The Use of Digital Tools to Improve Vocabulary Acquisition

Digital tools is widely used in language teaching around the world. Pandemic Covid-19 had pushed the education to opt for hybrid system which enable the lecture session to be done in online and also face to face interaction. Vocabulary is important in improving the four main skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening. Limited vocabulary make the students to depend too much to translation. Hence, this paper presents a systematic review of relevant published studies on the use of digital tools to improve Vocabulary Acquisition from the year 2011 until 2021. This systematic review strives to focus on how digital tools aid the learners in vocabulary acquisition and what are the advantages of using digital tools. The result shows that the use of digital tools will improve vocabulary acquisition. This paper report the limitation and recommendations that focus on vocabulary acquisition through the use of digital tools.

consist of more than just one word. A meaningful conversation will include a vast vocabulary that will promote a quality argument. The total number of words included in the communication of ideas and expresses the speaker's reasoning. This is why it is important to learn vocabulary. Learning vocabulary is like building blocks that consist of a list of words. It will get easier to learn an advanced language after the learners understand the basics.

The Importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning
Vocabulary learning is vital in learning the English language as the meaning of new words is often highlighted in books or classrooms. Language teaching emphasizes vocabulary acquisition which is crucial to language learners' success. Vocabulary is very significant because it is the foundation of the basis of all languages. Raw materials which often utilize in communication to express ideas and share ideas. It will make the communicators comprehend with each other, which also strengthens personal bonds. Acquiring a good vocabulary will enable students to improve their capability to converse effectively. Communication will be improved as students are able to communicate effectively. Vocabulary is the key to good communication.
Meaningful communication will often lead to a better opportunity. A well-developed vocabulary will gain all aspects of communication. The level of vocabulary development is crucial to a student's success. Good vocabulary will often enable the students to have good reading skills. Vast vocabulary will enable the students to be more sophisticated thinkers, better communicators, and avid readers. Improved language and literacy abilities in the students will enable them to achieve more significant academic and successful communicators.
Adequate vocabulary enables students to develop skills. Learners empowered by rich vocabulary will perform well in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. All the skills in the given tasks will make it easier for the learners to perform as they possess an extensive vocabulary. This is because the students can recall the vocabulary they enable them to use the words to convey meanings in a conversation. Doubt about the exact spelling, pronunciation and context use of words will be lessened during a conversation. Higher-level aspects of language such as employing a precise sentence structure and appropriate language usage are more accessible for the students to focus.
Vocabulary is often acquired through focus and certain study. Context clues are often used to figure out the meaning of certain words. Students receive vocabulary through indirect manners through listening and reading. Acquiring vocabulary through listening and reading can be challenging for the students. This is due that the students must memorize some words while acquiring it through listening and reading. It is challenging for some students as not all of them have good listening and reading skills.
Therefore, there is the need to identify the evidence-based instructional practice which will accommodate the students' vocabulary acquisition. The literature has revealed that the use of digital tools can help to improve vocabulary acquisition.

Statement of Problem
Students' vocabulary retention is very low as they are having difficulties acquiring vocabulary due to pandemic Covid19.

Research Objectives
The main objective of this systematic review is to present : • A synthesis of empirical evidence found in the past related studies on the use of digital tools to improve vocabulary acquisition.

•
To enable further intervention development and research in vocabulary acquisition which can be conducted.

Research Questions
This study is conducted to answer two research questions, a) What type of digital tools could be in use to improve students' vocabulary acquisition? (b) Does the use of digital tools able to improve students' vocabulary retention?

Literature Review The Vocabulary Acquisition and the Challenges
Vocabulary is the words used in a language. Three different meanings for the word vocabulary which consisted of all the words in a language, the terms used in a particular context and the words a person knows. The list of words to make a sentence is to be referred to as vocabulary. Meaningful and comprehensible sentences which made up of a list of words are conveyed to other English language users. Language abilities in learning the English language have made it vital to fully master vocabulary learning. Adequate vocabulary skills will make the students produce and interpret the English sentences better, which enable them to analyse the meaning of the sentences. However, learning vocabulary in English classroom is often not taken into concern. Five important English language elements such as grammar, reading, writing, speaking, and listening are often taught in a lesson, but the vocabulary is under the lowest priority. Most of the time, teachers expected that vocabulary to be self-acquired by the students with their effort.
However, most students do not feel that mastering vocabulary will make them good English language learners. According to Alavi and Gilakajani (2019) vocabulary teaching and learning is very challenging to the teachers and students as they do not pay enough attention to the importance of vocabulary acquisition. The students rather focus more on the five important language elements as it considered as important in mastering the English language. Limited exposure to English which makes the students less motivated to learn new vocabulary. Students are not keen to read which influences their English vocabulary acquisition. Reading in English is hard for students as it is their second language. Most of the time the students worry if they are unable to understand the reading texts. It hinders the students from reading in English.
Negative perception of the English language increases in the lesson as the activity is not interesting for the students. Activities in the lesson are very dull to the students which cause them to not motivated to learn English. The students feel that English is a challenging subject to master. This is due that students often weak in vocabulary. Participation in English lessons lowered down as most of the students were unable to finish their sentences. Comprehension of the English language is limited within the students which causes them to refuse to learn English. All the negative perceptions happen because students lack of vocabulary in learning English. It is crucial for the teachers to find ways to make the vocabulary acquisition. Students who can master vocabulary will understand the English context better which will be able to promote a meaningful 2477 conversation. Positive perception will increase as the students participate in the lesson due to understanding the English language well.

Digital Literacy in Language Learning Classroom
Digital literacy can be described as the abilities required of users to locate, assess, organize, produce and to convey information through the use of technology. Chang et. al (2019) stated that basic functional digital skills will enable the users to utilize the digital devices to make use in a meaningful way. Incorporating digital literacy activities can promote language learning and digital literacy. Students that come from a variety of different backgrounds often have distinctive levels of English language proficiency. Limited English language and literacy skills make the process of acquiring digital literacy particularly challenging for students.
Advance technology will elevate the obtaining of information which requires even more advanced levels of digital literacy. People use to obtain information frequently by navigating a complicated website by downloading a PDF or completing an online form. Fast-changing digital environments which new and updated product are released on a regular basis which make everyone is a learner. This is important for developing instructional materials and supports for teachers and students.
Numerous platforms for the students to produce a successful collaboration. An adequate digital literacy in the students enables them to utilize the digital tools to simplify collaboration. One example of digital tools that the students can use to simplify collaboration is using social media. Social media such as WhatsApp is one of the tools that almost all people can access. Virtual meetings can be assembled in WhatsApp by the students for them to discuss about specific topics. It will make language learning easier as students can revise their pronunciation with their friends. Provided recording video of words pronunciation of the teacher will make it easier for the students to do revision.
Collaborative problem solving with technology usage must be possessed by students and teachers that are digitally literate. Collaboration in education is increased in the digital context community. This collaboration leads to a new set of language and digital abilities. Teachers can improve the students' language learning acquisition and digital skills by assigning a collaboration on projects and documents. There are a lot of digital tools that can be utilized by the teachers such as Google Drive, Surveymonkey, Quizzes and etc. The use of Google Drive in language learning will make it easier for the teachers to organize students' work. Students can upload their spreadsheets, presentations, and documents based on the task given by the teacher. The files in the Google Drive can be shared with anyone that have the links provided. This will enable the students to check their friend's works or share useful information. Surveymonkey usage in the online classroom will enable the teacher to design quick surveys and quizzes. Feedback from the students can be acquired faster and be shared. Quizzes are one of a game show genres which is a quiz tool. It is more similar to Kahoot!. A set of questions are designed by teachers for the students to answer. Gamified quizzes in Quizziz is often much more interesting to the students. Interactive quizzes will increase the students' motivation to answer the questions in Quizzes.

Teaching Media to Improve Students English Language Learning
Covid-19 pandemic has put all the Malaysian citizens into self-house quarantine. The government closed down schools to avoid more Covid19 cases raising. Most of the people stay at home so that they will not get infected by the diseases. Teachers are urged to work from home. There is a variety of teaching media that the teachers can use to improve the students learning experience. Students are digital natives since they grow in the modern era of technologies. Gadgets that the students possess, such as tablets and smartphones, enable them to access language teaching media. Teachers can vary their teaching by using teaching media in a virtual classroom. Teaching media is one of the digital tools that can amplify students learning experience.
Students' English language learning is boosted through the use of teaching media. Online resources such as language media is often use a teaching media in virtual classroom. The right teaching media based on the digital tools will aid the students connection with an authentic audience. Students' enthusiasm to learn is stimulated through the use of language media during the learning process. Opportunities to learn more are provided through the use of digital tools. Language skills of the students increase as they are always practicing it. Language teaching media such as movies and audio applications enable the students to connect with native speakers. According to Baidawi (2016) utilizing audio media will aid the students' learning process through produced word. Experiences that students have gained from language media will provide more credibility to the importance of language learning. The value of language learning will not depend exclusively on the opinions of others.
Teaching media is an open access for authentic materials. Teacher can utilize the video clips on internet to expose the students to English language. Video clips can aid the students in visualizing an event or a person while setting the context socially. The visuals and audio as teaching media will reinforce students' reading text. Understanding of certain topic is enhanced through the use of visuals and audio. It is one of a good way to improve the students learning process of the language.
Topic can be visualized in the virtual class through the use of teaching media. Learning content is amplified through the use of video content in English class. Students learn better as their background knowledge on certain topic is built through the use of visual media such as video. Multiple modalities such as viewing visual media enable the information to be process better. Images, graphs, videos, and charts to learn will able to visualize the information to the students. This will make the students understand the topic better in learning process.

Digital Tools in Education
Technology provides empowerment and encouragement to the students. Padmini and Saravanakumar (2018) stated the interaction between the instructors and peer to be fully incorporated with digital tools. that is supported through strategic use of ICT. Opportunities are given to the students to practice their language skills at their own pace through the use of digital tools. Teacher can use digital tools such as Quizziz to teach English. It is very convenient because the teacher can set time to answer the questions in the Quizzes. The digital classroom refers to the "technology-enabled" classroom where student learning and interaction with the instructor and peers is fully supported through strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Engaging the students with technology will promote an active learning environment rather than using it as a reward. Rewarding the students by playing movies is one of the ways to improve student's participation in English lessons. 2479 Teacher can use digital tools to display information about certain topics in the lesson. This will help the students to improve their comprehension of the topic. The students not only learn something but they able to gain understanding of the subject deeply as it stimulates their curiosity. There is a lot of information which provided by open sources such as Google. Google Tools such as Google drive make it easier for teachers and students to access or share new information. Curiosity will triggers the students to investigate something. Digital tool is one of the best way to teach English in class.
Aside from that, student's accessibility to the digital tools literacy is very important in educational technology. Students' ability to access and acquire online information quickly is essential for them to master digital tools. Students that foster their digital literacy will make the learning process happen. This is because the students will not waste their time trying to master the usage of digital tools. Delving in the digital tools literacies will enable the teachers and students to fully utilize digital tools for education.

Digital Tools for Language Teaching and Learning
Digital tools are programs, websites, or online resources that enable tasks to be completed easier. It is accessible to all people because they only need a stable internet connection. Teacher just needs a web browser to access the digital tools. A lot of digital tools that the teacher can utilize in a virtual classroom. This is due that digital tools can improve students retention in virtual classroom.
The use of technology in education is vital for the learning process in a lesson. It is known that technology such as digital tools often use in a lesson to aid and improve learning. The teachers will be able to adapt classroom activities through the use of digital tools. Thus language learning process improved in a lesson. Technology is an effective tool if it fully utilized by teachers which will facilitate the language learning process better. Integration of digital tools in language learning improves learners' understanding of certain topics during the learning process. A good quality of educational content is provided in digital tools such as slideshow presentation of environment pollutions. Learners will understand the topic better because the slideshow shows a lot of examples. Multitude of additional online educational contents are accessible to teachers. New digital content is created in slideshow through the access of online educational resources. Learners' experience of the world aligned better since the teachers deliver learning in a digital context. Minasyan (2016) stated that digital tools promote creativity and development of an entrepreneurial spirits which will prepare them for future skills. Learning can be delivered by teachers using digital tools.
Accessibility of digital tools will enable the teacher to create home based learning. The Covid-19 pandemic is slowing the economy down as not all business can operate. Schools have been shut down. It is important for the teacher and students to have access on the internet. The usability of technology is one of the crucial aspects in determining the students participation during the implementation of digital tools in learning. Interaction between the students and the content makes the learning process happen. Interactive learning which used digital tools such as Quizzes will make the learning process fun. Thus, students will be motivated to complete the task assigned by the teacher. Implementing digital tools into virtual classrooms will facilitate homebased learning as pandemic requires the teacher and students to stay at home. The curriculum will be chosen based on how tough and relevant of the topic. Method in which how it is learnt or 2480 presented whether active or interactive forms of learning used will be taken into consideration. All the method will create an impact to the students' learning experience in virtual class.
Aside from that, the implementation of digital tools will provide an ample opportunities which varies in perspectives and opinions. All of the provided opportunities will open for disagreement, resolution and consensus building within the students. Active participation and interaction in a discussion will increase as all the students will try their best to complete the task given. Problemsolving activity can be carried out by the teacher successfully as the internet provided various of information. Students can do research through the use of internet. This enables teacher to assign responsibilities individually and groups in which improve the students participation. Digital tools will assist the students in locating themselves within a community of participants. It will also include a motivated knowledge of the forms and functions of language employed.

Benefits of Using Digital Tools in Language Learning
Digital tools in English language classroom have benefited in many ways to teachers and students. Digitalized platforms enable students and teachers to acquire the latest information related to certain lessons or some class events. It would be easier for the teachers and students to share the information without having to copy it in papers. Lesson for English class will become more appealing to students. The students will not feel bored during lesson as they feel motivated to learn. Integration of interactive digital tools in a lesson will improve the students participation. In other words, the use of digital tools will steer the students' attention during English lesson which captivate their interest in learning.
Technology such as digital tools can help to facilitate the teachers in their teaching. Teachers can integrate some applications which promote learning and also game-like experience. It will lead to the students competing with each other to get the highest mark. Digital tools such as Quizzes is often used by teachers to test the students understanding of a lesson. Testing the students understanding of a lesson enable the teacher to find out which questions are hard for the students to excel. Discussion of the vocabulary tested will happen after the finishing answering Quizzes.
Aside from that, motivations to improve the students vocabulary will increase as they need to know more vocabulary to compete with their friends. According to Ashraf et al. (2014) online game improve motivation and students' performance as they become more interested in playing and wish to have better result. Students enable to learn a new vocabulary through Quizzes. Motivation of the students increased as they feel the integrated lesson with Quizziz is fun and interesting. The Quizzes graphic makes the quiz look a bit like games. Students prefer game so much as they can enjoy better. Participation of students in Quizziz will make the learning experience meaningful. Understanding of the vocabulary tested in the Quizziz will improve the student's comprehension of the lesson. Better learning environment will enhance the students' vocabulary.

Method
The method adopted to conduct this systematic review is based on five steps which proposed by (Khan et al., 2003). According to Khan et al (2003), there are five steps which are framing questions for review, identifying relevant studies, assessing the quality of studies, summarizing the evidences, and interpreting the findings. 2481 The first stage of the procedure is framing research questions for the review. Statement of the problem should be identified carefully and clear. Structured questions will be able to avoid any ambiguity. A good research questions will resulted in a good result research process. Identification of research questions will lead to other changes. This will lead to the identification of the population and research designs. The English teachers and English second language (ESL) learners which are from primary to tertiary education level are chosen for this systematic review.
Second stage requiring the identification of relevant studies which include the objectives. The following international bibliographic databases such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Springer e-journals, Ebscohost, ProQuest Education Journals, Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), JSTOR, SAGE and Scopus were downloaded and read extensively data analysing process.
Third stage is assessing the quality of the studies. The journal are chosen from year 2011 until 2021.
Step by step review of the past studies is completed one by one. The quality of the studies will be assessed by the positive impact of digital tools to facilitate vocabulary acquisition.
The fourth stage involve the summarizing of all past studies. Evidence in each of the journals will be summarized in the table form. I have rechecked the research questions and the objectives are relevant alongside the chosen journals.
The fifth stage is the interpretation of data in the findings. Interpretation of data is based on the result of the use of digital tools in vocabulary acquisition.

Result and Discussion
After following the stages of conducting a systematic review, a total of three comprehensive reviews and twelve past related studies on the use of digital tools and digital literacies from the

studies Comprehensive review
Pooling Necessary Resources to Achieve Set Goals.
Focusing on the context of the second language learners or foreign language learners, assuming the predefined goals by the teacher were to ensure that the learners can eloquently, and effectively converse with the native speakers of the language, then it is upon teacher to identify the various opportunities in the learning process, whereby computer-mediated communication technologies can be implemented.

Shadiev & Yang (2019)
398 studies Comprehensive review Learners had better outcomes when their learning was supported by technology. In addition, learners had positive perceptions towards the technology used. This shows that technology was effective in supporting language learning and learners accepted and used it.

Karacan & Akoglu (2021) 20 studies comprehensive review
The gamers became more interested in playing and wished to achieve better results, and on the other hand, they tried to learn more new words in addition to the vocabulary prepared for the class.  English lessons period questionnaire. The result of the study showed positive perspectives of the Dynamic English Course students toward the use of Quizizz as an online assessment tool for English teaching and learning, especially on a formative one. The explanations for this result are that Quizizz is equipped with the vocabulary theory of marginal effect, and it is multimodal. Providing an immersive learning environment through recapping words is another explanation for the good correlation between Quizizz and vocabulary learning Three relevant systematic reviews were identified (Amin, 2019;Shadiev &Yang, 2019;Karacan & Akoglu, 2021). The findings of these systematic reviews able to explore more in the use of digital tools in vocabulary acquisition. Integration of digital tools in language learning will improve the students' retention during the lesson. Interactive lesson will make the students to be interested in learning the language. Dimensions that focus on the availability of graphics, video, audio, and text will contribute to learning goals (Amin, 2019). Students that have critical review on certain subject often have high anxiety. The Integration of digital tools in English language learning will enable students to practice at their time phase (Shadiev & Yang, 2019). Meanwhile, technology-enhanced language learning and teaching will aid the students in learning process. Immersive interface will aid the students in simulated tasks. Virtual realities are one of the digital tools that will create immersive environments using virtual reality to give a learning experience to the students (Karacan & Akoglu, 2021).
Based on some studies, the use of online quizzes as a discussion platform will give the students opportunities to improve their vocabulary with their own preferred method (Boyd, 2011). Students are able to refer to their friends instead of depending on the teacher. Some students prefer to watch video to improve their vocabulary acquisition. Thus, students are able to work independently with the assist of digital technology. Involvement in a discussion will enable the students to increase their participation in tutorial or practical classes (Salas-Morera et al., 2012). Motivation of the students to complete their task are elevated as they compete with each other. Interesting graphic of the online quiz makes the environment comfortable for the students. Less pressure will make the students to acquire the language better. It will stimulate a better learning environment for the students.
Vocabulary retention will increase as the students acquire new words. Students prefer games as educational aids compared to traditional learning lessons. Game was often seen as a pervasive element for providing simulation in educational setting. This is due that students will subconsciously acquire new vocabulary (Ashraf et al., 2014;Alavi et al., 2019;Yunus & Azman, 2019;Amalia, 2020). Students become excited to join a lesson as it is increasing their confidence. Good vocabulary enable the students to have a meaningful communication in English. Gamified learning is a good way to improve the students participation in online quiz (Halim et al., 2020;Ann et al., 2020;Huei et al., 2021). Online quiz was often seen as very difficult to answers which lead to less participation in the students.
The benefits of using digital tools in language learning will improve the quality of the lesson (Celik & Aytin 2014;Abbasova & Mammadove, 2019;Hermagustiana & Rusmawati, 2017). Vocabulary acquisition among the students improve through the use of technology aids (Hermagustiana & Rusmawati, 2017). Teacher that utilise digital tools in a lesson will aid the students in learning process. Students can understand the topic better with the aid of PowerPoint. Information of the new topic is displayed in interactive slides. A deep understanding of the subject will ignite the student's curiosity to do research. This will motivate the students to always learn more and research certain topics that they do not understand. Digital tools is very effective in increasing the learners' attention. Language learning that is supported by digital tools have better outcomes. It simplifies the learning process. Teacher can use videos from YouTube to visualization the students about the topic. Aside from that, digital tools and technology use in a lesson will prepare the students for the requirement of modern society. Modern society require students to have a good social skills. Social skill is important in delivering a good conversation.

Conclusion
The review's conclusions put light on the most significant impact of the use of digital tools in vocabulary acquisition. It was found that the use of digital tools will aid the teachers in their teaching. Majority of the teachers and students favouring the integration of digital tools in language learning. Technology use in language teaching and learning process have indicated positive attitude among the teachers and students (Shadiev & Yang, 2019;Amin, 2019) . Students were able to be prepared to deal with the requirements of modern society. Implementation of digital tools in language learning enable the students to practice their English pronunciation independently by using an online dictionary (Abbasova & Mammadove, 2019). Students do not have to rely on their teacher to practice their English.
Aside from that, the use of digital tools was found to improve the students interest in learning the English language. Motivation of the students were improved as the digital tools varies from teaching media to online quiz. Online quiz from Quizziz will motivate the students to perform better. Students were able to compete with each other to complete the quiz. Effective educational aids such as gamified learning will lead to students' increase motivation and improved performance during the process of vocabulary learning (Ashrafa et al, 2014;Huei et al., 2021 ;Amalia, 2020;Halim et al., 2020). The level of students social anxiety were lessen as the gamified learning make them enjoyed the learning process (Halim et al., 2020).
The findings of the studies (Hermagustiana & Rusmawaty, 2017) also featured some considerations which need to be taken into measure when implementing digital tools in language learning. Teacher lack of digital literacy in technology will influence the outcome. Simple display in PowerPoint presentation would make the learning environment to be dull. This was due that the teacher does not know how to design the slides into an interactive PowerPoint presentation.

Limitation and Recommendations for Future Research and Practice
This systematic review indicated that the implementation of digital tools can improve vocabulary acquisition. Two primary limitations of this review will be acknowledged. The first limitation is accessibility to a good internet connection. Weak internet connection lead to students not being able to complete the task given by the teacher. Not all of the students live in suburban and rural area have a very good internet connection. Internet data is very expensive, which not all of the students and teachers can afford. Digital tools that consume so much data will make the students and teachers to spend more on the internet subscriptions.
The second limitation of this systematic review is the lack of digital literacy among the students and teachers. Lack of digital literacy will influence the vocabulary acquisition. This is because an individual have lack of digital literacy often unable to fully utilize the technology in language learning. Informative contents are often shared in the internet, which enable students to access it. Students may not be aware of plagiarising someone else work in the internet. Some of the students the copying the work of another people just to complete their own task that is given by the teachers.
It was reported and elaborated in the shortlisted studies that majority of the respondents believed that the digitals tools aid in listening and speaking practice, improve the students' retention, good explanation of the subject, improving the learning and teaching process in class, expose the students to the authentic materials and linguistic context. Therefore, there is an evident need to conduct further studies with assortments of research design and larger sample size. More studies on the use of digital tools and digital literacies in language learning should be conducted at primary level as only two out of fifteen shortlisted studies (Yunus & Azman, 2019 ;Ann et al, 2020) were conducted with primary learners. This systematic review was hoped to give empirical for the teachers and researchers to explore the use of digital tools in improving the students' vocabulary acquisition.