ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1590828
The Equity Implications of the Increased Deployment of Educational Technologies in ESL
Provisionally accepted
- English Department, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Herat University,, Herat, Afghanistan
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The current explanatory study investigated, using 78 questionnaires and 6 interview, ESL students’ digital equity status in the English Department at an Afghan public university. The data analyzed through thematic and statistical analyses revealed that students had limited access to computer laboratories and were limited in their ability to develop digital English material, and high-quality research on the use of technology in education. They did, however, report having a high level of access to technological devices for English language learning. The study found no significant impact of gender, college year, or socioeconomic status on digital equity. Both teachers and students grappled with these issues, highlighting the need for strategies to reduce digital inequity in higher education.
Keywords: digital divide, digital equity, ESL, higher education, blended learning, e-learning, Mobile learning
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 22 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yousofi, Alizadah and Golzar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rohullah Yousofi, English Department, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Herat University,, Herat, Afghanistan
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