A Systematic Self-Review of Studies on Cultural Learning, Global Issues, and Pedagogical Practices in Second Language Contexts (2003–2025)

Abstract

This study aimed to conduct a systematic review (SR) of the author’s research program on cultural themes and global issues that have been integrated into second language (L2) courses. It classified 31 studies published between 2003 and 2025 into the following clusters: Integrating culture and global issues in the L2 curriculum, textbooks and skills, teaching strategies, correlates and predictors of culture acquisition, cross cultural collaboration, heritage language and cultural identity maintenance and cross-cutting methodological cluster on teaching culture with technology using blogs, social media, podcasts, wikis, LMS, online discussion forums, and distance learning platforms as Zoom. The integration studies were based on the same framework synthesized from the literature, consisting of four pillars: global systems, diverse human values, current global events, and world history. Findings demonstrate that integrating culture, global issues, and technology mediated tasks into L2 instruction consistently enhances learners’ linguistic proficiency, cultural awareness, global understanding, and engagement. Whether through global theme speaking, reading and writing tasks, multicultural literature, linguistic landscapes, cultural podcasts, blogs, wikis, mobile fiction apps, or cross national online collaboration, the studies converge on a central conclusion: L2 learning becomes deeper, more meaningful, and more transferable when cultural and global content is embedded in authentic, interactive, and cognitively rich tasks. The corpus also shows that students benefit most when instruction combines explicit cultural knowledge, experiential exposure, collaborative activities and reflective engagement, supported by technologies that expand access to real world cultural input. Additionally, the studies confirm that cultural and global integration is not an optional enrichment but a pedagogical necessity for preparing learners to participate in an interconnected world. Digital tools amplify these benefits by expanding access to multimodal cultural resources and enabling interaction with global peers. The studies affirm that - nowadays - cultural and global integration is not an optional enrichment but a pedagogical necessity for preparing learners to participate effectively in an interconnected world. This SR offers the first longitudinal, author based synthesis that traces how cultural and global themes were operationalized across multiple skills, platforms, and instructional designs.