Yin Ling Cheung’s scientific contributions

Mindset theories have been applied to study motivation in various domains, with researchers talking about different mindsets in diverse academic domains. The domain specificity of mindsets has led second language researchers to suggest distinct mindsets concerning language ability and learning outcomes. While there is no lack of research on the application of mindset theories, a systematic synthesis of the literature on mindset theories focusing on the language education domain has remained relatively unexplored. The literature in this study was identified by conducting keyword searches in Scopus and EBSCOhost research databases using a combination of the following terms: "mindset theories", "English as a foreign language", "English as a second language", and "teacher training". The search results were limited to research articles published in English-medium refereed journals from 2013 to 2023. We scrutinized the titles and abstracts of 128 articles in the initial round of screening and did a second round of close reading for relevance to the synthesis focus. This chapter synthesizes 40 research papers on the application of mindset theories in the domain of language teaching and learning, including 1) studies on language skills such as writing, 2) studies related to language teachers' role and teacher training, and 3) theoretical and practical applications of mindset theories. The conclusions drawn will be used to recommend future directions in research and practice. The chapter will contribute to the field of mindset theories in language education in terms of research and practice for educators and researchers.

Growing interest in digital social reading (DSR) has led to research on the use of social annotations in digital learning, but there is yet to be a comprehensive review specifically on DSR for second language (L2). This paper aims to fill the gap by synthesizing 28 research papers published in English-medium refereed journals from 2010 to 2022 to derive these conclusions: (1) The predominant platforms or applications and text types for DSR were Google Docs, eComma, HyLighter, Perusall, and SocialBook. (2) The main L2 studied was English, and the majority of the studies were conducted at the university level. Activities/tasks/pedagogical practices involved social reading/DSR, social annotation, annotating texts, collaborative reading, and enhancement of reading comprehension, and all studies had positive outcomes for DSR applications. (3) The theories and conceptual foundations for exploring DSR were related to reading, the social aspect of reading, and the digital environment of DSR. Conclusions drawn from the analysis of the data are used to make recommendations in terms of pedagogical practices using DSR to enhance learning and teaching for L2 learners and to highlight theoretical frameworks and areas of research in DSR for educators and researchers.