This meta-analysis synthesizes research on media use in early childhood (0-6 years), word-learning, and vocabulary size. Multi-level analyses included 266 effect sizes from 63 studies (N[subscript total] = 11,413) published between 1988-2022. Among samples with information about race/ethnicity (51%) and sex/gender (73%), most were majority…

This systematic review presents a definition for digital games within the second/foreign language (L2) learning research field. This definition is used to identify games used in research in the last five years (2012-2017). Forty-nine studies were identified and then summarized by type of research, game genre employed, age, and size of sample…

This systematic literature review (SLR) aimed to investigate the potential of digital online game-based learning (DOGBL) to enhance motivation in English as a foreign language (EFL). Online gaming has grown in popularity among students, opening up the possibility of using games as powerful instructional resources. Academic achievement depends on…

This paper reviews the literature on the use of digital simulation games in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The discussion explores research approaches, contexts, methodologies, findings, trends and issues in peer-reviewed research that has investigated the use of this type of digital game over the period 2005 to 2020. Results showed…

The use of educational technologies to teach a second language (L2) in general, and L2 vocabulary in particular, has mass appeal among computer-assisted language learning (CALL) practitioners. The main objective of the present study is to report the challenges and affordances of technologies used for computer-assisted vocabulary learning (CAVL),…

This review examines the second language acquisition (SLA) literature with regard to the role of "massively multiplayer online games" (MMOGs) in second language (L2) learning. It focuses on commercially developed off-the-shelf (COTS) MMOGs only (some of them modified for educational purposes such as Reinders' & Wattana's work). It…

Digital gamification has been argued to be a fun and enjoyable method to support Learning English as a Second Language (LESL) and to ease the gap between students' learning and educational practice. This systematic review presents an overview of the state of the art on the use of gamification for LESL in digital environments. Furthermore, this…

Given the importance of word knowledge for second language acquisition, there is always a need for effective word-learning approaches from language learners. With the rapid development of educational technologies, game-based learning is emerging into a field with considerable potential, within which, digital game-based vocabulary learning has…

This Special Issue contains some substantially expanded versions of conference papers that were originally presented at the Immersive Learning Research Network's (iLRN) 2018 conference, along with others outside of the conference. iLRN is an international organization of developers, educators, and research professionals collaborating to develop…

This meta-analysis reviewed research between 2012 and 2018 focused on technology-assisted second language (L2) vocabulary learning for English as a foreign language (EFL) learner. A total of 45 studies of 2,374 preschool-to-college EFL students contributed effect sizes to this meta-analysis. Compared with traditional instructional methods, the…

This meta-analysis aims at investigating the impact of English language teaching practices on language outcomes. The literature search yielded 90 meta-analyses that were published between January, 1995 and December, 2019. The current study analyzed 90 meta-analysis and these studies comprised 3496 studies, 7870 effect sizes and nearly 700,000…

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an inseparable part of people's lives. For children the use of ICT is as natural as breathing and therefore they find the use of ICT in school education as normal as the use of textbooks. The purpose of this review study is to explore the efficacy of computer games on language learning…