A Literature Review of Research on the Role of Social Media in Enhancing English Language Expression Skills in China (2013-2023)

This paper is a review of 82 papers on the role of social media in enhancing English language expression skills in the past decade. Based on the conceptual framework and analytical framework, it summarizes the development lineage, theoretical basis, fundamental features and teaching models. The deficiencies of existing research include: (1) with extensive research on the macro-level teaching models, yet without enough in-depth discussion of micro-influencing factors; (2) lack of attention given to the role of parents; (3) lack of a structured evaluation system and a supervisory framework. Future research hot spots are the influencing factors and mechanisms affecting social media-assisted English language expression teaching, the latent value of parental involvement, and how to improve teachers' capability of instruction with the help of social media.