) were also included in the review.

• 2. Exclusion criteria

The articles were excluded not written in English and did not discuss or focused MALL, mobile learning or m-learning in schools, colleges, and universities to teach and learn English. A selection process of relevant articles for inclusion/exclusion criteria in detail was shown in Fig. 4 .

Selection based on quality assessment

The collection of appropriate studies based on quality assessment (QA) was considered the critical step for carrying out any review. As the fundamental studies differed in nature, the essential assessment tool ( Fernandez, Insfran & Abrahão, 2011 ) and ( Ouhbi et al., 2015 ) used to conduct QA were also supplemented in our analysis by quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. The accuracy of the selected records was determined using a QA questionnaire. The first author conducted the QA, using the following parameters for each study:

(a) If the analysis led to MALL, mobile language learning, m-learning, the result was indeed (1), otherwise (0).

(b) When there were simple answers for the MALL, mobile learning, m-learning of English, the analysis provided the following scores: ‘Yes (2),’ ‘Limited (1)’ and ‘No (0).’

(c) If the studies provided an empirical result, then award (1) else score (0).

(d) Studies analyzed concerning graded rankings of countries and journals ( SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR), 2018 ) and conferences in computer science ( CORE Conference Portal, 2018 ). Table 4 indicated potential findings for publications from known and reliable sources.

After combining the scores to the above questions, a final score (between 0 and 8) was determined for each study. Only papers included with four or more ratings in the final results.

Selection based on snowballing

Following the standard assessment, backward snowballing was performed, employing a reference list from any completed analysis to retrieve papers ( Mehmood et al., 2020 ) and chose only those significant articles that met inclusion/exclusion requirements. After reading the introduction and then other portions of the document, the article's inclusion/exclusion was determined.

Review report

This section provided an overview of the selected studies.

Overview of intermediate selection process outcome

MALL was a very active topic, and our analysis approach had to extract relevant research empirically and systematically from the Web of Science core collection. The next step of our systematic analysis was compiling records that form the foundation for this analysis. Approximately 57,000 papers were examined from the archive by providing the keywords for 2010– 2020. After creating a knowledge base from the digital library (Web of Science), the author reviewed the title, abstract, and accompanying complete document for each search result, as needed. During this process, irrelevant papers or papers of less than four pages were eliminated. During the inspection process, selected documents in the fields of MALL, mobile learning, and m-learning were read extensively to assess their significance & contribution and then created a comprehensive knowledge foundation of papers based on their findings to accomplish this research's core objective.

Overview of selected studies

Table 5 presented significant results of the primary search, filtering, and reviewed processes that included Web of Science indices. At the filtering/inspection stage, this amount decreased to 63 articles by the automatic search.

Assessment and discussion of research questions

In this section, finalized 67 primary research studies based on our research questions were scrutinized.

RQ1: What are the high-quality publication channels for MALL research, and which geographical areas have been targeting MALL research over the years?

The analysis of MALL with the integration of game elements in learning tools, methods, content, and the theoretical perspective choice was a crucial challenge for scholars to use in education. Identifying fine publication sites and scientometric analysis based on meta-information in MALL domain was required for the purpose. This section consisted of perceptive knowledge of research publication sources, types, years, grade level distribution, geographical distribution, publication channel-wise distribution of selected studies to analyze MALL research.

The studies finalized from the Web of Science (core collection) were presented yearly, as shown in Table 6 and Fig. 5 . Twelve was the maximum number of publications selected from the year 2019, out of the total 67, indicated more interest in developing MALL with integrating games in teaching and learning. However, less interest in MALL with game research integration was observed in 2010–2016 and 2018–2020, resulting in less improvement in teaching and learning in relevance to students and market needs.

Table 7 and Fig. 6 present the geographically distributed studies. The majority of publications, or 39 out of 67, were from different Asian countries, whereas European countries published 15 reviews. North American countries published eight studies, while Africa and Ocean-continent have three and two studies published, respectively.

The data presented in Table 8 showing that the maximum number of articles were from highly recognized journals indexed in the Web of Science. Only one item was from a good ranked conference. Computer & Education journal was on the top of the list from which seven papers were selected and next, the Educational Technology & Society journal with four articles.

According to conditions defined in “Research Methodology” B.3, each finalized study’s QA score was granted, as shown in Table 4 , offering the QA score ranging from 4–8, with less than four discarded scores. MALL researcher might find this QA supportive to choose related studies while addressing its usage and challenges. Articles published in Q1 journals mostly scored maximum while scoring four from less recognized journals but relevant to the subject matter. A total of 26 out of 67 scored maximum (i.e., eight (8), indicating fulfillment of all QA criteria, whereas nine (9) studies scored four out of 67, which is the lowest in QA).

Table 9 presented the overall classification output and QA of finalized studies, and Table 10 showed the overall quality assessment score. Studies were classified based on five factors: the empirical type/method, research type, and method. Categories of research types were; Evaluation framework, Evaluation research, Solution proposal, and Review. The taxonomy presented in section V was constructed on these defined research types. Studies that analytically validated their results from the statistical analysis, experimentations, surveys, or case studies to increase their quality standards awarded a score. In category (c) of quality assessment criteria, only 8 out of 67 reviews did not present empirical results, thus awarded zero scores. Only five studies scored zero for category (d) of quality assessment criteria; the rest of them scored higher, indicating competent sources. Four (4) recorded the lowest score awarded for a study.

RQ2. What are the widely used theories, models, and frameworks proposed or adopted for MALL research?

This section provided the framework/conceptual model based on the situation (proposed/adopted by the researcher) after an essential discussion of the theories, frameworks, and models.

Theory of planned behavior: The Theory of planned behavior (TPB) noted that behavioral intentions motivated human behavior. Behavioral intentions rely on three determinants; an individual's mood, cultural norms, and perceived influence ( Cheon et al., 2012 ).

Sociocultural theory: Sociocultural theory recognized human evolution as socially influenced by cooperation with more professional members of society, through which children learned their cultural norms, ideologies, and problem-solving techniques ( Kearney et al., 2012 ) ( Mcleod, 2020 ).

Experiential Learning Theory: The concept of experiential learning was implemented in a learning game. Players performed exercises to seek information within a gameplay environment that made the learning process enjoyable, engaging, and interesting ( Tsai et al., 2016 ).

Dual-Coding theory: The dual-coding theory suggested that the verbal and imagery systems (mental images and representations) could be co-activated as rich and substantive referential relations connected dual-coded objects ( Teng, 2018 ).

Theory of cognitive style: Two types of learning, field independence and field dependence, were based on critical and interpersonal personality characteristics. Field-independent students were independent-minded, and the social environment could not readily affect their learning style. Field-dependent students tended to learn in visual settings or scenarios ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ).

Attribution theory: Bouchaib ( Bouchaib, Ahmadou & Abdelkader, 2018 ) used Weiner attribution theory (1992) as a framework that provided failure or success reasons or explanations for people in education. Moreover, it was also a social cognitive theory of motivation.

Instructional theory: The instructional theory sought to explain how people can learn, evolve, and established environments that promote learning opportunities and strengthen teaching ( Fisser, Voogt & Bom, 2012 ) ( Top Hat, 2019 ).

Frameworks & models

‘Here and now’ mobile learning framework: Three characteristics (Engaging, Authentic, and Informal) Framework identified the effect of mobile learning on the learning environment ( Martin & Ertzberger, 2013 ).

Mobile English learning outcome (MELO) framework: This research developed the Mobile English Learning Objective (MELO) to examine the correlation between learners’ understanding of mobile technologies using playfulness, resistance to change, and self-management constructs of the Framework ( Huang et al., 2011 ).

M-COPE: It is a study that came up with the M-COPE framework to support teachers in building mobile learning experiences using the ADDIE model, which allowed teachers to understand five main aspects of mobile learning: Mobile affordance, Ethics, Pedagogy, and Outcomes ( Dennen & Hao, 2014 ).

Mobile English learning continuance intention (MELCI): The study came up with TAM components ( Davis, 1989 ) adopted in mobile English learning. Continuance intention framework to examine the influence of mobile learning satisfaction with self-management of learning ( Huang, 2014 ).

Pedagogical Framework: Task-based language teaching (TBLT) was a pedagogical framework concerning language instruction strategy that focused on curricular design units and an instructional cycle aspect. It focused on the interaction method, which implied that the negotiation of importance led to a detailed and internationally changed input ( Chen & Lin, 2018 ).

The affordance framework: The affordance framework, which comprised pedagogical, social, and technological components, examined the ICT tools affordance for language learning ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ).

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): The TAM demonstrated many knowledge predictors by many researchers, focusing on the rational action theory. TAM has five components: perceived ease of usage, perceived effectiveness, the intention of behavior, intention to use, and discrete use. The model played an essential role in forecasting the use of various factors ( Chang et al., 2013 ).

Extended Technology Acceptance Model: The study examined mobile applications' impact on students' usage intention, perceived ease of use (PEOU), and usefulness. The research outcome was an extended technology acceptance model ( Bohm & Constantine, 2016 ).

ARCS Model: A motivational model ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) that motivated learners and procedural assistance in compliance to demand used in this research. This model has three features: (1) emphasized motivation and emotional stimulation, (2) integrated with other theories and design, (3) enhanced the instruction effects and learning process ( Wu, 2018 ).

A Theoretical Model: Discussion of two frameworks: (1) Framework for the rational analysis of mobile education (FRAME). (2) TAM and TAM 2, the author proposed a new theoretical model that focused on the technology enhancement, non-formal learning setting, and learner-centered to develop a better understanding for EFL learners using mobile English learning resources (MELR) for Chinese postgraduate students ( Zhang & Pérez-Paredes, 2019 ).

In this section, the Theory, Framework, and Model used in the studies were described and summarized in Table 11 .

A conceptual model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) explained how young adults’ acceptance and attitude affect their intention to embrace mobile devices in their classroom practice ( Cheon et al., 2012 ). The Framework in ( Kearney et al., 2012 ) criticized pedagogy, allowed a comparison of mobile approaches and pedagogical methods, and their importance to the sociocultural nature of learning in mobile learning environments validated by m-learning researchers’ discussion among designers of the Framework, implementation in a project, and pedagogical experts. Similarly, three characteristics (Engaging, Authentic, and Informal) Framework were created to see mobile learning's effect on the learning environment by measuring students’ achievement and attitude ( Martin & Ertzberger, 2013 ). A hypothesized m-learning model was proposed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) components—Perceived Usefulness (Near-term/Long-term usefulness), Perceived Ease of use, Personal Innovativeness, and Behavioral Intention. This model was assessed based on data collection from 230 participants using a survey questionnaire ( Liu, Li & Carlsson, 2010 ). A paradigm for the Mobile English Learning Objective (MELO), in which learners' understanding of mobile technologies may be directly correlated with three objects: Playfulness, Resistance to change, and Self-management that were adapted after discussing extensive literature ( Huang et al., 2011 ).

The M-COPE framework supported teachers to build mobile learning experiences using the ADDIE model. This Framework allowed teachers to understand five main aspects of mobile learning: mobile affordance, Ethics, Pedagogy, and Outcomes. It was validated by five experts ( Dennen & Hao, 2014 ). The computational model concept and their proposed connections resulting from Davis (1989) TAM were introduced in which perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived contextual variables were measured. This model was validated through SmartPLS 2.0 ( Bohm & Constantine, 2016 ). A motivational model, ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) that considered learners' motivation and procedural assistance in compliance to demand, was used to measure effectiveness and learning motivation. This model has three features: (1) emphasize motivation and emotion stimulation, (2) integrated with other theories and design, and (3) enhances the instruction effects and learning process ( Wu, 2018 ). A mobile English learning continuance intention framework was used. TAM ( Davis, 1989 ) was adopted to see the influence of mobile learning English satisfaction with self-management of learning to measure Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Playfulness, and Resistance to change. The internal consistency and reliability were measured through the PLS-SEM application ( Huang, 2014 ).

The study adopted the TAM by incorporating perceived convenience and curiosity factor for mobile learning. To examine the validity of the measurement model, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed with SmartPLS ( Chang et al., 2013 ). In contrast, experiential learning theory was used because players seek knowledge by doing activities in the game environment. Moreover, the learning process was exciting, challenging, and relevant, along with substantial experience provided to the players where learner motivation and effectiveness were measured ( Tsai et al., 2016 ). In a dual-coding theory, the working memory model and multimedia principle used for pedagogy in this study were validated by doing an extensive literature review ( Teng, 2018 ). In this research, self-directed learning, Garrison’s comprehensive theoretical approach of (1997), was used to measure self-directed learning (motivation, self-management, and self-monitoring) ( Botero, Questier & Zhu, 2018 ) whereas ‘English Fun Dubbing’ application was designed for practicing English orally, and evaluation of the application's effectiveness (convenience, flexibility, user-friendliness, rich material, language context) was carried out by Zhang (2016) . An application was developed to observe the multimedia glosses' effect on second language listening comprehension and vocabulary learning in a mobile learning environment. Its effectiveness was measured by the author ( Çakmak & Erçetin, 2017 ).

Business language testing service (BULATS) adopted a framework based on Teaching Method, Learning Satisfaction, Learning Effectiveness, and qualitative analysis to measure satisfaction and attitude ( Shih, 2017 ). ‘MyEVA Mobile’ is a mobile-based application developed to explore the learning attitude, learning achievements, learning styles, and university students' strategies to improve the students’ vocabulary that worked any time and without the internet. The framework components are ‘Smartphone client,’ ‘Wireless device,’ and ‘Log Analyzer Server.’ Learning behavior, Perpetual learning styles, and Knowledge proficiency were measured in this study ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ). In another study ( Chen & Lin, 2018 ), task-based language teaching (TBLT) was used as a pedagogical framework to measure technology-mediated TBLT. 'Weiner attribution theory (1992) was used as a framework that provided failure or success reasons or explanations for people in education ( Bouchaib, Ahmadou & Abdelkader, 2018 ). Moreover, WhatsApp and Google were used to enhance the reading ability to measure learner autonomy ( Hazaea & Alzubi, 2018 ) and retain business vocabulary, whereby an application ‘Excel@EnglishPolyU’ was developed and tested with undergraduate students ( Kohnke, Zhang & Zou, 2019 ). To design and implement a mobile-based English vocabulary application for distance learning students in South Africa, ‘VocUp’ was developed, and its evaluation measures usability, scalability, reliability, and flexibility ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ).

A theoretical framework for ‘Word Score’ serious game was developed based on Bom (2011) by exploring the literature to measure this study’s motivation ( Fisser, Voogt & Bom, 2012 ). In contrast, an architectural model was proposed in the study. The Pedagogical model, and learner model, were used by pilot testing ( Bourekkache & Kazar, 2020 ), whereas a mobile game for tenses’ SOS Table’ was developed. The evaluation measured its effectiveness, user's motivation, acceptance, and attitude within the Framework of mobile learning tools ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ). Moreover, by discussing two frameworks: (1) Framework for a rational analysis of mobile education (FRAME) and (2) TAM and TAM 2, the author proposed a new theoretical model that focuses on the technology enhancement, non-formal learning setting, and learner-centered to develop a better understanding for EFL learners on mobile English learning resources (MELR) in English language learning for Chinese postgraduate students ( Zhang & Pérez-Paredes, 2019 ). Furthermore, it was also a social cognitive theory of motivation. Simultaneously, the affordance framework consisted of pedagogical, social, and technological components, used to examine the ICT tools affordance for language learning ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ). TAM was used in the study to measure perceived usefulness and ease of use ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ).

Summarize the Table 11 , researchers developed applications and games for language learning in which majority of these developed for English Language Learning and vocabulary. Similarly, less application and games were developed for pedagogy ( Kearney et al., 2012 ) ( Dennen & Hao, 2014 ) reading ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ) ( Lin, 2014 ), pronunciation ( Liakin, Cardoso & Liakina, 2014 ) idioms ( Wong, 2013 ) ( Amer, 2014 ) tenses ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ) grammar ( Chu, Wang & Wang, 2019 ; Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ) spellings ( Tshering et al., 2018 ) achievement, attitude, usefulness, usability and effectiveness ( Martin & Ertzberger, 2013 ) ( Liu, Li & Carlsson, 2010 ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020a ; Ishaq et al., 2020b ; Ishaq et al., 2019 ; Ishaq et al., 2020d ). From the selected studies, various models/frameworks were used as a base for developing an application in which TAM ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ) ( Lin, 2014 ) ( Chang et al., 2013 ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ; Ishaq et al., 2019 ) mostly used. Many applications did not use any model or Framework as the base for the purpose.

RQ3. What are different application domains for the MALL application, and in which various forms are these applications exposed for the end-users?

Several tools have been designed and developed by the researchers in MALL to support the students and teachers in learning the English language. A more in-depth analysis presenting that most of these tools and applications are student-centric and focus on learning ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ). While some of them support teachers in teaching and students in learning, thus can be categorized as a teaching and learning tool ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ). On the other hand, very few tools focus only on teaching ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ). Lastly, another emerging trend has been observed where these tools are augmented with gamification to make them more exciting and useful for the stakeholders ( Chu, Wang & Wang, 2019 ). Table 12 presents these tools in different categories above.

Learning aspect

A mobile adaptive language learning system in which recommended material for reading and reading annotation facilities was provided to pupils to improve learning outcomes ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ). A Mobile learning tool and five-step vocabulary learning (FSVL) strategy were developed in a situational learning environment to assess their effects on English as a foreign language (EFL) performance and learning motivation. According to the mobile learning tool, a global positioning system (GPS) was used to develop and provide learning material ( Huang et al., 2016 ). Similarly, a mobile learning application ‘Raz-Kids’ for an extensive reading program was designed by ‘Learning A to Z.’ The tool aimed to create the concentration of the students to enhance their essential reading ability. Furthermore, it provides e-books of alphabets for students and teachers’ class management tools ( Lin, 2014 ).

The study conducted experimental research using ASR, Non-ASR and Control Group. The ASR group Nuance Dragon Dictation application was designed and installed on their mobile phone to finish weekly pronunciation activities with immediately written visuals (Pictures) feedback provided by the application without any human interaction. Five native French speakers pronounced all words and phrases to test the application ( Liakin, Cardoso & Liakina, 2014 ). In a study by Chang et al. (2013) , ‘Mebook,’ a multimedia eBook system that can be played in the format of MP3 was developed. It integrated text, images, voice, and pictures that provided directions for listening, speaking, writing, and reading.

Furthermore, it also included speed adjustment of audio and switching of language from English to Chinese and Chinese to English. Duolingo, a free mobile assisted language learning tool (for vocabulary acquisition) is available in the web and mobile (Android and iOS) versions to examine out of class engagement informally. Translation exercises of sentences and words are the delivery method of this application. Moreover, instructors can see logs and progress to keep an eye on the students ( Gafni, Achituv & Rahmani, 2017 ). A mobile-based gaming approach for English grammar and vocabulary learning ‘Save the princess with Teddy’ was developed and students’ learning achievement with gameplay at different levels was analyzed. It was hoped to enhance students’ learning motivation with the game and assistance to learn the English grammar concept ( Chu, Wang & Wang, 2019 ). In the context of academic English, a mobile data-driven learning (DDL) experiment was discussed by designing and developing an application’ AKWIC (academic key words in context)’ for voluntary. This application provided support for academic writing (vocabulary learning), and data were obtained from logs generated by the application ( Quan, 2016 ).

An SMS text message application, ‘Fetion’ explores the effectiveness of vocabulary learning using mobile technology. Specifically, SMS from mobile phones enhanced English vocabulary than outdated printed material ( Zhang, Song & Burston, 2011 ). In contrast, a location-based vocabulary learning activities application for Thai and German users was proposed in a study with personalized learning motivation. Moreover, the aim was to enhance user acceptance by providing relevant learning content to evaluate an online questionnaire ( Bohm & Constantine, 2016 ). A free mobile assisted language learning tool (vocabulary acquisition) ‘Duolingo,’ available for web and mobile (Android and iOS) versions examined out of class engagement informally. Translation exercises of sentences and words are the content of this application, and instructors can see logs and progress to track students’ progress ( Botero, Questier & Zhu, 2018 ). ‘Mobile assisted listening application’ was developed to examine L2 multimedia glosses’ effects in a mobile learning environment, for vocabulary and listening comprehension, validated through a pilot study ( Çakmak & Erçetin, 2017 ).

An offline mobile assisted language learning application system, ‘My English Vocabulary Assistant mobile edition’ (MYEVA Mobile) was developed to engage students in mixed-modality vocabulary learning to improve their vocabulary. The users learned targeted words via four vocabulary learning strategies: flashcard, imagery, word card, and Chinese assonance. A log analyzer server was installed, and log files were used to analyze the results ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ). Furthermore, a mobile application like WhatsApp and Internet search engine (Google) were used by students to access materials for reading and interaction with peers and instructors outside the class. This application was used to improve learning skills in EFL reading ( Hazaea & Alzubi, 2018 ).

A crowdsourced mobile-based ‘LingoBee,’ an open-source and freely available application, explored creativity and mobility in language learning. It was the part of the European countries’ project “SIMOLA”, designed to help collaborative language learning using the idea from social networks and crowdsourcing. Users created content for language learning, stored it on their device, and shared it with other users via a cloud-based repository. The application was evaluated through user studies in European countries ( Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione, 2013 ). In contrast, an application ‘English Practice’ was used to analyze the usage behavior of 53,825 users from 12 countries, and the evaluation was conducted through log files generated by the Google Firebase analytics tool ( Pham, Nguyen & Chen, 2017 ).

Teaching and learning

An online assessment tool, ‘Grammar Grabber,’ was discussed in this study to evaluate grammar at the school level. Using this tool, users do practice online and get constant feedback to know their performance. The authors investigated this online assessment tool to perceive pedagogical, technological, and social affordances using multiple-choice questions and allowing re-attempt for wrongly answered questions. The log files of the application were used as the dataset ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ). An application, ‘Literacy and Numeracy Drive’ to teach and learn languages, was discussed at the school level. This application provided some practice and then some assessment exercises for the English language. This application aimed to teach singular/plural, use of has/have/had/is/am/are/ was/were, and reading comprehension ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ). A serious online game that was designed to extend the students’ vocabulary in primary school was discussed in this study. This game was part of the national project ‘Educational Time Extension (ETE).’ The students spend more time than expected class timing to learn and improve their vocabulary. Applications for teaching and learning at the college level was not adopted/developed for English language learning in the selected studies.

LINE App, an application that was used to investigate the teaching of English for specific purpose (ESP) effects on Business Language Testing Service (BULATS) ( Shih, 2017 ). Whereas ‘Mobagogy’ a professional learning community of academicians to investigate the use of mobile technologies in learning and teaching while ‘The bird in the Hand’ initiative by the UK to examine the experience of trainee and newly qualified teachers by providing them smartphones to use in their offices and teaching schools to enhance professional practices of pedagogy. Australian University developed the application Mobagogy’, and The Bird in the Hand was sponsored by the UK ( Kearney et al., 2012 ) to evaluate the benefits of mobile applications and an application 'English Fun Dubbing' designed for English’s oral practice its users. Learning material in this application was: animations, songs, movies, short videos, and textbooks developed by the Chinese Sci-Tech Company ( Zhang, 2016 ). To enhance teaching and learning of English vocabulary, a mobile-based application ‘VocUp’ was designed and implemented to evaluate external parties ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ). A mobile application, ‘WhatsApp’ was used in this study to examine the efficiency of teaching 40 phrases.

Furthermore, the study also aimed to enhance vocabulary acquisition ( Shahbaz & Khan, 2017 ). An application ‘Anglictina (English) TODAY’ was developed by a Ph.D. student of Computer Science with a language teacher’s help. This application helped pupils for the preparation of final exams by learning from anywhere at any time. To discuss students’ perception of using a mobile application, this was developed based on their needs to make EFL vocabulary teaching and learning useful ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ).

Gamification based learning and teaching

A serious game ‘MEL application’ developed in which 25 animals from five continents (Asia, South-America, Africa, Oceania, and North-America) were involved developed. The game was played during the visit to the zoo and at home in which two modes were available in which one was totally related to the zoo situation. One was independent of GPS that allowed children to access animals in different continents ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ). To investigate a mobile English learning application that would be supplement and support for learning English at school was adopted for the study by enhancing game features. The application’s learning material on animals from the zoo resulted in the students’ outperformance using the mobile application for a fortnight than users for a fixed period ( Sandberg, Maris & Hoogendoorn, 2014 ). A game-based system, ‘Happy English Learning System,’ in which learning material was integrated to experiment, was installed on mobile devices to see the learner's motivation for achievement. The activities were divided into levels of difficulties: Easy, Medium, and Advanced, according to the ability of users ( Tsai et al., 2016 ).

Game-based applications Excel@ EnglishPolyU, Alphabet vs. Aliens, and Books vs. Brains@PolyU, business vocabulary after completing level challenges may acquire by the learners ( Kohnke, Zhang & Zou, 2019 ). Similarly, an application, ‘PHONE Words,’ was developed by Alice English Education Studio for vocabulary learning, designed with game functions (MEVLA-GF) and without game functions (MEVLA-NGF) to investigate the perceptions and measure the learning performance of learners. This application also provides an assessment with a gamified competition mechanism ( Chen, Liu & Huang, 2019 ). To give the students’ opportunity, ‘SOS Table,’ a mobile-based game application, was designed and developed to repeat tenses, high-frequency words, and sentence string. Time challenge was provided to create negative, positive, or correct sentences with words and pronunciation after completing the task ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ). The serious game was not adopted/developed at the college level for English language learning in the selected studies.

In the study ( Holden & Sykes, 2011 ), an augmented reality-based language learning game developed for Spanish in Southwestern US to explore foreign and second language learning’s benefits and complexities. Similarly, a mobile-based English Vocabulary system for practice was designed and developed not to replace traditional classroom teaching methods. The aim was to provide students with assistance to review, proficiency, and practice in and after the class. The game system was designed based on the ARCS model, which provided assistance in vocabulary learning and listening and worked as a testing tool ( Wu, 2018 ). ‘Idiomobile’ a mobile-based game that was made available for specific handsets based on the knowledge of using idiomatic expressions in a critical situation ( Amer, 2014 ).

RQ 4. What is the specific content adopted for teaching and learning in MALL research?

Teaching and learning through MALL by applying pedagogical skills or tools after adopting appropriate content are summarized and discussed in this section. The current section is divided into four sub-levels, i.e., Learning, Teaching and Learning, and Serious Game based presented in Table 13 .

The content usage for learning aspect in MALL about reading perspective discussed for the undergraduate students of public university enrolled in “Computing and Information Technology (CIT)” adopted as curriculum ( Cheon et al., 2012 ). Whilst personalized recommended learning material with reading annotation services were categorized into three difficulty levels: elementary, intermediated, and intermediated high level ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ). In the study ( Bohm & Constantine, 2016 ), discussed that multimedia learning material in the written and audio-visual form provided using the app according to the user’s relevant current position. Words and pictures were adequate for learners to learn vocabulary by solving word pair quizzes. The content adopted in ( Chang et al., 2013 ) was broad and varied, including current issues related to education, economy, environment, social, politics, technology, etc. For English learning, the topic areas covered were speaking, listening, reading, and vocabulary. To teach most popular idioms, content relevant to idioms and collocations was collected for application from books and websites ( Amer, 2014 ).

A cooperative creation of multimedia content by adding it to new vocabulary is then stored on the devices and uploaded on the cloud by the users that can view or brows LingoBee repository by sorting it chronologically or alphabetically ( Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione, 2013 ). The study ( Tsai et al., 2016 ) discussed the curriculum for English subject consisted of the topics: phonetic symbols, alphabet, grammar, phrases, vocabulary, and sentence patterns used by pupils to review it and also can share with the class by using social media (i.e., Facebook) whereas the course content in application 'Duolingo' focused variety of subject-specific vocabulary acquisition by learning nearly 2,000 words. The application's delivery techniques were translating from source to users’ target language, choosing right translated phrases, paring of words from languages, flashcard practicing, and translation of unknown words ( Botero, Questier & Zhu, 2018 ).

Teaching is a method of discussing and interfering with people’s desires, perspectives, and emotions to learn specific things ( P. byinfed.org, 2020 ). The reading perspective in teaching is discussed by Ou-Yang & Wu (2016) in which the content used for vocabulary teaching, suitable for 'Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) that is a standardized test used in Taiwan. Fifty words were taken for vocabulary was chosen from TOEIC, including different difficulty levels.

Current studies investigated the content usage according to speaking, listening, reading, and writing in teaching and learning through MALL. An application designed by the Chinese Sci-Tech company to assist in English practice orally provided rich learning material of animation movies, short videos, songs, and textbooks with English speakers speaking for different age group students ( Zhang, 2016 ). From the reading perspective, ‘Word Capsules (short vocabulary test)’ was developed in which words (content) were selected from 10,000 words, who gripped numerous phrases in English have a vast vocabulary and able to survive with challenges of studying at a higher level in English ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ). In contrast, for all the viewpoints, practicing and retaining new phrases and words, ten lessons of vocabulary and ten lessons of phrases were adopted as content that the pupils have to translate to English from native language ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ).

The content used in game-based applications for reading perspective investigated from selected studies in which the content was pictures and videos to learn about the zoo animals ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ). Learning Spanish Augmented reality game-based language learning tool was also investigated in which classroom curriculum was adopted for the game for three to four-week timeframe ( Holden & Sykes, 2011 ). For vocabulary practice through a game-based system, a presentation model combined learning content with difficulty levels (easy, medium, and advance) ( Wu, 2018 ). Still, for vocabulary learning using MEVLA-GF, the perception of interviewees identified gamified design, interface design, and content design that satisfy the learners' need for different purposes and at level ( Chen, Liu & Huang, 2019 ). In the study of Chu, Wang & Wang (2019) , learning material consisted of vocabulary, sentence examples, grammar examples, and grammar concept mapping for English games in elementary school. The purpose was to make a strong foundation of English grammar and enhance its knowledge with the understandability of relationships between concepts.

RQ 5. How and in what different perspectives the MALL applications were evaluated; and what were the evaluation measures and tools used for their evaluation?

RQ5 was posed to investigate the evaluation methodologies and tools used by the MALL studies are presented in Tables 14 and ​ and15. 15 . Table 14 shows that 33 out of 67 studies adopted or developed a questionnaire to collect data from the selected population. In contrast, only six studies used interviews and observations for their studies. The mixed-method approach in which questionnaires, interviews, and observations were used as a tool for collecting data by 18 studies while only five studies used discussion and other methods for their data collection.

The evaluation in this section was teaching and learning and technical perspective. Researchers used various methods to collect data, and statistical tests were applied to analyze the data to produce relevant results. The statistical tests for analysis applied through various tools were, i.e., SPSS, PLS, etc. The methodology and tools used by the selected studies were presented in the following section.

Measures for teaching and learning

In the teaching and learning section, terminologies were described from the selected studies also presented the instruments used in these studies were shown in Table 15 .

Pedagogy: a study of educational techniques, including the purposes of instruction and the approaches to accomplish them ( Peel, 2017 ).

Motivation: originates from the term ‘motive’ that means needs, wants, wishes, or drives in people. It is the method of inspiring individuals to take steps to meet the targets ( MSG Management Study Guide, 2020 ).

Perception: To organize, define, and interpret sensory input to reflect and recognize the input or situation presented ( Perception, 2020 ).

Curiosity: originated from the flow concept, which means people prefer to communicate in the state of flow with their surroundings. Curiosity is preserved when people consider the world as fun or fascinating ( Chang et al., 2013 ).

Continuance Intention: The level to which people intend to keep using smartphone English learning ( Chang et al., 2013 ).

Attitude: An optimistic, pessimistic, or mixed assessment of an entity communicated at a certain level of anxiety. This represents an advantageous or disadvantageous assessment of a person, position, object, or event ( iEduNote.com, 2020 ).

Achievement: Somebody succeeded in achieving something, particularly after much effort ( Collins English Dictionary, 2020 ).

Self-Directed Learning: A learning approach that encourages learners to take control of their learning method (diagnosis requirements for learning, assessment of learning priorities, choice of learning methods, and the measurement of academic achievement and outcomes) ( IGI Global, 2020 ).

Behavior Pattern: A repeated way for a person or group to behave against a particular object or condition ( Dictionary.com, 2020 ).

Learning Behavior: Learning Behavior stresses the crucial relationship between child and youth learning and their social experience and behavior ( Northampton Centre for Learning Behaviour, 2020 ).

Learner Autonomy: The autonomy of learning is when pupils take care of their learning, both in respect of what they learn and, in the direction, they study it ( Oxford University Press ELT, 2013 ).

Affordance: An affordance is an object quality or a condition that makes it possible for the person to take action ( Definitions for Affordance, 2020 ).

Technical evaluation measures

It is the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) category to measure the applications' UI/UX ( Ishaq et al., 2019 ). The following were the terminologies discussed in selected studies also, approaches used in these studies were shown in Tables 14 and ​ and15 15 .

Usefulness: The perceived usefulness (PU) is also one of the separate structures in the TAM. It is the extent to which a person believes that a specific process may improve the efficiency of his/her job ( World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience, 2020 ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020c ).

Ease of Use: The primary use of computer programs in the TAM is a significant determinant of the target. A discreet individual describes a simple usage as evident in implementing a procedure and directly impacts the perceived usefulness ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ).

Effectiveness: Effectiveness is a participant's ability to execute a task in a given context. In general, efficacy is assessed by determining whether participants can carry out such tasks ( Harrison, Flood & Duce, 2013 ).

Perceived convenience: The extent to which users perceive mobile English learning to be comfortable in terms of time, location, and the method to complete a task ( Chang et al., 2013 ).

Usability: Usability is a common factor that determines how convenient it is to use interface design. The term "usability" also applies to the approaches used during the design process to increase ease of use ( World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience, 2020 ).

Efficiency: Efficiency is the user's ability to deliver their role quickly and productively, representing the user's value during its use. Quality can be calculated in various ways, for example, the time taken to complete or the number of keystrokes necessary to finish a task ( Collins English Dictionary, 2020 ).

Scalability: Scalability is characteristic of an entity, structure, model, or process, defining its ability, under increased or expanding workload or scope to handle and compete well ( Hayes, 2020 ).

Reliability: Reliability means the possibility that a product, device, or service can perform its intended function properly for a given period or work without interruption within a fixed environment ( ASQ, 2020 ).

Flexibility: Flexibility is a characteristic that explains how a person can tolerate changes in situations and think in novel, imaginative ways about issues and tasks ( Flexibility, 2020 ).

Evaluation methodologies

The methodology is the basic techniques or methods used to identify, collect, retrieve, and interpret information on the topic ( Paul, 2000 ). A quantitative study using a quasi-experiment (Pre-test and Post-test) was conducted by ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ) ( Wu, 2018 ) ( Chang et al., 2013 ) ( Kalogirou, Beauchamp & Whyte, 2017 ) ( Fisser, Voogt & Bom, 2012 ) to collect data through questionnaires whereas, a quantitative study using questionnaire only was conducted by ( Zhang, 2016 ) ( Kohnke, Zhang & Zou, 2019 ) ( Bourekkache & Kazar, 2020 ). A mixed-method approach was used ( Amer, 2014 ) ( Botero, Questier & Zhu, 2018 ) ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ; Quan, 2016 ) ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ; Zhang & Pérez-Paredes, 2019 ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ) to conduct interviews and questionnaire for the collection of information, whereas a qualitative approach in which interviews were conducted by ( Hazaea & Alzubi, 2018 ) ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ).

Statistical analysis

Statistical analysis is data compilation and evaluation, allowing patterns and developments to be discovered ( Rouse, 2020 ). The following were the statistical analysis techniques used by the selected studies:

Mean and Standard Deviation: Mean which is the average of data set (adding all the numbers then divided by its total point) ( Wei, 2020 ) was calculated by Liu, Li & Carlsson (2010) , Lin (2014) , Amer (2014) , Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione (2013) , Çakmak & Erçetin (2017) , Ou-Yang & Wu (2016) , Quan (2016) and Fisser, Voogt & Bom (2012) whereas Standard Deviation (SD) measures a dataset's dispersion relative to its mean and is calculated as the square root of the variance ( Hargrave, 2020 ). It was calculated by Wu (2018) , Botero, Questier & Zhu (2018) , Fisser, Voogt & Bom (2012) and Ishaq et al. (2020b) .

Analysis of Variance: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical method that evaluates a nominal level variable with two or more categories in a scale level dependent variable ( Statistics Solutions, 2013a ) was calculated by Liu, Li & Carlsson (2010) , Hsu, Hwang & Chang (2013) , Lin (2014) , Çakmak & Erçetin (2017) and Kalogirou, Beauchamp & Whyte (2017) .

T-test: The independent t-test is a method that contrasts two sets of a variable usually distributed on a mean value of a constant (e.g., interval or ratio) ( Statistics Solutions, 2013b ) was calculated by Wu (2018) , Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione (2013) and Önal, Çevik & Şenol (2019) .

Analysis of covariance: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is the inclusion of a continuous variable in addition to the variables of interest (i.e., the dependent and independent variable) as means for control ( Statistics Solutions, 2013c ) calculated in Hsu, Hwang & Chang (2013) and Ou-Yang & Wu (2016) .

Multivariate Analysis of Variance: Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) is similar to ANOVA, except that instead of one metric dependent variable, having two or more dependent variables and is concerned with examining the differences between groups ( Statistics Solutions, 2013d ) calculated by Lin (2014) and Çakmak & Erçetin (2017) .

Linear Regression: Linear regression is an analysis that assesses whether one or more predictor variables explain the dependent (criterion) variable ( Statistics Solutions, 2013e ) calculated by Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione (2013) .

Frequencies: A frequency distribution is a graphical or tabular representation that indicates the number of observations over a given interval ( Young, 2020 ) calculated by Zhang (2016) , Kohnke, Zhang & Zou (2019) , Bourekkache & Kazar (2020) and Zhang & Pérez-Paredes (2019) .

It is showing by Tables 14 and ​ and15 15 that questionnaire tool was used to evaluate motivation ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ), perception ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ), effectiveness ( Huang et al., 2016 ), usefulness ( Lin, 2014 ), convenience ( Wu, 2018 ), curiosity ( Chang et al., 2013 ), achievement ( Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione, 2013 ), attitude ( Tsai et al., 2016 ) ( Gafni, Achituv & Rahmani, 2017 ), behavior ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ), and perception ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ), whereas interviews were conducted to measure the learners’ autonomy ( Hazaea & Alzubi, 2018 ), usability, scalability, reliability, and flexibility ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ). Few studies used questionnaire and interview (both) to see the attitude and motivation ( Amer, 2014 ), effectiveness ( Quan, 2016 ) ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ), perception ( Chen, Liu & Huang, 2019 ), affordance ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ), usefulness, and ease of use ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ). In contrast, only ( Shih, 2017 ) study used a questionnaire with class observation to measure students' satisfaction and attitude.

Tools used for analysis

Table 16 presented that 39 of the papers used statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software which was of quantitative in nature, used to evaluate their research. Partial Least Squares (PLS) was also used by two (02) studies ( Huang, 2014 ) ( Chang et al., 2013 ).

Nvivo is a tool that was qualitatively used by Wang, Zou & Xing (2014) and Quan (2016) . After conducting interviews of their respondents, while only two (02) studies ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ) ( Ramadoss & Wang, 2012 ) evaluated their results manually to present in the articles. Mplus is a statistical modeling program that allows researchers to analyze the data used by Cheon et al. (2012) , whereas ‘Wenjuan Wang’ an online tool to analyze data used in China by Zhang (2016) . ‘Facets,’ ‘Google Firebase,’ ‘Notes taking,’ online tool, and ‘Google Sheet’ used by Uematsu (2012) , Pham, Nguyen & Chen (2017) , Hazaea & Alzubi (2018) , Kohnke, Zhang & Zou (2019) and Ng et al. (2020) , respectively. In this literature review, eleven (11) studies did not use any online or desktop application to analyze the data.

RQ6: compare the usage of simple mobile applications with gamified applications (Serious Game) for language learning?

Figure 7 shows the trend of language learning applications and games developed during selected studies of 2010 to 2020. It can be observed that in the years 2010 and 2011, few applications related to mobile-based and gamified language learning applications have been proposed as fewer people were familiar with this area. From the year 2013 to 2014, an increasing number of gamified application gamified applications were proposed for the studies. Similarly, there are increments from 2017 to onwards for mobile-based gamified applications to learn how educational institutes were observed in the finalized studies.

Mobile and gamified language learning applications from the selected studies concerning level, purpose, evaluation method, and results are presented in Table 17 . The applications are divided into two categories: (1) Mobile application, (2) Gamified applications (serious games). Mobile applications are proposed for teaching ( Kearney et al., 2012 ) ( Zhang, 2016 ), reading ( Hsu, Hwang & Chang, 2013 ) ( Lin, 2014 ) ( Hazaea & Alzubi, 2018 ), vocabulary learning ( Zhang, Song & Burston, 2011 ) ( Huang et al., 2016 ) ( Bohm & Constantine, 2016 ) ( Petersen, Procter-Legg & Cacchione, 2013 ) ( Botero, Questier & Zhu, 2018 ) ( Çakmak & Erçetin, 2017 ) ( Ou-Yang & Wu, 2016 ; Quan, 2016 ) ( Makoe & Shandu, 2018 ) ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ), pronunciation ( Liakin, Cardoso & Liakina, 2014 ), writing, reading, listening and speaking ( Chang et al., 2013 ), listening comprehension ( Çakmak & Erçetin, 2017 ), grammar ( Chu, Wang & Wang, 2019 ) and reading comprehension ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ). The results presented by studies for the applications of pedagogy, reading, pronunciation, writing, listening, speaking, grammar outperformed the control group. It may be concluded that mobile applications for vocabulary learning have a positive impact on language learning in which pupils from the experimental group outperformed the control group except ( Klimova & Polakova, 2020 ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ) where the students and teachers mentioned they are not satisfied with the design, content, assessment methods adopted in the applications besides pronunciation support and teachers' notifications were also missing.

Gamified applications are proposed for vocabulary learning ( Sandberg, Maris & Geus, 2011 ) ( Sandberg, Maris & Hoogendoorn, 2014 ) ( Wu, 2018 ) ( Chen, Liu & Huang, 2019 ) ( Fisser, Voogt & Bom, 2012 ), Spanish language learning ( Holden & Sykes, 2011 ), Idioms ( Amer, 2014 ), Vocabulary, Grammar, and Sentence Structure ( Tsai et al., 2016 ), and Tenses, Words, Sentences ( Önal, Çevik & Şenol, 2019 ). The results presented by studies for gamified applications of vocabulary learning, Idioms, grammar, sentence structure, tenses, and words outperformed the control groups with much engagement, interest, and positive feedback. Although mobile applications are effective, gamified applications are more effective with enhanced interest and engagement, resulting in positive learning outcomes ( Ishaq et al., 2020a ; Ishaq et al., 2020b ; Ishaq et al., 2019 ; Ishaq et al., 2020d ). Furthermore, it may be concluded that gamified applications are trending for all the subjects at all levels of education to get significant learning performance ( Ishaq et al., 2020d ) ( Ishaq et al., 2020c ; Dichev & Dicheva, 2017 ) ( Zin & Yue, 2013 ; Zin, Jaafar & Yue, 2009 ). Furthermore, ( Ishaq et al., 2020b ) recommended gamified application in the public sector school to effectively learn the English language (specifically reading comprehension at primary level) after addressing all the stakeholders' issues.

Discussion and future directions

This section summarizes and discusses the results related to the systematic literature review.

Taxonomic hierarchy

In this comprehensive literature review, the aim was to investigate current MALL information and its application with 63 selected papers. To achieve this objective, a taxonomic hierarchy of finalized studies shown in Fig. 8 was established and examined trends and perspectives on adapted/developed frameworks, content, and teaching and learning tools. However, these dimensions were further broken down into several sub-levels that illustrated each area's scope with its role in enhancing the efficiency of language learners.

Future directions

It was suggested that MALL specific theories or models might be developed because the models used from fields other than MALL was to be adopted or adapted as all components of the models used in the studies could not be applied to measure the constructs. The researchers used varying theories or models to develop a theoretical framework of the respective studies, and this practice was too time-consuming, and the models were minimum valid. The researcher confronted the same issue while measuring usability, usefulness, effectiveness, ease of use, user-friendliness, and user behavior. To ensure the effectiveness of learning content used in mobile and gamified applications, it was suggested that duly approved content material, i.e., written or pictorial by the concerned authorities, was observed from the literature. Whereas specified and authentic learning content was missing, and desired learning outcomes were not achieved. More work is needed concerning teachers' professional development and exploration of their competencies in the field of MALL. The teacher-student relationship was inevitable regarding the teaching-learning process because it was the only source of incorporating various teaching methods and techniques to make learning effective ( Omer, Farooq & Abid, 2020 ). In this regard, to compete for the world, teachers must link up with technological devices and gamified applications to engage their students in learning and entertainment to achieve a high learning outcome ( Isa et al., 2019 ).

The applications used for learning did not fulfill the requirements related to usability, usefulness, effectiveness, ease of use, user-friendliness, and user behavior, so it is proposed to develop gamified applications (serious game) having all features supporting the above constructs. From the literature review, a gamified application for English language learning at the primary level was lacking. Students of primary class levels loved to play more than indulging in books. A conventional environment made the students passive in the class and lessened their motivation level.

During the literature review, research work regarding development of gamified application for reading comprehension was lacking. No such conceptual model gamification has been developed which may be used for language learning with reference to cultural context. Assessment of grammar or vocabulary in MALL applications were found during literature review but were not as such advanced enough that might perform personalized assessment of students’ learning outcomes. Same was found in case of reward system and entertainment elements.

Therefore, gamified learning applications may be designed for primary grade students to make language learning more enjoyable, entertaining, attractive, and engaging them to achieve high learning outcomes effectively.

This systematic literature review aimed to understand research patterns in MALL to learn the English language through mobile or gamified applications, approaches, and frameworks/models developed, or adopted. A comprehensive analysis of literature was undertaken to ensure a detailed discussion of the problems and their remedies. It was searched with as many known terminologies associated with MALL and then analyzed the results accordingly. The search was ended in August 2020, which would not have comprised studies that were carried out after the date. The Web of Science core collection was analyzed, and 63 out of 57,364 publications were selected.

The findings shown that nearly every selected article was published in a recognized journal, whereas only single research at a conference. The two primary forms of study adopted in these studies were “Solution Proposal” and “evaluation research”. The majority of the chosen researches were evidence-based and could lead to the full advantages of MALL to teachers and students. MALL's most frequent key aspects were language learning strategies and evaluation of students’ results. In contrast, MALL specific frameworks and theories, approved content were less addressed aspect of MALL.

The deficiencies in SLR related explicitly were research technique, incorrect data collection, or misclassification. However, with separate keywords from the Web of Science core collection repository, the research approach minimized the possibility of selection error. External concerns were addressed by implementing specific inclusion/exclusion guidelines, and two independent experts were requested to evaluate all extractions.

For future research on MALL, more attention might be paid to primary or secondary school students and teachers, approved curricula design for English subject, and tools’ design, particularly serious games. Further evaluation research might be conducted to analyze existing MALL content.

Acknowledgments

This study is a part of my doctoral thesis work at the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisors, Prof. Dr. Nor Azan Mat Zin, Dr. Fadhilah Rosdi, and Prof. Dr. Adnan Abid. I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all the co-authors who have contributed to this work.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia under the Grand Challenge Fund (Grant number DCP-2017-007/2). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Additional Information and Declarations

Adnan Abid is an Academic Editor for PeerJ Computer Science.

Kashif Ishaq conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, performed the computation work, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

Nor Azan Mat Zin conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

Fadhilah Rosdi conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

Muhammad Jehanghir performed the experiments, analyzed the data, performed the computation work, prepared figures and/or tables, and approved the final draft.

Samia Ishaq performed the experiments, analyzed the data, performed the computation work, prepared figures and/or tables, and approved the final draft.

Adnan Abid conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, performed the computation work, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

• Open access
• Published: 28 February 2023

A systematic review of Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning research

• Kübra Okumuş Dağdeler   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3781-3182 1  

Smart Learning Environments volume  10 , Article number:  19 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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With rapid development of mobile technology, the number of researches on its use in language education process has increased. This growing body of interest has led to a need for review studies that are expected to explain the literature and the trend in the field succinctly. Based on this ground, this study aimed to review the studies conducted on mobile-assisted vocabulary learning in two dimensions. Firstly, it tried to reveal a general map of the domain through bibliometric analysis. With this aim, Web of Science database was scanned and 687 publications were included in the analysis. Then, among these publications 19 articles were selected to identify the technological and pedagogical focus of research papers to determine the trend. The results of bibliometric analysis explained the most frequent keywords, the most productive countries, and the most influential authors and articles. Furthermore, it was discovered that achievement and perceptions were the most common topics in terms of language learning focus and it was gamification in the dimension of technological focus in empirical studies. Despite its preliminary character, the findings have provided insights for future studies.

Introduction

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has become a popular topic for researchers after the intense utilization of mobile devices. As mobile devices have provided flexibility in all areas of life including education, mobile learning has become more of an issue both in practice and research. Burston ( 2021 ) states that there are approximately 3000 research studies related to Mobile-Assisted Language Learning. There are different reasons for this embracement of MALL. To start with, people prefer using mobile devices in their daily life for various purposes such as learning and exchanging information, making orders, banking, communicating with people, and entartaining. Thus, it can be beneficial to use this interest in mobile devices for language education since learning through mobile devices can provide motivation and entertainment for learners Secondly, mobile learning is defined as “anytime and anywhere” (Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008 ), so it provides flexibility in educational processes. Some characteristics of e-learning such as the portable size of mobile tools, and learning that is ubiquitous/spontaneous, blended, private, interactive and collaborative, and instant information (Özdamlı & Çavuş, 2011 ) are another key point that keeps the MALL on the agenda. On the other hand, there are limitations such as small screen size, limited functions of mobile devices, cost of the devices, low battery life, and the problem of storing big data (Al-Said, 2015 ; Aygül, 2019 ; Fujimoto, 2012 ). However, new developments in technology have already minimized some of these problems. As a teacher, I observe that students no longer need any printed materials in the course. They use just their mobiles rather than books, dictionaries or any other printed materials. Moreover, devices such as smartphones have become more affordable. On the other hand, challenges such as differentiated access to devices and the internet, the problem of monitoring, and the ways of using the tools impact their effectiveness (McQuiggan et al, 2015 ) still present.

Review studies on MALL

Research on MALL generally concentrates on the effects of mobile technology use in English as a Foreign Language/ English as a Second Language (EFL/ESL) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA), teachers’ and learners’ perceptions/views on MALL and the effect of MALL on acquiring language skills (Yükselir, 2017 ). As there is a growing body of research, reviews that highlight the research trends and summarize the outcomes related to MALL systematically have gained importance. We can encounter MALL systematic review studies from 2010s to today in literature. The earlier review studies mainly tried to respond to the question of which areas and language skills were mostly studied in previous research. For instance; Duman et al. ( 2015 ) analyzed Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) indexed journals and found that the topics examined within the scope of MALL were vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, pronunciation, reading, writing, integrated skills, dictionary use, assessment/evaluation, multimedia use, instructional design, usability, potential drawbacks, collaboration, perception, and achievement. Burston ( 2015 ) found out that vocabulary, reading, listening, and speaking were the skills that were mostly studied. Similarly, Darmi and Albion ( 2014 ) and Li et al. ( 2022 ) indicated that the most popular language area in MALL studies was vocabulary. The researchers mostly preferred testing the effectiveness of mobile devices in the abovementioned areas. Liu et al. ( 2016 ) used text analysis on 24 articles in WoS database and the results supported that researchers were interested in testing the effectiveness and efficiency of mobile devices.

Later review studies tend to be more interested in affective behaviors such as motivation, attitude, and perception. Liu ( 2020 ) concluded that perception/motivation/attitude and comprehensive ability were the most popular topics among MALL researchers. On the other hand, this finding contradicts with the study of Che Mustaffa and Sailin ( 2022 ) and Zain ( 2021 ) thatemphasizedthat research regarding the effect of MALL on English performance was still trendy. However, the context was limited to Malaysia and 11 articles (Che Mustafa & Sailin, 2022 ) and 25 empirical studies (Zain, 2021 ) which directly sought the effect of interventions. Shadiev et al. ( 2020 ) reviewed the articles published between 2009 and 2018 to examine the research on MALL in familiar environments. They found that task-based learning and communicative language teaching, questionnaires, pretest and posttests, and interviews were the most frequent items. Penelope and Panagiotis ( 2021 ) examined the MALL trends between 2010 and 2020 by using text analysis. The analysis of 340 publications showed that the most frequent words in the texts were learning, mobile, language, assisted, English, students, and MALL.

Although there are some meta-analyses (Taj et al, 2016 ; Peng et al., 2020 ; Burston & Gianakou, 2022 ) or synthesis studies (e.g. Yükselir, 2017 ) of MALL in literature, there is little emphasis on the bibliometric analysis of the field. However, bibliometrics is suitable for summarizing and highlighting the research trends, which is important since there are many studies on MALL (Khodabandelou et al., 2022 ). Moreover, many review studies are confined to a limited number of studies while bibliometrics requires analysis with big data. Bibliometric analysis is also helpful for finding research areas through key word and abstract analysis, and the most influential papers, journals and authors. This type of information reveals the foci and trends of the related field and the contribution of the countries, authors and journals to such field (Andres, 2009 ). Moreover, it helps researchers find new research topics, journals, and authors that they may encounter during their literature review processes. Despite its contributions to the field there is little bibliometric research on MALL. Khodabandelou et al. ( 2022 ) examined English Mobile Learning and highlighted the most cited papers and authors, and research areas. Feng and Chen ( 2022 ) also conducted a bibliometric analysis on Mobile-Assisted Second Language Learning and found out that the most popular research areas were vocabulary, personalized learning, learning environment, and learner attitudes.

Being one of the most important parts of learning a language, vocabulary is considered one of the areas that attract much attention in MALL research. As Wilkins ( 1972 ) stated; “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (p. 11–112). Hence, this dense interest in vocabulary is understandable. Moreover, mobiles save us from carrying heavy dictionaries. The aforementioned review studies also support the interest in Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning (MAVL, hereafter). The role of utilizing m-learning for vocabulary learning has made the review of topic inevitable (Afzali et al., 2017 ). In their meta-analysis study, Lin and Lin ( 2019 ) discovered a large effect size, which meant that MAVL affected the language learning process positively. For these reasons, the nature and trends of MAVL research were examined in this study through bibliometric and thematic analysis. A thematic/content analysis of MAVL studies would be beneficial for understanding the field in detail and it would provide information on some features of the study such as sampling, methodology and aim. However, there is a scarcity of qualitative analysis on MAVL. Moreover, an existing study in the literature (Pang & Aziz, 2021 ) was based on the aspects such as sampling, technological tools, country, and data sources. In this study, sampling and technological focus were also analyzed since the previous articles were different due to the differentiated inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g. this study used only WoS database and empirical studies while the mentioned study had a variety of databases and no exclusion criteria in terms of the nature of the study). Besides, the tools and the technological focus imply different meanings as this study went beyond giving the name of mobile applications but also the specific feature of applications as well. Furthermore, this study included the aspect of language learning to see which learning domains were studied. This information will enable researchers to see the gap in language learning areas regarding mobile learning. Based on these rationales and since there is no bibliometric research on MAVL (to my knowledge), this study aimed at firstly showing a general map of MAVL research and an in-depth analysis of empirical studies which are mostly studied in MAVL. The research questions were as follows:

What are the bibliometric features such as the most frequent keywords, the most productive countries, and the most influential authors and articles regarding MAVL research?

What are the technological and language learning foci and sampling of mavl research.

The methodology of the research was explained within the context of two research questions which were tried to be responded in two dimensions.

Bibliometric mapping

Web of Science core collection was used as a source of data as it includes more qualified research. The query of (Mobile AND language AND learn* AND vocabulary or Word or lexeme or lexicology) was set to the topic section of WoS on 18th April 2022, which resulted in 687 publications. Any exclusion/inclusion criteria were not applied in this phase since it was targeted to show a general map of MAVL research. The distribution of the research over the years was shown in Fig.  1 :

Years of publication

The figure shows that the first MAVL research in WoS was published in 2002, while the most productive year was 2019. It should be also noted that more and more studies have been conducted over the years. The other features of publications such as document types and languages of publications can be seen in Table 1 :

It is seen that most of the publications were in English as it is all known that English is the lingua franca. Moreover, researchers mostly prefer articles rather than other types of publications (see Table 1 ).

Thematic analysis

For the second dimension of the study, some inclusion criteria were applied. Firstly, articles written in English were chosen and it resulted in 360 publications. Then, the most productive five journals which were indexed in Social Science Citation Index were selected as there were more studies on the topic and these journals had higher impacts. Moreover, it would not be appropriate and practical to include hundreds of papers in a qualitative analysis, so a narrowing in terms of number of publications was applied and 74 articles were determined. The journals and number of MALL articles listed in WoS scanning were shown in Table 2 : 74 articles were read in detail and some inclusion criteria were applied. Such inclusion criteria and reasons were given below:

Focus on foreign/second language learning: acquiring first language and a second/foreign language is different.

Related to only MALL: there were some articles on general technology usage (e.g. perceptions and meta-analyses on technology usage including all devices)

Directly focus on vocabulary: as vocabulary is an integral part of communicative skills, research studies including also these skills existed in the WoS search results. However, the focus of this study was vocabulary learning/teaching.

The empirical studies: only empirical studies were included since they were more popular in MAVL research and contributed much to the observed and measured experience or experiment with research questions, sampling, data collection and analysis, and findings that are studied (Goodwin, 2005) meticulously.

Based on these criteria, 19 articles were finally included in the analysis (see Fig.  2 ).

Data analysis

In the first phase, the bibliometric mapping approach was adopted since it “applies quantitative methods to a body of literature to arrive at an understanding of the communication patterns, trends and networks occurring in the literature” (Haddow, 2013 ; p. 219). To analyze data, the VOSviewer, a social network analysis program, was used. VOSviewer is “developed specifically for analyzing and visualizing bibliometric networks” (van Eck & Waltman, 2014 ; p.292). The most frequent keywords, the most productive countries, and the most cited authors and articles were analyzed through VOSviewer. To respond to the second research question which was “what are the technological and language learning foci and sampling of MAVL research?”, 19 articles (see Appendix) were read and analyzed through thematic analysis.

The findings were presented regarding the research questions.

As a result of WoS scanning, 687 articles were analyzed and results were presented below.

The most frequent key words

In order to determine the keywords that authors mostly prefer, co-occurrences of author keywords were analyzed. As there were 1901 keywords that the authors used, the minimum number of occurrences of a keyword was adjusted to 10. As a result, there existed five clusters with 29 keywords (see Table 3 ).

Table 3 points out that the most frequent keywords were mobile learning (f = 119), language learning (f = 57), and vocabulary learning (f = 43). It was observed that different names such as MALL, Mobile-Assisted Language Learning, and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) were used for the same concept. The same finding can be noted also in the dimensions of vocabulary (e.g. vocabulary, vocabulary learning and vocabulary acquisition), and language learning (e.g. EFL, foreign language learning, English learning, language learning).

The network and distribution of keywords over the years can be seen in Fig.  3 .

The most frequent keywords

Figure  3 indicates some changes over years. Although there is no rigid discrimination among years, some differences can be observed. The terms such as foreign language learning, vocabulary learning and mobile assisted language learning were preferred in 2016. On the other hand, the terms such as augmented reality, m-learning, mobile application, and game- based learning were more popular in 2017–2018. Finally, the most recent keywords were determined as gamification, machine learning, and mobile apps.

The most productive countries

While examining the most productive countries, the minimum number of documents of an author was determined as 5, while the minimum number of citations was adjusted to 2. The results were presented in Fig.  4 .

As it can be seen from Fig.  4 , the most productive countries were the USA (f = 104), China (f = 92), Taiwan (f = 72), Turkey (f = 34), and Japan and Malaysia (f = 31) in terms of number of publications. As for the collaboration among the researchers, again the USA was the leading country as it had collaboration with 17 countries. England (f = 12) was the second country and China (f = 10) was the third country that works in international research studies.

The most influential authors

The minimum number of citations of an author were set to 50 to determine the most co-cited authors. The results can be seen in Fig.  5 .

Co-cited authors

It was observed that the most influential authors were Agnes Kukulska-Hulme (f = 226), Chih-Ming Chen (f = 124), Patricia Thornton (f = 116), Glenn Stockwell (f = 106), and Robert Goodwin Jones (f = 100). The networks indicated that there were three clusters which were blue, green and red. There were researchers that study on mobile learning in blue cluster, while the red cluster included both researchers such as Batia Laufer, Paul Nation, Norbert Schmitt studying vocabulary, and Michael Levy, Glenn Stockwell, Nadire Çavuş, and Patricia Thornton studying technology. The green cluster included researchers interested in utilizing mobile devices for language learning.

The most influential articles

The co-citation analysis was conducted and the most cited ten articles were found. The information regarding the articles and citation numbers in the reviewed articles were presented below.

According to Table 4 , the most influential article belonged to Thornton and Houser (2005) with 76 citations followed by Kukulska- Hulme and Shield ( 2008 ) (n = 66), and Lu (2008) (n = 54).

To answer this research question, 19 articles were examined and the findings were presented below .

Technological focus: According to the results, the types of mobile systems and features showed variety. While 9 (A3, A6, A7, A8, A11, A14, A15, A17, A19) articles included systems developed by the researchers, the rest of researchers used existing applications such as Duolingo (A18), Pokemon Go (A13) and Mondly (A10). Furthermore, researchers focused on different aspects of systems such as games, texting, augmented reality, concept mapping, mind-mapping, mobile-based cards, HMD, situational learning, self-regulation, image-to-text, artificial intelligence, and concept mapping. Gamification was the most preferred feature. (A4, A7 A17, A18) (see Table 5 ).

Language Learning focus: The findings showed that nearly all of the articles were concerned with vocabulary achievement (see Table 5 ). Only one article (A7) chose self-assessment of vocabulary abilities as the basis. Learners’ attitudes, perceptions and satisfaction on/with the systems were the second behaviors on which the researchers concentrated mostly. Some studies examined other affective components such as motivation (A8, A11, A14), satisfaction (A13), and self-efficacy (A16, A18).

Sampling: It is possible to see participants from elementary level (A11, A14, A15, A17, A18, A19), secondary education (A10), high school (A2), and higher education (A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A12, A13, A16). However, it is noteworthy that higher education had the highest frequency, followed by elementary school. As for the countries where interventions were conducted, five countries which were Taiwan, China, Canada, the USA, and Netherlands came prominent (see Table 5 ).

The focus of this research was twofold; the first objective was to identify the bibliometric mapping of MAVL and the second was to find the nature and trend in empirical studies. Both of these dimensions shed some light on the area of interest. The results were discussed in line with the previous research on MALL as MAVL review studies are scarce.

Mobile learning, language learning, and vocabulary learning were the most frequent keywords according to the VOSviewer analysis. This indicates some similarity with the study of Penelope and Panagiotis ( 2021 ) that examined the MALL trends between 2010 and 2020 by using text analysis. Their analysis of 340 publications showed that the most frequent keywords in the corpus were learning, mobile, language, assisted, English, students, and MALL. This study also explained that there was a shift in keywords over the years. Regarding the use of educational technologies, terms like augmented reality, machine learning and gamification have acquired more place in research. This finding can be supported with the results of the second dimension of this study which presented that gamification was the most common feature in the reviewed articles. This finding suggests that the number of topics in MAVL research are increasing. This increase may be associated with the development of technology and pedagogy. For instance, the technology of augmented reality and its use for educational purposes is more current. At the beginning of MAVL research, features such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) were benefited in understanding mobile language learning and general terms such as mobile learning and MALL were preferred. However, some new features such as gamification and augmented reality have found place in mobile learning research after the mobile devices have been updated. Hence, there is a real variety of features that will be examined within the scope of MALL. For instance, machine learning has been popular in different fields recently and this popularity has reflected on also MAVL research. This finding also highlights the emerging areas and potential subjects for researchers.

The most productive countries were determined as the USA, China and Taiwan in bibliometric analysis. Similarly, the review of sampling in the empirical studies indicated that the interventions were conducted in mainly Taiwan, China, the USA, Canada, and Netherlands. Although there are some minor differences in the countries and their order, the findings of bibliometric and thematic analysis had parallel findings. This finding is also parallel with the previous research. For instance, Khodabandelou et al ( 2022 ) also found that the most productive countries in MALL research were China, the USA and Taiwan. The USA is the leading country in terms of contributing mobile technology publications (Kumar & Kaliyeperumal, 2015 ). The statistics show that smartphone usage is highest in China, followed by India and the USA (Statista, Wikipedia). This high rate of use may be one of the reasons explaining the number of research in these countries as research is affected by the situations and policies in the countries. Furthermore, it is important that the learners have mobile technologies for conducting MALL research especially for experimental studies. Secondly, both the USA and China have necessary infrastructure and lots of resources for research. Lastly, international collaborations are essential for research as it provides more global and general data.

The results on the most influential authors and articles did not differ from what the researchers had already known intuitively. It is possible to say each researcher who steps into the world of m-learning and MALL has encountered the names of professors Agnes Kukulska-Hulme while this name is Paul Nation, Norbert Schmit and Batia Laufer in vocabulary. The findings of this study supported this intuitive knowledge. The field owes to these scholars as they contributed much to the fields of vocabulary and mobile learning. The definition of mobile learning which is “anytime anywhere” learning (Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008 ) has provided great assistance in the conceptualization of mobile learning. It was found that Agnes-Kukulska Hulme was the most cited researcher while the most cited article belonged to Patricia Thornton in this study. This finding contradicts with Khodanadelau et al. ( 2022 ) that concluded that the most influential papers belonged to Wu et al. ( 2013 ), Gikas and Grant (2013) and Wang et al. (2009). The main reason of this difference may be the dimension of vocabulary added in this study. Khadabandelou et al. ( 2022 ) examined publication on general English Mobile Learning while the center of this study was vocabulary learning.

Most of the empirical studies examined within the scope of this study went beyond focusing on the applications as a whole and took one or two features as basis in their interventions. Moreover, researchers preferred designing their own systems of vocabulary teaching and tested their effectiveness and then searched learners’ perspectives and satisfaction on these systems. Pang and Aziz ( 2021 ) highlighted that researchers benefited from mostly existing commercial applications while it was found that researchers generally developed their own applications in this study. This finding can be a result of using different databases. Only WoS was included in this study and it is assumed that WoS could have more comprehensive articles. Secondly, Short Message Services (SMS), Multimedia Message Services (MMS), and mobile applications were the popular aspects in the review study of Lin and Lin ( 2019 ). They investigated the studies conducted between 2005 and 2018. However, this study did not apply any inclusion criteria related to date, which resulted in the inclusion of the most recent articles (e.g. 2022). The finding of this study that foresees different applications and different features such as gamification and augmented reality did not totally contradict with the previous findings as there were a few studies that examined messaging.

Although mobile devices are used by people from different age groups, teenagers are more keen on them. Based on this interest, the digital literacy of teenagers and policies, it is possible to say MALL is more utilized in higher education. In addition, mobile learning requires more autonomous learning compared to the traditional learning approaches as it is independent from place and time. Young learners need more scaffolding of teachers than university students and may have more difficulty in learning English autonomously. Thus, it is possible for researchers to think that mobile learning work better in higher education. Another reason might be the fact that researchers work generally in higher education so it is easier to conduct research in the place where they work. Moreover, using smartphones is forbidden in some K12 schools and these schools have stricter curricula which may limit mobile integration. 11 of the studies investigated in this study were about MAVL in higher education. Higher education is the most common educational level in MALL research (CheMustaffa & Sailin, 2022 ).

Recent studies of MALL are more related to the affective behaviors and attitudes/ perception scales (Shadiev et al., 2019; Liu, 2020 ). This study both contradicts with and supports the previous research. It contradicts as nearly all of the studies examined in this study focused on learners’ vocabulary achievement. On the other hand, most of the studies were also interested in learners’ opinions and satisfaction on/with the applications. In many countries, the educational policies attribute more importance to achievement than any other behaviors. Thus, it is understandable that research that is both affected and affects the practice is parallel with it. More, many studies are experimental. It is known that testing the achievement is easier and more objective than testing affective behaviors as measurement of dimensions such as perception, attitude, and motivation relies mainly on self-evaluation of learners. This practicality of achievement tests can be one of the reasons of focusing on cognitive process. Besides, changing affective behaviors of individuals needs more time, which requires longer treatment.

Conclusions

Despite its preliminary character, this study concluded with some important findings, which can show a path of what to study within the context of MAVL to the researchers. Furthermore, it shows that MAVL is an area that involves a large area to explore. Based on the keyword and thematic analysis, it can be concluded that there is limited variety in the topics studied in MAVL. Besides, there is a lack of international collaborations among researchers, which may yield a limitation for the development of research. Based on these findings, researchers are suggested to seek more collaboration and find untouched areas of MAVL. The findings do not have implications for just researchers but also for practitioners. The analysis illustrates which applications and aspects to be used in vocabulary learning. Both teachers and learners may have an insight for the technological and pedagogical features used in language learning process. For instance, teachers may prefer utilizing gamification both in classroom and out of classroom and make learners play vocabulary games with their mobile devices during or after the course. This will help increase their motivation and learn with fun. Moreover, learners may feel in an authentic context of an English speaking country thanks to virtual reality. The learners can obtain the highest efficiency in their vocabulary learning process by using appropriate technical feature and pedagogical approach. Although this study contributed to the review of MAVL, which has been little discussed in literature, it is not free from weaknesses. Firstly, the bibliometric analysis was restricted to the just WoS database. Inclusion of other databases will result in much more studies, leading to an in-depth analysis of the field. Secondly, 19 studies were chosen based on the inclusion criteria such as articles and empirical studies in the second dimension. On the other hand, other publication types such as book chapters and conference proceedings may provide various views of points. Finally, the inclusion criteria and themes were subject to the researchers’ own preferences.

Within the light of these limitations of this research and the gaps in the literature, it is suggested that more review research to be conducted on vocabulary learning through mobile learning. The previous MALL review studies reveal that vocabulary has generated wide interest in MALL research studies. However, this interest was not observed in the review studies. Thus, more MAVL review studies using different methods of analysis and datasets may be produced.

Availability data and materials

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Web of science

Mobile-assisted language learning

Mobile-assisted vocabulary learning

English as foreign language

English as second language

Second language acquisition

Social science citation index

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Okumuş Dağdeler, K. A systematic review of Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning research. Smart Learn. Environ. 10 , 19 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-023-00235-z

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• Mobile learning
• Bibliometric

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

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

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

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

Introduction

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

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

Foreign language anxiety

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

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

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

Research design

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

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

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

Data collection

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

Figure 1 . PRISMA flow chart.

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

Data analysis

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

Descriptive characteristics of studies

Publishing years.

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

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

Countries/regions of research

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

Research participants

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

Foreign languages studied

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

Research methodologies

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

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

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

Research themes and key findings

Level of fla.

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

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

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

Sources of FLA

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

Correlation of FLA with other variables

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

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

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

Ways to relieve FLA

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

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

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

Research samples

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

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

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

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

Research themes

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

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

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

Data availability statement

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

Author contributions

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

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

Conflict of interest

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

Publisher’s note

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

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

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

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

Reviewed by:

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

*Correspondence: Qiangfu Yu, [email protected]

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

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Review: Everything You Need to Know

Looking for a thorough and detailed Learing Language Arts Through Literature review?

There is not a lot of information out there about this all-in-one language arts curriculum, so I really wanted to share our experience and get the word out!

It is not a perfect curriculum – which you will know a perfect curriculum doesn’t exist if you read my reviews – but it is definitely the most unique and fun curriculum that we have run across! 

Keep reading to find out:

Why I Switched to Learning Language Arts Through Literature

How a learning language arts through literature lesson works, what we loved about the curriculum, what we didn’t love about the curriculum, what you need to buy to get going with learning language arts through literature.

Last year we tried BJU English with my 4th grader and really like it. I thought it was was really balanced and worked well for our homeschool. 

I purchased everything again for BJU English for this school year…and in less than a month the wheels were coming off my homeschool, you guys. 

It was just way too dry for my squirmy, high energy, creative 2nd grader. It almost felt wrong to put these sentence diagrams in front of her. She was compliant, but I could tell that there was no spark at all for learning in her when we did the lessons.

My 5th grader was also compliant, but I could tell she was getting bored with the format. 

I reached out to our homeschool evaluator and asked for advice. She said all of her girls (now grown and graduated) used Learning Language Arts Through Literature. 

I thought, “ What is that?! I’ve never even heard of it. ”

I did my research and quickly found out about this hidden treasure and ordered my books in less than 48 hours!

Hold Up, What is Learning Language Arts Through Literature?

Learning Language Arts Through Literature (or LLATL) is an all-in-one language arts program for 1st grade – high school.

It includes grammar, phonics, handwriting, vocabulary, spelling, reading, composition, research skills, and higher order thinking. 

The books are also organized by color, which is kind of fun! For example my 5th grader uses “The Purple Book,” and my 2nd grader is using “The Red Book.”

The focus of the program is somewhat obvious: teaching language arts through high quality, classic literature.

All of the above skills are taught from books your child is reading or from portions of those books. 

How a Learning Language Arts Through Literature Lessons Works

I love to share how the lessons actually work in a real homeschool day.

I think it gives you a great snapshot of whether or not this curriculum will fit into your homeschool and if it’s going to work for your kid.

Keep in mind that you can also download sample lessons for all grade levels from the Common Sense Press Website. 

Okay, let’s dive into some lessons!

A Day In The Red Book (2nd Grade)

So the lesson you see above is Day 1 for Lesson (Week) 16 and we will be doing it next week. 

If you zoom in on the page you’ll see that the lesson starts with the teacher reading a story from one of the readers. I usually have my daughter read the story and then I just help her with the words she doesn’t know.

****As a side note these readers are published by Common Sense Press and they are soooo cute! My daughter loves them!

Section B : After the story, there are questions in the teacher’s manual to go over with your child. This is a great reading and/or listening comprehension time. The student usually first gives a summary of the story and then other questions are asked about the story.

Here are today’s questions:

• Is it normal to be excited about something new? Have you ever gotten anything new that you were excited about?
• Turtle and Muskrat were very honest with Beaver. What effect did that have on Beaver?
• How did Otter explain his feelings to Beaver? What did Otter say that helped Beaver?
• Have you ever really liked something that others didn’t like? Did they say hurtful things?
• Do you think you should always give your opinion?

I am actually really excited to go through these questions with my daughter! Definitely an opportunity for some life lessons.

Section C : This is a short lesson about using the -ly suffix and how to add it on to words. The concept is taught using a sentence from the story that was just read.

Section D : A short review of compound words.

Section E : Using a sentence from the story, the student is now going to underline adjectives or “describing words.” She will also practice when to use commas to separate adjectives.

Section F : Your child will now read the words in the Phonics Words Box after reviewing the phonogram /igh/. Then your student will read the sentence on the following page, and fill in the blank with the appropriate word. 

Section G : Woohoo! Your child will now do a hands-on activity!

The story that was read today was about Beaver’s new, big shoes. Your student will draw a pair of shoes on a piece of paper and try to make their picture match the describing words from the story.

Your student will then write the describing words on the picture and separate the words with commas.

Section H : Lastly, the student will end the day by copying four spelling words from the story. 

Depending on a few factors, I would expect this lesson to be 30-40 minutes long.

****Obviously, every day is a little different. Some days are shorter, have different assignments, etc.

A Week In The Purple Book (5th Grade)

The Purple Book is similar to the above lessons, but it is easier to give you an arc of the week, as opposed to just one day. 

Day 1 : Your child will read an excerpt from David Livingstone’s book, The Foe of Darkness , and then she will read the passage to you. You will go over any words she doesn’t know or struggles to read.

You will then dictate a portion of the passage to your student, and they will write it as best they can. When they’re done, they will check their own work for errors. 

The student then works on a spelling rule and spelling words from the passage.

Day 2 : Your student will hunt for compound words in the literature passage and then do a compound word exercise matching words together.

The child will next hunt for personal pronouns in the passage and write them out and the person those pronouns refer to.

Day 3 : Today the student is asked questions about the passage. They are challenged to think it through and write out their answers.

Example question: Why does the chief want his heart to be changed? What is he trying to change?

There is also a vocabulary question where the student is asked to look up “entreaty” in the dictionary and use the definition to answer a question.

Spelling words are reviewed.

Day 4 : A map is provided for the student to fill out and track David Livingstone’s travel through Africa. This is a great review of map skills, but also a wonderful way for kids to visualize what David Livingstone accomplished in his life. 

Spelling words are reviewed again.

Day 5 : Dictation of the passage is done again, a spelling test is given, there is an optional enrichment activity, and there is a worksheet style review of compound words, pronouns, antecedents, and antonyms.

****Depending on your child’s strengths, lesson lengths will vary. For us, they tend to be 20-25 minutes.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Review: What We Loved!

1. Learning Through Literature

This is such an obvious thing – everybody learns better when a story is involved!

Everything else we have tried before now seems so dull and dry. The stories just really bring the lessons to life and show the practical application of what I’m trying to teach to them, whether it is grammar, phonics, or vocabulary!

2. Book Studies and Book Selection

The book studies have been a huge highlight for us this year! I love that LLATL has my daughter reading classic literature! She loves her tween fantasy books (Percy Jackson, Keeper of the Lost Cities, etc.), so it’s been great to have her broaden her horizons a bit.

This year she is assigned to read Trumpet of the Swan , Caddie Woodlawn , Number the Stars , and Farmer Boy .

I have her read a chapter a day from the assigned book and then we do a book study review when the book is finished. That includes vocabulary checks, discussion questions to go over, and some other enrichment things. The book studies go alongside her normal lessons.

3. Guided Literature Discussion

I love that Learning Language Arts Through Literature prompts you with questions to go through with your kid. Last week, my daughter and I talked for almost 30 minutes about The Trumpet of the Swan and what it’s like to be different. 

The curriculum directed me to share with my daughter times in my life when I’ve felt different and how I handled it. It was such a good discussion!

4. Hands On Language Arts!

I love, love, love, that my 2nd grader is constantly getting out scissors and glue sticks to do her assignments! 

She has made word wheels, drawn pictures, put together little books, and she has even been asked to act out stories that she has read!

As I watching her joyfully act out one of those scenes, I knew that I had made the right decision to switch out our language arts curriculum this year.

5. Regular Review and Assessments

There is a review section at the end of every week and an assessment (aka test) every four weeks. This is less review than we were doing with our previous curriculum, but I think it’s just the right amount for us.

Too much review can be soul crushing for kids over time.

If my kid does miss something on an assessment, that just tells me that I need to review a little more with them on that topic. After years of homeschooling, I am much more relaxed and understand that grammar is taught over and over every year. They will pick it up eventually.

6. Customer Service

I have emailed Common Sense Press (the publisher of LLATL) a couple times and I have been so impressed with their prompt and personal customer service! 

One time I had lost an important paper for the curriculum, and they emailed me a new PDF right away – and they were so nice about it! You can tell it’s a small family business and they value customers. 

7. Facebook Community

I always recommend looking for a FB group for any curriculum you are teaching. There is no sense trying to reinvent the wheel when you could have a sisterhood of homeschool moms at the ready to help you and answer questions!

Blessedly, there is a Facebook group for Learning Language Arts Through Literature. 

It has been so nice to get comments and insight from people who have used the curriculum successfully for years!

What We Didn’t Love About Learning Language Arts Through Literature

1. Lessons Can Be Long

The Purple Book lessons are usually pretty reasonable, but The Red Book Lessons can get long at times.

I have been told that The Red Book is a foundational book though, and we should take our time going through it. It will prepare your child for all of the following books. 

My recommendation to parents who are struggling with the length of the lessons would be to break them up. Remember that it is an all-in-one curriculum, but you don’t have to do it all in one sitting.

For example, tell your kid that you’re just doing grammar and reading right now, and you’ll pick up spelling and handwriting after a break.

2. Lessons Focus on Multiple Things

Our old curriculum had my child focused on one thing for their lesson. For example, they only learned about adjectives one day. Or they only learned about compound predicates for another lesson. 

Learning Language Arts Through Literature has my kid doing multiple concepts in one lesson. One minute we’re talking about compound words, then we’re talking about suffixes, then we jump to reading context words. 

I wonder how that affects their ability to retain the information, but I also tend to think it helps my attention challenged 2nd grader. She gets bored easily, so I sometimes think the constant topic change helps her stay engaged.

FAQ About Learning Language Arts Through Literature

1. How do the book studies fit into the curriculum?

This was a common question I saw in the LLATL Facebook group, so I reached out to the curriculum creators at Common Sense Press for answers. I was not surprised that they quickly and graciously responded:

“The book studies are some of my favorite lessons. While introducing students to great classic literature, they are designed to encourage the love of reading and to develop the life-long practice of using books as springboards for learning.   In most of the course levels, the book studies are part of the 36 weekly lessons. Since students have different reading speeds, we do not normally assign how many chapters to read a day. My general advice is to divide the book into comfortable reading sections throughout the week. Since Mondays and Fridays have a few activities to do, I make those days lighter. For example, if there are 13 chapters in a book, I would have the student read two chapters on Monday, three chapters on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and two chapters on Friday. You can, of course, choose to take longer than one week to complete the book. You’ll just need to set aside a little time for reading alongside the language arts lessons. The book studies stand alone and are not used to teach grammar, punctuation, or writing mechanics. That means you can move the studies anywhere you want in the curriculum. Also, if a student has already read a book, another book may be substituted. We have free books studies on our website to facilitate that. Some of the confusion about the book studies is because in the Purple and Tan books they are supplemental to the course instead of being worked into the 36 weeks.  In the Purple and Tan books, the novels are read alongside the daily lessons, or they can be used during breaks for Christmas or summer reading. Again, you set the pace for completing each study.”

2. How exactly do you do dictation?

This was another common question that I saw homeschool parents asking over and over again, so I also asked the curriculum creators at Common Sense Press to shed some light:

“This is really the foundation of the program. The dictation lessons serve as examples of good writing and also help ground skills in the ‘real world.’ When I dictate, I sit next to the student so that I can be sure to pace my reading to their writing speed and also to calm things down if they start feeling stressed.  I read short sections slowly, and periodically I will tell them that I am going to repeat what I have read so that they can check what they have written and listen more carefully for punctuation clues. After dictation, you can have older students check their work, but with younger students I like to check it with them. Use this time to circle misspelled words to add to their weekly spelling list while identifying the part of the word that they had trouble with, and give any other instruction needed for correct punctuation, grammar, and writing rules. You can find a video of a student taking dictation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e26WkPOIu5k&t=254s .”

3. I’m obsessed with our current spelling curriculum. Do I have to do the LLATL spelling too?

Nope. 

We had been happily using our spelling curriculum for years before I picked up Learning Language Arts Through Literature. I will either skip the spelling lesson completely in the Student Book, or I will just briefly go over it.

That works just fine for us and doesn’t take away from the overall lessons being taught.

If you have more questions, the FAQ page on the Learning Language Arts Through Literature page is excellent! Definitely check it out.

So, What Exactly Do You Need to Buy For This Language Arts Curriculum?

No matter what grade your child is in, you will need a Student Activity Book and a Teacher Book.

Yes, the Teacher’s Book is necessary. Don’t skip it.

You will have to buy the books separately for the book studies. Those do not come in the curriculum pack. 

The Red Book and the Blue Book have readers that go with them. Make sure that those readers are included in the bundle package when you buy your curriculum.

The Red Book and The Blue Book will also call for your to read certain picture books aloud to your child for a lesson. If you don’t want to buy the books and your library is difficult to work with because of COVID, I would recommend searching the book on Youtube. 

I was shocked to find that there are TONS of channels of people doing nothing but reading children’s books aloud. This has saved me so much time and money, while still helping us complete the lessons.

Where is the best place to buy Learning Language Arts Through Literature?

Rainbow Resource, Christianbook.com, and the Common Sense Press website are all going to give you great deals.

I would recommend that you carefully price compare across the platforms. I originally bought The Red Book Bundle on the Common Sense Press website because it was $30 cheaper than Rainbow Resource.

As I look at the prices now though, I can see that Christianbook.com now has the same bundle for $25 cheaper than what I paid. 

There are lots of deals out there, so make sure you get the best one!

And if you are willing to go looking, Common Sense Press  sells old editions of the curriculum for 50% off . The stock is obviously limited, but it is definitely worth a shot to see if they have the grade-level text you’re looking for. 

If they are still available, you can also buy imperfect books for 50% off ! They are the current edition, but have slight damage that keeps them from being sold at full price (bent cover, etc.).

Recap Learning Language Arts Through Literature Review

I hope you learned everything you wanted to know and more about this treasure of a curriculum!

I really love the heart behind it and the intent of the creators. You can see that they really care about kids, learning, and the love of literature. 

This attitude about learning is a huge piece of what made me want to homeschool my kids. I wanted my kids to be on fire for learning, and I wanted to have rich discussions with them. 

If that’s the kind of homeschool you want to run, then I hope you jump on board and check this curriculum out!

Hello. I am so encouraged to have found your site. I am just starting homeschooling (I grew up homeschooled) so I didn’t really know what I was looking for. I first found your review on The Good and the Beautiful because that was the one I was thinking of doing however after reading your cons I knew it wasn’t a good fit. After reading this review I am confident this curriculum is what I’m looking for. You have saved me SO much time and frustration (and probably my kids)- I am so grateful! Also, thank you for all the extra help/suggestions too. This is by far the best review(s) I have found on any curriculum. Hands down! Thank you so much. 😊

I would like to know your thoughts on the difference between LLATL and The Good and the Beautiful LA, if you have a comparison. I’m doing TGATB with my kids this year, but I’m thinking I might want to switch them to something different this coming school year. Thank you!

I would love to see a comparison between LLATL and another program that is titled, English Lessons Through Literature Secular Level A: Aspiring. Both programs seem to be set up in a similar style. The additional books needed for ELTL can all be found free on the internet because they are in the public domain. Since these two programs are so similar I wonder if it just comes down to personal preference and not one or other being “better”. Perhaps you could shed some light if you do a side by side comparison?

I would also love a side by side comparison, Goldie! Please let me know if you’ve looked into this further.

What a great review! I was very curious about this curriculum.

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Language of the literature review

The language that you use in a literature review is important for informing readers where you stand on relevant debates on your topic or issue. In a writer-responsible academic culture, it is your job to lead readers to the meanings and conclusions that you want them to make. Since literature reviews can involve complex ideas and various bodies of literature, it is necessary to be explicit about how the the studies that you cite are connected to each other and are relevant for your own research, and how the ideas introduced are relevant for developing your argument. You can achieve this by using language that clearly indicates your position and strengthens your voice in relation to others'.

In your introduction, you should make it clear what the purpose of the literature review is, as in the following.

Note how the author explains the purpose of the literature review ("The aim of the chapter is to define the kinds of intervention that will have the most beneficial impact"). The author also generally identifies the literature review's key message ("Answers to these questions are found in accounts of both cause and action"). In your own introduction, you could go into more detail about your argument. For example, consider the introduction below, which explains the key points more directly.

To see how other people in your field write literature reviews in a thesis, check out the ANU Digital Thesis Collection to find other theses, and ask your supervisor to show you some past samples.

Within paragraphs, your choice of language can help you to explain connections between the literature's concepts. Take a look at the words in bold in the sample text below, and note how they help the author to guide you through the ideas.

Critically evaluating the literature

A key role of your literature review is to show your critical interpretation and evaluation of the literature. When taking notes and researching, you can develop this critical evaluation by asking yourself questions such as:

• what are the strengths and weaknesses/limitations of the different bodies of literature/studies you are reviewing?
• what accounts for authors' different findings-how can these be explained (e.g. theory or methodology adopted etc.)? (Hold your sources in relation)
• to which issues, gaps, ambiguities, unresolved problems, etc. in the literature do you wish to particularly draw attention and why?
• what are the implications of your discussions? (Don't leave your reader thinking: "This is an interesting piece of critical analysis, but what's the point of it all?" "So what?")

When it comes to writing up your literature review, you can use language to show your critical interpretation and evaluation. For example, take a look at the words in bold in the sample text below. How do they show interpretation and evaluation?

Positioning your research in relation to the literature

It could be that you are expected to reserve detailed discussion of your own research for a distinct section within or following your literature review. More likely though, you will be expected to situate your own research in relation to the literature during the review. The examples below shows how the authors relate their own research to the literature they review. Note how they tell you what they are doing, why they are doing it, where they are going, and where you can find more detailed information within other areas of the thesis.

Literature reviews

Purpose of traditional literature reviews

Placement of traditional literature reviews

Structuring a literature review

Systematic literature reviews

Grounded theory literature reviews

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