Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in facilitating English learning. However, no empirical research has been conducted on secondary students’ intention to use ITSs in the language domain. This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict secondary students’ continuance intention to use and actual use of ITSs for English learning. The model included fifteen hypotheses that were tested with 528 senior secondary students in China. The results of structural equation modeling showed that (1) perceived usefulness and price value had direct positive impacts on continuance intention; (2) perceived ease of use was not directly associated with students’ intention but indirectly influenced intention via perceived usefulness; (3) through the mediation of perceptions, learning goal orientation and facilitating conditions were positively associated with continuance intention; (4) perceived enjoyment positively predicted and anxiety negatively predicted students’ intention to use ITSs; and (5) students’ continuance intention to use ITSs was significantly positively associated with their actual use of ITSs for English learning. The model showed strong explanatory power and might be implemented in future research. This study contributes to the theory and practice of ITSs in K-12 education.

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Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) is a widely-used social emotional learning program for preschool and elementary school students. The purpose of this review is to examine its effects, and explore the moderation effects of methodological and implementation features on intervention effectiveness. Using stringent inclusion criteria, 20 qualified studies and 177 effect sizes involving 30,454 participants were included. Results showed that the overall effect size of PATHS was 0.11. In particular, the effect size of PATHS on social emotional skills (ES = 0.16) was the largest compared with other outcome domains, including attitude or relations (ES = 0.08), emotional well-being (ES = 0.02), prosocial behaviors (ES = 0.04), conduct problems (ES = 0.06), and academic performance (ES = 0.05). PATHS had no different impact whether it was implemented in the universal or target contexts. Research design, sample size, and intervention dosage could moderate the effectiveness of PATHS significantly, and dosage was the predominant factor in determining the effects of PATHS. Policy and practical implications were discussed.

No systematic published research has reviewed the impact of educational technology on English reading outcomes targeting the Chinese-speaking population. Therefore, this review intended to examine the impact of educational technology and its alternative types on reading achievement for Chinese English second language learners (ESLs) to understand how to best use technology applications to facilitate reading instruction. A total of 35 qualified studies were included in our analysis covering a sample size of 7,989 Chinese K-12 participants. Consistent with previous meta-analyses, our findings indicated a modest positive impact of educational technology on reading outcomes compared with the traditional teaching method (d = +0.37). For the five types of intervention identified in this review, we found that the comprehensive model had the largest impact (d = +0.60), followed by social media tools (d = +0.46), integrated online-learning system (d = +0.31), and multimedia-transmission model (d = +0.27). However, supplementary activities did not generate educationally meaningful effects on reading outcomes for Chinese ESLs (d = +0.05). The impacts of different moderators, implications, and limitations were also discussed. We argue for further integrating technology with the existing curriculum and pedagogy. The study adds to the second language (L2) reading literature corpus.