Digital Nudging in Language Education: Voscreen’s Impact on Reading and Writing Skills Among Jordanian EFL University Students
This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Voscreen, a digital nudging tool, in enhancing reading comprehension and writing performance among first-year Jordanian EFL university students. Specifically, it examines whether Voscreen-based instruction leads to significant improvements in reading at literal, inferential, and critical levels, and in writing in terms of task achievement, coherence, lexical resources, and grammatical accuracy, compared to traditional instructional approaches.
Despite sustained EFL instruction in Jordanian universities, many first-year students continue to demonstrate weaknesses in reading comprehension and academic writing, particularly at inferential and critical levels. These difficulties are commonly attributed to teacher-centered practices and limited exposure to authentic English input. While mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) has expanded opportunities for learner engagement, most applications focus on vocabulary or listening and provide limited evidence for improving integrated literacy skills, especially writing. Voscreen, a mobile-based platform that uses short, authentic video clips and digital nudging mechanisms, offers a theoretically grounded approach aligned with multimedia learning and cognitive load principles.
A quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design was employed with 60 first-year Jordanian EFL students assigned to an experimental group (Voscreen-based instruction, n = 30) and a control group (traditional instruction, n = 30). Reading and writing pre-/post-tests and classroom observations were administered over an eight-week intervention, and group differences were analyzed using ANCOVA and MANCOVA
Provides first controlled evidence of Voscreen’s effectiveness on both reading and writing, expanding MALL research to include digital nudging’s role in EFL literacy development.
Integrating Voscreen into EFL classes significantly improved students’ reading and writing skills compared to traditional instruction. After eight weeks, the experimental group showed large gains in literal, inferential, and critical reading, as well as writing coherence, vocabulary, grammar, and task achievement. Voscreen explained nearly 60% of the improvement in reading and 43% in writing, demonstrating its strong effectiveness as a low-cost, scalable digital nudging tool for enhancing literacy skills among university-level EFL learners.
Integrate Voscreen to enhance reading and writing outcomes in EFL classrooms through low-cost, scalable digital tools.
Explore long-term effects, broader learner levels, and comparisons with other digital tools in diverse educational contexts.
Demonstrates that affordable, technology-driven solutions can enhance literacy skills in under-resourced educational systems.
Replicate in varied contexts, including speaking/listening skills, and explore the impacts of learner autonomy and motivation.
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