VIETTESOL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2025

This study reviews the literature on the concept of personalized learning to distinguish it from other similar terms namely individualization and differentiation, to investigate its main elements including learning needs, interests, and student voice and choice, and to discuss the possible benefits of these elements and their relation with personalized learning. First, a general search on Google Scholar was conducted. Later, citation searching strategy was used to find more relevant publications. Third, berrypicking techniques were applied as new information appeared with new research directions. Last, extra searches were carried out to look for missing information. Fifty-two publications were selected based on their up-to-dateness, reliability, quality, and relevance, and analyzed using thematic analysis. It shows that personalized learning is the learning paradigm with a higher degree of flexibility and allows students to have more autonomy and agency. With its flexible learning pathways, the shifting learning needs can possibly be addressed. Furthermore, learning needs identified from both students’ and experts’ perspectives in the process of personalized learning are possibly real needs. The interests of students are identified and worked with to make them a learning object. Students are given voices and choices to make their learning environments optimal for everyone, and the learning process can be improved substantially.