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This study employed a narrative review and a meta-analysis to synthesize the literature on mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). Following a systematic retrieval of literature from 2008 to 2017, 17 studies with 22 effect sizes were included based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. By categorizing the characteristics of the studies retrieved, the narrative review revealed a detailed picture of MALL research in terms of the language aspects targeted, theoretical frameworks addressed, mobile technologies adopted, and multimedia components used. The qualitative review helped to contextualize and interpret the results found in the meta-analysis, which revealed a large effect for mobile technologies in language learning, identified three variables (i.e. type of activities, modality of delivery, and duration of treatment) that might influence the effectiveness of mobile technologies, and confirmed the existence of a redundancy effect and a novelty effect in MALL practice. Implications for future research and pedagogy are discussed.

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Learners’ self-initiated language learning with mobile technology occurring outside the classroom is often contextualized, heterogeneous, and idiosyncratic. In this study, we propose a time-series clustering methodology for researching informal mobile language learners’ learning and development of another language, with a view to unravelling the essential uniquenesses and commonalities in learners’ developmental processes. Intensive longitudinal writing samples from nine English learners in China were collected and analysed with the methodology proposed, which first depicted individual-level developmental trajectories of writing complexity that were often idiographic or individual-specific, and then distilled salient developmental patterns that transcended the individual heterogeneity. These typically occurring patterns across individuals demonstrated a more predictable and interpretable manifestation of informal language learners’ developmental processes. Methodological and pedagogical implications of adopting the time-series clustering methodology are discussed.

The present study adopted a novel parallel-process growth mixture modeling (GMM) technique to research the adaptive interaction between foreign language learners’ learning motivation and emotions, with a view to advancing our understanding of how language learning motivation and emotions (enjoyment and anxiety) adaptively interact with each other over time. The present study, situated in the Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context, collected learning motivation and emotion data from 176 Chinese EFL learners over a period of two semesters (12 months). The GMM technique adopted in the study identified three developmental profiles of motivation and two of emotions, respectively. The study further distilled salient patterns of motivation–emotion interaction over time, patterns significant for designing and implementing pedagogical interventions for motivation enhancement. The parallel-process GMM technique was also proven to be a useful approach to parsing learner variety and learning heterogeneity, efficiently summarizing the complex, dynamic processes of motivation and emotion development.