Social media as a language learning environment: a systematic review of the literature (2008-2019)

Abstract

This review maps the scientific literature on social media as a language learning environment published between 2008 and 2019. Over 1,600 journals from the Scopus database were surveyed and 396 documents were analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The findings indicate that this field of interest has exponentially grown in the past 12 years and is likely to progress in the next several years. Although the scientific output is highly concentrated on the ten leading countries, the data also indicates its wide geographical distribution. As the first review to cover the 17 most popular social media platforms, the qualitative analysis of the findings of each study provided overwhelming evidence on the positive impact of social media as a language learning and teaching environment. The paper also reveals that high-profile platforms, such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, and Twitter remain to attract the greatest attention from language learning scholars. This result was attributed to their multiple and flexible communication affordances, wide geographical distribution, and large number of active users. The paper concludes with implications for social media adoption and future studies.

Keywords:

• computer assisted
• language learning
• media in education
• social media
• systematic review language learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessie S. Barrot

Dr. Jessie Barrot is currently the Dean of the College of Education, Arts and Sciences at the National University, Philippines and an author and resident trainer for C&E Publishing. As a leading scholar in the Philippines, he has written over 40 papers in the fields of L2 writing, computer assisted language learning, language teaching, and curriculum and instruction. He has also received three international recognitions, namely (1) Award for International Participation at TESOL by the prestigious TESOL International Association in Washington, USA, (2) Research Fellowship Award by the Southeast Asian Ministry of Education Regional English Language Centre in Singapore, and (3) semifinalist of the prestigious, National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 2019 in the USA. His recent works appeared in Assessing Writing, Language, Culture and Curriculum, Reading and Writing Quarterly, RELC Journal, and Journal of Language, Identity and Education. He also serve as a reviewer and editorial board member for over 30 mainstream journals in education and linguistics.