The Impact of Danmaku on High School Students' Video Learning: A Qualitative Analysis Based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory Model
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202610_9(10).0008Keywords:
High school students danmaku; video learning; uses and gratifications theory; danmaku interaction.Abstract
The development of the internet has made online video learning more personalized and diversified; however, problems such as poor interactivity, the inability of teachers to monitor students’ learning states, and a lack of sense of presence remain prominent. As a novel interactive approach, danmaku (bullet-screen comments) can mitigate the shortcomings of limited interaction in online video learning and improve learners’ viewing experience. Nevertheless, whether danmaku can satisfy high school students’ psychological needs in online learning and enhance their video-based learning remains controversial. Grounded in the Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study employs a grounded theory approach to explore how danmaku fulfills high school students’ psychological needs in a video-learning environment. The findings reveal that danmaku satisfies students’ goal-oriented needs: maintaining interpersonal communication and interaction, enhancing interactivity, and entertainment during video learning. Furthermore, high school students actively operate danmaku and engage in interaction with danmaku‑enabled learning videos. Danmaku also influences students’ psychological states during video learning, exerting both positive and negative effects.
Downloads
References
[1] Hu, Y. (2013). An exploratory study on the relationship between social presence and different online learning outcomes in online learning. e-Education Research, 34(2), 47–51. (In Chinese)
[2] Shi, H. S., & Zheng, Y. L. (2016). A functional analysis of social interaction in MOOCs. Modern Distance Education, 2(2), 29–35. (In Chinese)
[3] Fang, X., & Tie, Y. H. (2021). The development of online education in Canadian universities and its enlightenment to China's online education in the post-epidemic era. Heilongjiang Higher Education Research, 39(8), 45–50. (In Chinese)
[4] Bai, Q. C., Hu, Q. V., Ge, L. H., et al. (2019). Stories that big danmaku data can tell as a new media. IEEE Access, 7, 53509–53519.
[5] Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratifications research. Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(4), 509–523.
[6] Guan, L. C., Shu, C. Y., & Shung, M. T. (2013). Sense of virtual community and knowledge contribution in a P3 virtual community: Motivation and experience. Internet Research, 23(1), 4–27.
[7] Cheung, C. M., Chiu, P. Y., & Lee, M. K. (2011). Online social networks: Why do students use Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(4), 1337–1343.
[8] Rubin, A. M., Haridakis, P. M., Hullman, G. A., et al. (2003). Television exposure not predictive of terrorism fear. Newspaper Research Journal, 24(1), 128–145.
[9] Chen, Y., Gao, Q., & Rau, P. P. (2017). Watching a movie alone yet together: Understanding reasons for watching danmaku videos. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 33(9), 731–743.
[10] Sutanto, J., Kankanhalli, A., Cheng, B., & Tan, Y. (2011). Eliciting a sense of virtual community among knowledge contributors. ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, 2(3), 1–17.
[11] Lee, Y. M. (2025). Feasibility of applying danmaku to young people’s video learning and its impact on learning outcomes. Advances in Psychology, 25(2), 152–160. (In Chinese)
[12] Jiang, H. X. (2014). The research of barrage video from communication vision [Master’s thesis]. Central China Normal University. p.12.
[13] Yang, D. H., Yang, Y. Y., Gong, Y. F., et al. (2023). Barrage video web site users in the analysis of characteristics of social interaction——Take the food production video of station B as an example. Information Science, 41(8), 104–112+174. (In Chinese)
[14] Zhang, J. J., Yang, Y. H., & An, X. (2017). Enabling learning interaction through “bullet screen” videos. Chinese Journal of Distance Education, 11, 22–30+79–80. (In Chinese)
[15] Zhang, Y. B., Qian, A. P., & Pi, Z. L. (2019). Danmaku related to video content facilitates learning. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 47(3), 359–372.
[16] Cui, Y., & Ren, X. H. (2022). Research on audience demand based on data mining of science popularization videos danmaku texts: Take the science popularization video on Bilibili as an example. Studies on Science Popularization, 17(8), 8–15+39+101.
[17] Song, N. N., Yu, P. X., & Feng, X. Y. (2024). The influence of danmaku on students’ learning effectiveness in online video learning: Meta-analysis based on 22 experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Journal of Open Learning, 29(5), 23–32. (In Chinese)
[18] Wang, G., & Zhang, Y. X. (2021). From "study with me" to study with you: How activities of study with me livestream on Bilibili facilitate SRL community. arXiv.
[19] Yu, G. M., Chen, X. J., & Xiu, L. C. (2021). The influence mechanism of user's attention bias and memory under multi-modal perspective: Eye movement research based on movie subtitles. Journal of Southwest Minzu University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 42(6), 169–177. (In Chinese)
[20] Ni, Y. Q. (2017). A study of danmaku video on attention allocation, social presence, transportation to narrative, cognitive workload and enjoyment [Master’s thesis]. Syracuse University.
[21] Tong, C., & Zhao, X. Y. (2019). Exploring users' motivations and behaviors on danmaku video sharing websites: Content analysis. Library Tribune, 39(6), 80–89. (In Chinese)
[22] Zhou, Z. K. (2017). Cyber psychology. East China Normal University Press. pp. 28–29.
[23] Liao, J. F., Li, R. D., Liao, H. Z., et al. (2023). Research on the influencing factors of online video danmaku watching and participation. In Proceedings of the 2023 4th International Conference on Education, Knowledge and Information Management (pp. 711–721). Zhengzhou, China, January 13–15, 2023.
[24] Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), 329–339.
[25] Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
[26] Jiao, H. (2022). Study on the influence of guided danmaku on the online learning effect [Master’s thesis]. Liaocheng University. pp. 62–63.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Social Science and Education Research

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.




