Integration of adaptive digital platforms for the personalization of foreign language acquisition by university students

Abstract

The paper analyzes the integration of adaptive digital platforms into university foreign language education as a response to the contradiction between the linear logic of traditional curricula and the nonlinear, hypertextual strategies of information acquisition employed by contemporary students, as well as to the heterogeneity of learning groups and the instructor’s limited resources for sustainable individualization. Personalization is interpreted as algorithmically supported construction of individual learning trajectories based on continuous monitoring of learning actions, error types, response time, and behavioral patterns, which presupposes a modular organization of content and its enrichment with metadata. The heuristic value of distinguishing between macro- and micro-adaptation is demonstrated, and the advantages of hybrid models combining preliminary diagnostics with real-time correction, including the automation of spaced repetition, are substantiated. At the same time, the risks of fragmentation of the linguistic worldview and the “filter bubble” effect, in which the system reduces the level of productive challenge, are identified; it is proposed to consider algorithms of “productive difficulty” as a mechanism for maintaining learning within the zone of proximal development. Significant attention is paid to preserving learner agency through the development of metacognitive skills and the requirement of algorithmic transparency of feedback. The possibilities and limitations of adapting authentic materials by means of natural language processing are examined, with preference given to scaffolding rather than text simplification. Platform integration is interpreted as a transformation of the pedagogical role toward architectural design of the learning environment and facilitation of communication, most organic in blended formats, alongside the concurrent necessity of teachers’ digital competence. Motivational effects of gamification, the potential of formative assessment, and the significance of social interaction and learner grouping are considered. Ethical challenges of learning analytics, prospects of multimodal data, and the requirement of interoperability with the university’s digital ecosystem are noted, which establishes the criteria of the article’s relevance for program developers, teachers, and administrators of digital transformation.