Digital resources and teaching subjectivity in foreign language teaching: a meta-aggregative systematic review from an ecosystem and posthuman approach (2001–2025)

Abstract

This article critically examines the integration of digital resources (DR) in university foreign language teaching through a meta-aggregative systematic review of 60 peer-reviewed studies published between 2001 and 2025. Adopting a complex, situated, and posthuman epistemological perspective, the study combines a meta-aggregative synthesis conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines with a complementary bibliometric analysis of 140 references. Seven thematic categories were operationalised, and the analytical procedures included frequency analysis, co-occurrence mapping, evolutionary analysis across 5-year periods, and Pearson’s chi-square test. The findings reveal the predominance of instrumental and technocratic orientations in the adoption of DR, characterised by limited pedagogical grounding and the increasing reduction of teaching agency to performance indicators, data-driven processes, and algorithmic governance. Although frameworks such as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology provide operational value, they do not fully account for the contextual, relational, and subjective complexity of teaching practices. Critical and posthuman perspectives have gained visibility but remain secondary within the field. The analysis also identifies a significant geographical bias towards the Global North, restricting the development of situated and context-sensitive knowledge. In response, the article proposes reconceptualising DR as semiotic and techno-cultural environments that actively configure knowledge practices, professional identities, pedagogical decisions, and educational relationships. The complete list of the 60 studies constituting the analytical corpus is provided in Appendix A.