CULTURAL INTEGRATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING MODELS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS TO ENHANCE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW
Keywords:
Student engagement, English for Young Learners (EYL), cultural integration, systematic literature review, culturally responsive pedagogyAbstract
This study aims to develop a culturally integrated English for Young Learners (EYL) instructional model to enhance student engagement. The research is grounded in the limited number of studies explicitly addressing learner engagement within the EFL context, particularly in Indonesia, as well as the lack of cultural representation in instructional materials, which negatively impacts student involvement. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was employed, guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework. Data were collected from the Scopus database for the publication period 2020–2025, yielding an initial 874 articles, which were narrowed down to 53 based on predefined inclusion criteria. The synthesis reveals that student engagement is a multidimensional construct encompassing cognitive, affective, social, and cultural aspects. Key influencing factors include motivation, positive emotions (such as enjoyment and L2 pride), fulfilment of psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), teacher support, technological integration (e.g., flipped classrooms, game-based learning), and culturally responsive pedagogy. Cultural integration has been shown to enhance student engagement through relevant material representation, arts- and heritage-based activities, and teachers' cultural competence. The study concludes by underscoring the importance of designing a culturally grounded EYL model that prioritizes engagement as a primary learning outcome. It offers conceptual, methodological, and contextual contributions to the advancement of English language education for young learners in Indonesia and provides a foundation for future empirical testing of the proposed model in real classroom settings.
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