Author(s)

Yukun Liu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of English Studies, Xi'an International Studies University, Xi'an, China

Corresponding Author

Yukun Liu

ABSTRACT

The study critically reviews 142 empirical studies of foreign language learning engagement published by 13 journals in SSCI and 13 CSSCI journals spanning from 2000 to 2023. It was found that: 1) Foreign language learning engagement studies aboard can be traced back to 2000 with a plethora of research in this field; the first learning engagement-related study emerged around 2010 in China with rather limited empirical research to the present. 2) Research both inside and outside China have focused on issues pertinent to engagement with feedback and the interactive mechanism between learning engagement and individual variables such as motivation and emotion. 3) Regarding the research participants, empirical studies abroad focus on students at various educational levels and learning different foreign languages within distinct class environments, while participants in CSSCI journals were mainly EFL learners at tertiary education, with insufficient attention paid to compulsory education, and foreign languages other than English. 4) Mixed-methods were used by studies in CSSCI and SSCI journals, combing questionnaire and interview, and interdisciplinary theories such as positive psychology were chosen as the theoretical background. Based on the above findings, the paper concludes with suggestions into future directions of learning engagement in China concerning the research topics, methods, and theoretical perspectives.

KEYWORDS

Learning Engagement, Empirical Research, Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

CITE THIS PAPER

Yukun Liu, A Comparative Analysis of Empirical Research on Foreign Language Learning Engagement in CSSCI and SSCI Journals (2000-2023). Transactions on Comparative Education (2024) Vol. 6: 136-145. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/trance.2024.060417.

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