Quality of systematic reviews on teaching English as a foreign language: a methodological review protocol

Abstract

In many educational contexts worldwide, English is taught as a foreign (i.e., non-native, second, or additional) language. Teaching English as a foreign language, therefore, differs substantially from teaching English as a native language and relies on distinct approaches, methods, and strategies. Although systematic reviews are a key instrument for informing evidence-based educational practice and policy, evidence synthesis products in English language teaching are less accessible and show greater variability in methodological quality than those focused on teaching English as a native language. This study presents a protocol for a future methodological review aimed at assessing the methodological quality of systematic reviews on teaching English as a foreign language. The target population includes children, pupils, and students learning English as a foreign language within preschool through higher education. Only systematic reviews will be included; scoping reviews, integrative reviews, literature reviews, and all types of non-systematic reviews will be excluded. Searches will be conducted in Epistemonikos, Web of Science, APA PsycINFO (EBSCOhost), ERIC (EBSCOhost), OpenAlex, and ProQuest One Education, and will be supplemented by screening the reference lists of included studies. The assessment of title/abstract relevance, full-text relevance, and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers. Methodological quality will be assessed by at least two independent reviewers using JBI Checklists for Systematic Reviews and Research Synthesis. The results will be processed in the form of narrative synthesis and presented in tabular and graphical formats in line with the objectives of the review.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Frontiers in Education, 2026 · DOI ↗