Affordances and challenges of technology-assisted language learning for motivation: A systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was three-fold: (a) to convey technology-assisted language learning (TALL) affordances that facilitate catering to the nonlinearity and dynamicity of the second language (L2) motivational factors, (b) to identify TALL challenges that inhibit the integration of educational technologies to enhance L2 motivation and (c) to predict the future direction of TALL research on L2 motivation. One hundred forty-eight articles published from 2010 to 2021 were systematically reviewed to gain insights into affordances, challenges, adopted theories, settings, research methods and motivation constructs in different TALL subfields (computer, mobile, robot, virtual worlds). Pedagogically, 30 affordances were identified in the reviewed articles that can enable teachers to enhance L2 motivation in the TALL environment. Theoretically, 12 challenges were reported by the reviewed studies that need to be overcome in future TALL research. Drawing on the obtained results, some suggestions are provided for future TALL research directions.