Social Belonging as a Buffer against Language Anxiety: A Scoping Review of Interventions for International Students' Mental Health

Abstract

International students experience higher levels of language anxiety and psychological distress and there is a lack of synthesis of the role of social belonging as a protective factor. This scoping review is a mapping of interventions that harness social belonging to reduce language anxiety and promote mental health of international students in higher education. A systematic search (following the Arksey and O'Malley framework and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines) was conducted on five databases (PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and PubMed), which resulted in 3,842 records of which 34 studies were published between 2015 and 2025 and met the inclusion criteria. Interventions were grouped into four categories: peer mentoring programs, belonging interventions in classrooms, digital community platforms and structured cultural exchange activities. Standardized effect sizes were used to obtain a quantitative synthesis, which found that the belonging interventions in the classroom and peer mentoring interventions yielded the greatest decreases in language anxiety, with pooled Cohen's d values of 0.67 and 0.54 respectively. An intermediary variable, social belonging, is proposed as this mediation model between the exposure to the intervention and anxiety reduction, moderating social belonging by language proficiency and length of residence. The review highlights a lack of studies with longitudinal design, the absence of representation of students from regions of Africa and South America, and the absence of randomized controlled trials. These findings provide an evidence-based basis for universities to develop the inclusive support system for international students both linguistically and psychologically.