SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Education
From Virality to Pedagogy: A Systematic and Comprehensive Review of TikTok's Educational Use in South America
Provisionally accepted
- University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
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TikTok's rise invites scrutiny of its educational value, yet evidence from South America remains fragmented. This study synthesises South-American research on TikTok-mediated learning to (i) map thematic and methodological trends and (ii) quantify reported learning gains. A PRISMA-guided search of Scopus, Web of Science, SciELO and Latindex (2018-2025) yielded 1 695 records; after screening, 26 peer-reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria. Narrative synthesis traced conceptual patterns, while a meta-analytical sub-study aggregated effect data from the 15 papers that reported quantitative outcomes. Research clusters around four application do-mains: language learning, science/health communication, reading & digital storytelling, and civic-environmental education. Most interventions occur in secondary and higher-education settings and employ challenge-based or duet/stitch tasks that lever-age TikTok's multimodal affordances for motivation and identity work. Meta-analytic pooling—limited by under-reporting of descriptive statistics—nevertheless identified large pre/post differences associated with speaking accuracy (d = 2.13) and moderate pre/post differences related to emotional-intelligence clarity (Wilcoxon p < 0.05). Qualitative evidence corroborates heightened engagement, peer collaboration and critical-media literacy, but also flags persistent digital divides, algorithmic bias and scant research in primary, indigenous and community contexts. Heterogeneous designs and incomplete statistical reporting re-strict generalizability. Future studies should adopt longitudinal, multi-site experiments and open-data practices to enable robust meta-analysis. Effective use of TikTok hinges on intentional instructional design: clear learning objectives, equity centred access strategies and critical-digital-literacy scaffolds that mitigate platform bias. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis focused exclusively on TikTok's educational applications in South America. It provides an evidence-based agenda for researchers and practitioners seeking to harness platform-native cultures while addressing the region's sociotechnical inequalities.
Keywords: Digital Education, Educational communication, EduTok, South America, TikTok
Received: 02 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Rodas-Coloma, Cabezas-González, Casillas-Martín and Nevado-Batalla Moreno. 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: Alicia Rodas-Coloma
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