Applying VOSviewer in a bibliometric review on English language teacher education research: an analysis of narratives, networks and numbers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to promote researcher agency to use bibliometric analysis for professional development. To achieve this aim, this paper provides an overview of academic research, by conducting a bibliometric review on English language teacher education between 1946 and 2022. With the aid of the VOSviewer software tool, this bibliometric review analysed 2594 Scopus-indexed documents related to English language teacher education. Rui Yuan from Hong Kong, China, was the most productive researcher. Karen E. Johnson (USA), Icy Lee (HK) and Thomas S.C. Farrell (Canada) were identified as the other three most influential researchers in English language teacher education. Also, the analysis showed three frequently discussed topics at different times: ‘teacher beliefs’ which appeared at Phase 3 (2010–2019) and Phase 4 (2020–2022), ‘pre-service teachers’ at Phase 2 (2000–2009), Phase 3 (2010–2019) and Phase 4 (2020-2022), and ‘reflective practice’ at Phase 1 (1946-1999), Phase 3 (2010–2019) and Phase 4 (2020–2022). The study uncovered several emerging topics, namely ‘sociocultural theory’, ‘teacher agency’, ‘online teaching’, and ‘higher education’. These findings contribute to a better understanding of English language teacher education. The information and data gained from a bibliometric review may help early-career researchers, postgraduate students, and experienced researchers exercise their agency in framing and strategising their research trajectories.

Keywords

• Teacher education
• English language teachers
• researcher agency
• teacher professional development
• bibliometric review
• Teachers & Teacher Education