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Confronted with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, millions of learners have received, are receiving, or will receive multimodal language learning education. This study aims to explore the relationships between various factors influencing learners’ continuance intention by proposing an innovative multiple linear regression model in multimodal language learning education. Participants were randomly recruited (N = 334) in China who had received multimodal language learning education by combining Massive Open Online Courses, Rain Classroom, and WeChat. The research instrument, a comprehensive questionnaire, was sent through the online system named Questionnaire Star developed by technical experts. A multiple linear regression analysis was adopted to test the proposed hypotheses and fit the research model. This study confirms the relationships between the Technology Acceptance Model-inclusive constructs such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes toward multimodal language learning education, and continuance intention of participating in multimodal language learning education. The Technology Acceptance Model is also associated with other constructs, e.g. Task-technology fit, Individual-technology fit, Openness, and Reputation of multimodal language learning educational institutes, and personal investment in multimodal language learning education. However, personal investment neither directly nor indirectly predicts continuance intention. Educators and designers could make every effort to improve multimodal language learning education to enhance personal investment and foster its association with continuance intention of learners.

Abstract Learning communities have become a focal point of research due to their potential impact on learning outcomes, motivation, and communication. These factors are recognized as crucial determinants of the effectiveness of learning communities. To guide this study, a thorough review of 35 relevant studies was conducted, employing rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria based on the PRISMA framework to ensure a systematic and robust approach. The findings of this study indicated that learning communities possess the capacity to enhance communication, motivation, and learning outcomes, while simultaneously alleviating learner anxiety. Specifically, it was observed that well-designed online learning communities can significantly improve learning outcomes. Furthermore, the utilization of online technologies within these communities can facilitate enhanced communication, leading to improved learning outcomes. Moreover, this study offers a range of recommendations for optimizing learning outcomes through the implementation of learning communities. These recommendations serve as valuable guidance for harnessing the full potential of learning communities to achieve educational goals. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of learning communities in enhancing learning outcomes, motivation, and communication. It highlights the efficacy of appropriately designed online communities and the integration of technology in fostering effective communication and improving learning outcomes. The study contributes important insights into ways of maximizing the benefits of learning communities in promoting educational success.

Abstract With educational technology growing by leaps and bounds, synchronous online learning platforms have become a prevalent practice worldwide. Although numerous studies unraveled the behavioral intention of educational technologies with statistical methodology, there is a paucity of that of DingTalk, one of China’s most popular online platforms for synchronous learning. This study aimed to extend the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by incorporating new constructs and examining the factors that affect users’ behavioral intention and use behavior of DingTalk. The study collected 856 valid responses from China, which were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and Amos 24.0. The findings indicated that (1) effort expectancy (EE), performance expectancy (PE), facilitating conditions (FC), self-efficacy (SE), and received feedback (RF) could significantly impact users’ attitudes toward behavior (ATB); (2) social influence (SI), FC, RF, and ATB could be significant predictors of user behavioral intention (BI); (3) FC, RF, and BI were found to have a significant effect on use behavior (UB); (4) the extended UTAUT model could explain 60.9% of the variance of users’ behavioral intention of DingTalk in China; (5) the study identified ATB and BI as joint mediators between certain variables in the model. The study presented a robust theoretical underpinning to explain the acceptance and use of educational technologies in China and provided insights into the future enhancement of E-learning platforms.

Abstract In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of students have been compelled to remain at home while receiving education supported by augmented reality (AR) technologies. To determine the impact of AR technologies on educational outcomes, the present study undertook a meta-analysis utilizing Stata/MP 14.0. The study found that the attitudes of learners towards AR-assisted education were more positive, and their learning achievements were significantly higher compared to those who did not use AR technologies. However, there was no significant difference in motivation levels between the AR-assisted and non-AR-assisted educational models. The researchers explored several reasons for this result, but they could not identify any clear explanation. Future studies could take into account other factors that might affect education outcomes such as learning styles and learner personality. Doing so could shed more light on the impact of AR technologies on education.

Abstract Digital academic reading tools on computers bring multiple benefits to higher-education students. Through structural equation modeling methods, this study contributes to the following findings: (1) Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and lecturers’ positive responses significantly predict students’ positive attitudes toward digital academic reading tools on computers; (2) perceived ease of use, lectures’ positive responses, and expectations of academic achievement are significantly positive predictors of students’ perceived usefulness of these tools; (3) attitudes and expectations of academic achievement significantly predict students’ positive intentions to use these tools; (4) academic experience significantly predicts students’ negative attitudes toward these tools; (5) perceived ease for collaborative learning and self-efficacy are significantly positive predictors of students’ perceived ease of using these tools. Findings in this study may contribute to understanding the external factors influencing students’ acceptance and use of digital academic reading tools on computers with a substantial explanatory power of the proposed model (R2 = 64.70–84.20%), which may benefit researchers, instructors, students, and technology designers.

Massive Open Online Courses have become a frequent platform for learners to acquire knowledge. This study aims to explore multiple factors influencing learner retention in MOOCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, we collected quantitative and qualitative data from questionnaires and qualitative data from interviews and then analyzed them through the Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling to test 14 research hypotheses. The proposed research model and research hypotheses are empirically tested with 243 participants across the world. According to the results, support is found for all of the 14 research hypotheses. We confirmed 14 factors influencing learner retention in MOOCs. The result is beneficial for designers and manufacturers of MOOCs to improve the quality of the products and facilitate online or blended learning during this special time. It could also help students improve their learning experiences. Future research could examine influencing factors of learner retention in MOOCs with interdisciplinary cooperation.

The past several years have been witnessing the fast development of information and communication technology, with which an increasing number of serious games are being designed and developed. Randomly selected participants were divided into the treatment and control cohorts. Two experiments, as well as a semi-structured interview, were administered to both cohorts. It was concluded that: (1) Learning outcomes in gamified English vocabulary learning are significantly better than in non-gamified English vocabulary learning; (2) The motivation in gamified English vocabulary learning is significantly stronger than in non-gamified English vocabulary learning; (3) The satisfaction in gamified English vocabulary learning is significantly higher than in non-gamified English vocabulary learning. Future research could include various serious games with interdisciplinary cooperation to testify the effect of gamification on English vocabulary learning.

Although academic self-concept plays a crucial role in promoting students' education, there is a paucity of studies simultaneously exploring the gender-moderated effects of academic self-concept. This study aimed to explore gender-moderated effects of academic self-concept on achievement, motivation, performance, and self-efficacy. With Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol (PRISMA-P) and STARLITE criteria, this study screened and assessed the retrieved literature, finally including 53 studies. It was concluded that academic self-concept exerted a positive influence on improving achievement, enhancing motivation, ameliorating performance, and boosting self-efficacy. It should also be noted that interrelations between academic self-concept and other educational constructs may be much more complicated than expected since gender disparities may moderate the effects of academic self-concept. Gender discrepancies in academic self-concept could account for the gap between male students and female students in subject-specific achievement, motivation, performance, and self-efficacy, especially in STEM courses. Teaching interventions and educational policies should be taken to enhance female students' STEM courses self-concept. Future studies should promote educational equality, highlight academic self-concept of special groups, and enhance academic self-concept in online learning.Systematic review registrationhttps://osf.io/uxjnv/?view_only=b10db44d34154d96a361c159ca15a5b5.

The new decade has been witnessing the wide acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, followed by serious concerns about its ethics. This study examined the essence and principles of AI ethics used in education, as well as the bibliometric analysis of AI ethics for educational purposes. The clustering techniques of VOSviewer (n = 880) led the author to reveal the top 10 authors, sources, organizations, and countries in the research of AI ethics in education. The analysis of clustering solution through CitNetExplorer (n = 841) concluded that the essence of AI ethics for educational purposes included deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue, while the principles of AI ethics in education included transparency, justice, fairness, equity, non-maleficence, responsibility, and privacy. Future research could consider the influence of AI interpretability on AI ethics in education because the ability to interpret the AI decisions could help judge whether the decision is consistent with ethical criteria.

Over the past two decades, various digital technologies have been applied to sustain higher education. As the latest emerging information technology, the metaverse has been a recurring theme to be considered as a new direction to promote blended English learning. This study aims to investigate metaverse-based blended English learning. Through a systematic review based on bibliographic and content analysis, the study attempts to integrate the evidence to generate a model that links the education-based metaverse. The metaverse platforms in which learners' academic success can be significantly enhanced due to a high degree of learner engagement in immersive virtual environments. In addition, the virtual learning experience is restricted by the degree of digital literacy at the same time. To improve instructors' and learners' digital literacy levels, necessary support is indispensable by educational institutions and designers of the metaverse platforms. Meanwhile, this study addresses potential challenges that may hinder sustaining metaverse-based blended English learning, and provides some suggestions based on the previous literature. In future research, we will keep updating and polishing the metaverse-based blended English learning research to provide more detailed guidance for researchers and educators.

The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led students to frequently use social media to receive education, which brought about both positive and negative learning outcomes (Oliveira et al., 2022). To address the issue of integrating social media into education, this study conducted both quantitative and qualitative studies using VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. The qualitative study through CitNetExplorer, involving 1780 publications, concluded that while social media might have gained popularity in education based on the classic theoretical framework of the zone of proximal development, there might be many challenges such as teacher resistance, data privacy, costs, and ethical and social issues. Besides, this study conducted bibliometric analyses using VOSviewer (N = 1841) to identify the top cited authors, organizations, documents, references, sources, countries, and keywords with high occurrences based on the citation networks. In the future, researchers could enhance the studies on how to guide students and teachers to properly integrate social media into education.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has made blended learning widely accepted, followed by many studies committed to blended learning outcomes and student attitudes. Few studies have, however, focused on the summarized effect of blended learning. To complement this missing link, this study meta-analytically reviews blended learning outcomes and student attitudes by including 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and 70 effect sizes. It concludes that blended learning outcomes are significantly higher than the traditional learning outcomes with a medium effect size, and learners hold significantly more positive attitudes toward blended learning than traditional learning with a medium effect size. Blended learning may be promising, and information technology scientists may focus on the development of more advanced and effective devices to improve blended learning effectiveness.

Recently, achievement emotions have attracted much scholarly attention since these emotions could play a pivotal role in online learning outcomes. Despite the importance of achievement emotions in online education, very few studies have been committed to a systematic review of their effects on online learning outcomes. This study aimed to systematically review studies examining the effects of achievement emotions on online learning outcomes in terms of motivation, performance, satisfaction, engagement, and achievement. According to the selection process of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) principles, a total of 23 publications were included in this review. It was concluded that positive achievement emotions, such as enjoyment, pride, and relaxation, could generally exert a positive effect on online learning motivation, performance, engagement, satisfaction, and achievement. It should be noted that excessive positive emotions might be detrimental to online learning outcomes. On the other hand, it has been difficult to determine the effects of negative achievement emotions on online learning outcomes because of disagreement on the effects of negative achievement emotions. In order to improve online learners' learning outcomes, instructors should implement interventions that help online learners control and regulate their achievement emotions. Teaching interventions, technological interventions, and treatment interventions could benefit online learners emotionally and academically. Future studies could examine the moderating roles of contextual factors and individual variables in the effects of achievement emotions on online learning outcomes.

With the pervasiveness of laptops in the classroom setting, the effectiveness of laptop-assisted note-taking has not been comprehensively investigated. Many inconsistencies in this area still existed with intense debate towards academic performance, learning strategies, and student satisfaction. To fill this missing gap, this study probed the effect of laptop notetaking on the above constructs. The present study applied the comprehensive review by objectively selecting all relative literature from online database, with a main focus on learning areas and conducting the objective procedure. This study covered the positive, negative, as well as neutral effects of laptop note-taking on learning performance. Reasons behind the negative impact and worries were investigated in caution. Tackling the major concerns of distraction and multitasking, this study argued that these concerns might not be the main cause of low performance, individual's characteristics and preference for the teaching styles shall be taken into consideration. Based on the above arguments, this study provided educators with multiple suggestions on alternative pedagogical approaches to improve teaching practice and student learning experience. The satisfaction of courses was probed together with the reasons for low satisfaction which promoted relative teaching instruction and teacher training. In this vein, this study contributed to the laptop note-taking areas by comprehensively analyzing the effect of laptop note-taking on learning strategies and satisfaction, which were unfortunately ignored by previous studies. Moreover, the present study enriches the e-learning knowledge and supports its practice by proving the side effects of simply banning laptops in class and suggests educators to integrate laptops into their pedagogical designs as well as learn more technology-based teaching strategies. Future research should reinvestigate the effect of laptop note-taking in class with more caution and endeavor to enhance the effectiveness of laptop note-taking in the class by capturing all possible variables of student learning, especially technology-relative variables.

Previous studies have substantiated the pivotal role of emotions and teachers in student learning, but the underlying mechanism of teachers and emotions on academic engagement remains underexplored. The present study examined the mediating role of teacher support in the relationship between foreign language learning anxiety (FLLA) and academic engagement in online classrooms. Participants were 415 Chinese university students who completed an online questionnaire. The findings of structural equation modelling indicated that teacher support had a partial mediation effect between FLLA and academic engagement. FLLA exhibited a significant negative impact on academic engagement, both directly and indirectly via perceived teacher support. Through both direct and indirect effects, FLLA could explain 44.8% of the variation in academic engagement and the mediation effect accounted for 47.3% of the total effect. The practical implication is that foreign language teachers should extend more support for learners during online learning, and provide learners with feedback adapted to their emotions.

Abstract With the rampant pandemic of COVID-19, an increasing number of people are acquiring knowledge through online learning approaches. This study aims to investigate how to improve online learning effectiveness during this special time. Through a mixed design, this study revealed the effect of educational levels, gender, and personality traits on online learning outcomes. It was concluded that postgraduates (N = 599) outperformed undergraduates (N = 553) in online learning, learners (N = 1152) with strong personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to a new experience outperformed those with strong extraversion and neuroticism. Future research could improve interpersonal interactions and encourage learners to post words in the online discussion forum, focus on how to design scaffolding online learning and how to improve the quality and dynamic of the online contents, and highlight blended learning rather than either merely online or traditional face-to-face learning.

Against the backdrop of the post-pandemic period, there is an increasing need for blended learning in modern higher education systems. Critical success factors for blended learning should be considered as key indicators of learning outcomes. Therefore, the aim is to systematically review studies that examine the critical success factors for blended learning from the perspectives of the learner, instructor, course, design, technology, and environment. Eighty-two articles were analysed according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis) principles. The results show that critical success factors in these six dimensions have a positive impact on blended learning outcomes. These critical success factors are mainly learner characteristics, teacher characteristics, course materials and objectives, learning characteristics according to institutional objectives, ICT system, and learning environment. Future research could explore the impact of positive emotions on student and teacher learning outcomes in blended learning.

E-learning has gained popularity since the outbreak of COVID-19. This study aims to identify gender differences in e-learners' self-efficacy, satisfaction, motivation, attitude, and performance across the world. Through a meta-analysis and systematic review, this study concludes that there are generally no significant gender differences in e-learning outcomes except in a few countries. Females significantly outperformed males in Spain and the UK. In Austria, India, and mixed countries (Chile and Spain), females hold significantly more positive attitudes toward e-learning than males. In the USA, females present significantly higher self-efficacy than males. Future research into the gender issue in e-learning across the world may adopt cross-disciplinary research methods except for a meta-analysis.

Although the flipped pedagogical approach has been exhaustively explored, the effect of video length remains sparsely studied. Through a mixed design, videos, and three ratio scales, this study determined the effect of video length on English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction in a flipped English classroom in China. We concluded that: (1) The short video (shorter than 5 minutes)-assisted English flipped classroom could lead to significantly higher English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction than the flipped classroom assisted with medium videos (10–20 minutes); and (2) The medium video-assisted English flipped classroom could lead to significantly higher English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction than the flipped classroom assisted with long videos (longer than 30 minutes). Designers of videos could make every effort to provide short videos to improve English proficiency, engagement, and satisfaction. They could also seriously consider a scale, a mobile platform, quizzes, pictures, and multimedia in the future design and innovation of videos.

As a popular strategy in collaborative learning, peer assessment has attracted keen interest in academic studies on online language learning contexts. The growing body of studies and findings necessitates the analysis of current publication trends and citation networks, given that studies in technology-enhanced language learning are increasingly active. Through a bibliometric analysis involving visualization and citation network analyses, this study finds that peer assessment in online language courses has received much attention since the COVID-19 outbreak. It remains a popular research topic with a preference for studies on online writing courses, and demonstrates international and interdisciplinary research trends. Recent studies have led peer assessment in online language courses to more specific research topics, such as critical factors for improving students’ engagement and feedback quality, unique advantages in providing online peer assessment, and designs to enhance peer assessment quality. This study also provides critical aspects about how to effectively integrate educational technologies into peer assessment in online language courses. The findings in this study will encourage future studies on peer assessment in online learning, language teaching methods, and the application of educational technologies.

Synchronous computer-mediated communication in the online language classroom has gained growing attention in the wake of the worldwide epidemic. Nevertheless, only a few researchers have studied it through bibliometric analyses. This study aimed to retrospect the previous development and figure out the role of intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback in synchronous computer-mediated communication-based language learning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze previous studies (n = 1292) by VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. The findings revealed prolific authors, sources, organizations, and regions in tables, which indicated that scholars in this field were mainly located in the USA and China. With a rising research tendency, several heated topics were also presented with VOSviewer. The findings also signified that intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback all played an important role in synchronous computer-mediated communication-based language learning and they were interdependent. Implications for future studies were also discussed.

Reading literacy has been considered one of the essential vital competencies in modern society and has thus gained increasing attention in research. With both qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study aimed to investigate the overall picture in this research field and investigate the role of reading motivation and online reading activities and how online reading literacy was assessed. The top ten organizations, countries with the highest publications, author keywords, all keywords, cited references, cited sources, and cited authors were visualized via VOSviewer clustering and counting techniques. Reading motivation, online reading activities, and digital reading literacy assessment tests were also explored through the visualization citation network in CitNetExplorer. In conjunction with the citation network, 13 peer-reviewed articles were selected for further analysis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P). The results show that reading motivation played an essential role in reading literacy achievement in formal schooling, while online reading activities could both positively and negatively affect digital reading literacy due to their multifaceted nature. The digital reading literacy assessment tests vary across the world. Implications for widely investigating adults and L2 reading literacy and relevant support or interventional measures to boost reading literacy were also discussed.

With the rapid advancement of information technologies, automated writing evaluation technologies have developed so fast that they can be applied to writing assessments. However, scanty studies have pooled the effects of automated writing evaluation on writing performance. Through a PRISMA protocol-based meta-analysis, this study concludes that automated writing evaluation technologies can significantly reduce anxiety such as writing anxiety and computer anxiety compared with those without the assistance of automated writing evaluation. Automated writing evaluation can also significantly improve writing motivation and second language (L2) writing skills. Educators and designers should highlight how to combine automated writing evaluation with human rating methods and maximize the improvements in L2 writing skills. In the future, artificial intelligence may be integrated into automated writing evaluation to develop advanced automated writing evaluation to address higher-level issues in writing practice.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a large number of university students have been required to adapt to e-learning. E-learning engagement, a key indicator of academic success, is thus a great concern of educational partitioners and researchers. Although previous studies have identified various determinants of e-learning engagement, there is a paucity of research that examines the associations between university students' personalities and their engagement in e-learning. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying the personality-engagement relationship are still poorly understood. The present study used the five-factor model of personality as the main theoretical framework to explore how students with different personality traits engaged in e-learning. Additionally, it examined whether achievement emotions and adaptability mediated the personality-engagement relationship in the e-learning context. A sample of 1004 students enrolled at Guizhou University participated in an online survey to collect data for the study. Employing structural equation modeling, the findings unveiled several significant results: (1) extroversion, agreeableness, openness to new experiences, and conscientiousness exhibited positive associations with e-learning engagement, (2) neuroticism demonstrated a negative relationship with e-learning engagement, (3) the mediating effect of enjoyment as an achievement emotion was observed between personality traits (excluding neuroticism) and e-learning engagement, (4) adaptability played a mediating role in the relationship between personality traits (excluding conscientiousness and neuroticism) and e-learning engagement, and (5) the negative achievement emotion of anxiety did not operate as a mediator between personality traits and e-learning engagement. This study enriches the understanding of the relationship between personality and engagement in the emerging field of e-learning. Moreover, it offers a fresh perspective on how to investigate mechanisms underlying the relationship between personality and engagement in the e-learning context. The findings could provide a basis for instructors who wish to deploy emotional and adaptability interventions to increase university students' engagement in e-learning.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019, pandemic prevention and control has gradually become normal, and internet-based massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become widely available. Aiming to give an insight into learner engagement, motivation, and learning performance in MOOCs in the post-pandemic time, this study reviewed 52 articles through VOSviewer clustering and preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. It is concluded that learners' engagement in MOOCs is restricted by their own management strategy and psychological factors; in addition, learners in MOOCs are motivated by internal or external factors, thus making different responses; lastly, the study finds that in addition to engagement and motivation, the technical conditions of online learning can also affect learning performance to a large or small extent. It is expected that this study can provide reference for the future study into these aspects in MOOCs, especially in the post-pandemic time.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, many applications have emerged, sparking heated discussions across various social sectors, particularly in education. This study aims to delve into the impact of pedagogical agents on learning through a combined use of VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. Specifically, VOSviewer will facilitate a quantitative analysis, identifying top-cited authors, organizations, countries, co-cited authors, and frequently occurring keywords within the citation network. Meanwhile, CitNetExplorer will undertake a qualitative exploration, anticipated to reveal how visual stereotypes and emotional factors of pedagogical agents substantially impact learners' outcomes. This study lays the groundwork for further investigations into optimizing pedagogical agents' parameters to align with educational goals and promote their integration into instructional practices.

Purpose: The application of artificial intelligence chatbots is an emerging trend in educational technology studies for its multi-faceted advantages. However, the existing studies rarely take a perspective of educational technology application to evaluate the application of chatbots to educational contexts. This study aims to bridge the research gap by taking an educational perspective to review the existing literature on artificial intelligence chatbots. Design/methodology/approach: This study combines bibliometric analysis and citation network analysis: a bibliometric analysis through visualization of keyword, authors, organizations and countries and a citation network analysis based on literature clustering. Findings: Educational applications of chatbots are still rising in post-COVID-19 learning environments. Popular research issues on this topic include technological advancements, students' perception of chatbots and effectiveness of chatbots in different educational contexts. Originating from similar technological and theoretical foundations, chatbots are primarily applied to language education, educational services (such as information counseling and automated grading), health-care education and medical training. Diversifying application contexts demonstrate specific purposes for using chatbots in education but are confronted with some common challenges. Multi-faceted factors can influence the effectiveness and acceptance of chatbots in education. This study provides an extended framework to facilitate extending artificial intelligence chatbot applications in education. Research limitations/implications: The authors have to acknowledge that this study is subjected to some limitations. First, the literature search was based on the core collection on Web of Science, which did not include some existing studies. Second, this bibliometric analysis only included studies published in English. Third, due to the limitation in technological expertise, the authors could not comprehensively interpret the implications of some studies reporting technological advancements. However, this study intended to establish its research significance by summarizing and evaluating the effectiveness of artificial intelligence chatbots from an educational perspective. Originality/value: This study identifies the publication trends of artificial intelligence chatbots in educational contexts. It bridges the research gap caused by previous neglection of treating educational contexts as an interconnected whole which can demonstrate its characteristics. It identifies the major application contexts of artificial intelligence chatbots in education and encouraged further extending of applications. It also proposes an extended framework to consider that covers three critical components of technological integration in education when future researchers and instructors apply artificial intelligence chatbots to new educational contexts.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are gaining increasing popularity in education. Due to their increasing popularity, many empirical studies have been devoted to exploring the effects of AI chatbots on students' learning outcomes. The proliferation of experimental studies has highlighted the need to summarize and synthesize the inconsistent findings about the effects of AI chatbots on students' learning outcomes. However, few reviews focused on the meta-analysis of the effects of AI chatbots on students' learning outcomes. The present study performed a meta-analysis of 24 randomized studies utilizing Stata software (version 14). The main goal of the current study was to meta-analytically examine the effects of AI chatbots on students' learning outcomes and the moderating effects of educational levels and intervention duration. The results indicated that AI chatbots had a large effect on students' learning outcomes. Moreover, AI chatbots had a greater effect on students in higher education, compared to those in primary education and secondary education. In addition, short interventions were found to have a stronger effect on students' learning outcomes than long interventions. It could be explained by the argument that the novelty effects of AI chatbots could improve learning outcomes in short interventions, but it has worn off in the long interventions. Future designers and educators should make attempt to increase students' learning outcomes by equipping AI chatbots with human-like avatars, gamification elements and emotional intelligence.

With the development of information technologies, many learners opt to stay home receiving various forms of online education such as massive open online courses (MOOC). However, many learners and instructors complain that MOOC-based learning effectiveness has been dampened by many factors. Through a meta-analysis using Stata/MP 14.0, this study reveals that MOOC-based learning outcomes can be significantly influenced by eight factors, i.e. behavior intention, learning engagement, students' motivation, perceptions, satisfaction, performance, self-regulation, and social networks across the world. Future research could reveal more influencing factors pivoting on the forum improvements, as well as the effect of social presence on MOOC-based learning outcomes.

So far, many studies on educational games have been carried out in America and Europe. Very few related empirical studies, however, have been conducted in China. This study, combining both quantitative with qualitative research methods, possibly compensated for this regret. The study compared data collected from two randomly selected classes (out of 13 classes) under computer game-based instruction (CGBI) and non-computer game-based instruction (NCGBI), respectively, in a senior high school located in Nanjing, Capital of Jiangsu Province, in China. The participants were 103 students, composed of 52 boys and 51 girls (aged 17-18 years old). The following conclusion was reached: (1) participants under CGBI obtained significantly greater learning achievement than those under NCGBI; (2) participants were significantly more motivated by CGBI compared with NCGBI; (3) there were no significant differences in learning achievement between boys and girls; although (4) boys were significantly more motivated by CGBI than girls. Both disadvantages and advantages were discussed, together with directions for future research.

Clickers might own a bright future in China if properly introduced although they have not been widely acknowledged as an effective tool to facilitate English learning and teaching in Chinese contexts. By randomly selecting participants from undergraduates in a university in China over four academic years, this study aims to identify the impact of clickers on college English listening and speaking skills, and differences in cognitive loads between clickers and traditional multimedia assisted instruction modes. It was concluded that in China's college English class, compared with multimedia assisted instruction, (1) clickers could improve college English listening skills; (2) clickers could improve college English speaking skills; and (3) clickers could reduce undergraduates' cognitive loads in College English Class. Reasons for the results and defects in this study were also explored and discussed, based on learning, teaching and cognitive load theories. Some Suggestions for future research were also raised.

After working with a number of scholars for two years, a university designed a mobile learning platform referred to as 'College English IV,' where learners could have easy access to various kinds of learning resources through installing the program in their smart phones. This study aims to identify whether this platform could significantly improve the proficiency of English as a foreign language (EFL), yield learner satisfaction, and reduce learners' cognitive loads in EFL classes. Randomly selected 340 tertiary students participated in the study. After quantitative multivariate analysis and qualitative interview data analysis, it was concluded that: (1) In EFL classes, participants with the mobile learning platform were more satisfied than those without it; (2) In EFL classes, learning outcomes of participants with the mobile learning platform improved significantly more than those without it; and (3) In EFL classes, cognitive loads of participants with the mobile learning platform were significantly lower than those without it. Interdisciplinary research may be needed in future research.

This research aimed to comprehensively analyze the use of chatbots in language education and its potential for advancing educational development. Through a bibliometric and systematic approach, the study identified influential authors, references, organizations, and countries in the field of chatbot application in language education using VOSviewer. A total of 26 peer-reviewed publications were selected for a systematic review. The findings of the study indicated that chatbots have a positive impact on language learning, although they are limited in terms of facilitating listening and writing practice. The study extended the Human-Organization-Technology (HOT) fit framework for chatbots’ use for language education and discussed the factors that frustrate learners' use of chatbots for language education from human, organization, and technology dimensions. Furthermore, the author further discussed the suggestions for chatbots’ better application for language education based on the three dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the birth of clickers at Pennsylvania State University, there have been numerous arguments on its effectiveness. This study, aiming to review use of clickers in education, examined literature over around a decade on use of clickers, involving benefits and defects of use of clickers, peer discussion, use of clickers in learning, teaching and problem solving, the effectiveness of use of clickers among non-students. Besides, relationships between lecturing and learning aided with clickers, and current developments in use of clickers were also reviewed and discussed. It was concluded that clickers, as one form of modern technology, had gained growing popularity due to their advantages, such as peer discussion, anonymity and instant feedback although disputes still remained. More studies on clickers and other new technologies were still needed to further push forward levels of education. Cross-disciplinary cooperation between computers, education and psychology may be needed to design more advanced educational technologies.