Narrative Review: Digital Educational Applications for Supporting English Speaking Skills among Preschool Children

This narrative review examines how digital educational applications support English speaking skills among preschool children, with particular attention to pronunciation, vocabulary development, oral interaction, and communicative confidence. The increasing integration of digital technologies into early childhood education has transformed the ways preschool children are exposed to English language learning. Interactive applications, augmented reality (AR), speech-recognition systems, and multimodal learning platforms are increasingly used to facilitate oral language development. However, concerns remain regarding pedagogical quality, excessive screen exposure, and the limited evidence specifically addressing speaking proficiency in preschool contexts. This narrative review synthesized studies retrieved from Consensus AI-generated literature findings focusing on preschool English learning, digital educational applications, oral language development, and technology-assisted speaking instruction. The review included peer-reviewed empirical and review studies published primarily between 2019 and 2025. Thematic synthesis was employed to identify recurring patterns, debates, challenges, and research gaps. The findings indicate that digital educational applications can support preschool children’s English speaking development through multimodal interaction, speech recognition, gamification, and rich audio-visual input. Applications integrating voice interaction and augmented reality were found to enhance pronunciation practice, vocabulary acquisition, learner confidence, and participation. Nevertheless, the review also highlights substantial limitations, including insufficient speaking-specific assessment, uneven app quality, limited theory-driven research, and inadequate attention to teacher-parent mediation. Digital educational applications demonstrate considerable potential in supporting preschool English speaking skills when embedded within guided, interactive, and developmentally appropriate learning environments. Future research should prioritize speaking-specific evaluation, longitudinal studies, and context-sensitive pedagogical frameworks for preschool learners.
Keywords : digital educational applications; preschool children; English speaking skills; early childhood education; language learning technology.

Digital Educational Applications; Preschool Children; English Speaking Skills; Early Childhood Education; Language Learning Technology.

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