A Review of Student Engagement in Second Language Teaching

Abstract

Student engagement plays a crucial role in second language teaching and serves as an important indicator for evaluating pedagogical quality and instructional effectiveness. This study systematically collected relevant literature indexed in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from 2000 to 2025 and analyzed prevailing research trends related to student engagement using Vosviewer. The analysis revealed that research on student engagement primarily falls into two categories: investigations into the influencing factors of student engagement and studies on pedagogical innovations aimed at enhancing engagement. Specifically, the first category examines how individual, social, and environmental factors affect learners' active participation, motivation, and cognitive involvement, while the second category explores instructional strategies, technological interventions, and curriculum designs that foster higher engagement levels. Based on these findings, the study proposes targeted suggestions for future research, emphasizing the integration of multi-dimensional factors and innovative pedagogical approaches to comprehensively enhance student engagement in second language classrooms.