Next Article in Journal
Development of Spatial Distribution Maps for Energy Demand and Thermal Comfort Estimation in Algeria
Next Article in Special Issue
Sustaining International Students’ Learning of Chinese in China: Shifting Motivations among New Zealand Students during Study Abroad
Previous Article in Journal
Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in a Transitional Economy: An Analysis of Two Romanian City-Regions through the Lens of Entrepreneurs
Previous Article in Special Issue
Exploring and Sustaining Language Teacher Motivation for Being a Visiting Scholar in Higher Education: An Empirical Study in the Chinese Context
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Sustainability
Volume 12
Issue 15
10.3390/su12156058
sustainability-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles thumb_up
...
Endorse textsms
...
Comment
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

The Research Trends of Multilingualism in Applied Linguistics and Education (2000–2019): A Bibliometric Analysis

by
Zhong Lin
1 and
Lei Lei
2,*
1
School of Foreign Studies, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710000, China
2
School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6058; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156058
Submission received: 28 June 2020 / Revised: 12 July 2020 / Accepted: 26 July 2020 / Published: 28 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Multilingualism in Higher Education)
Browse Figure
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
This study explored the state of the arts of bilingualism or multilingualism research in the past two decades. In particular, it employed a bibliometric method to examine the publication trend, the main publication venues, the most influential articles, and the important themes in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism. The main findings are summarised as follows. First, a significant increase of publications in the area was found in the past two decades. Second, the main publication venues and the most influential articles were reported. The results seemingly indicated that the research in the area focused largely on two broad categories, that is, (1) bilingualism or multilingualism from the perspective of psycholinguistics and cognition research and (2) how second/additional languages are learned and taught. Last, the important themes, including the hot and cold themes, were identified. Results showed that researchers prefer to study bilingualism or multilingualism more from deeper cognition levels such as metalinguistic awareness, phonological awareness, and executive control. Also, they may become more interested in the issue from multilingual perspectives rather than from the traditional bilingual view. In addition, the theme emergent bilinguals, a term closely related to translanguaging, has recently gained its popularity, which seemingly indicates a recent advocate for heteroglossic language ideologies.

1. Introduction

Bilingualism or multilingualism refers to the use of more than one language by individuals or a group of people. Researchers have a different understanding and categorisation of bilinguals/bilingualism and multilinguals/multilingualism (see [1] for a detailed discussion). In the present study, we do not distinguish bilinguals/bilingualism and multilinguals/multilingualism and use the terms interchangeably. In most cases, we use “bilingualism or multilingualism” to refer to the use of more than one language, which includes both bilingualism (the use of two languages) and multilingualism (the use of three or more languages). It was estimated that more than 60% of children grow up in a bilingual environment and have gradually gained competence in both languages [2]. In addition, approximately more than one third of the world’s population regularly speak two or more languages and even more people occasionally use a language other than their mother tongue [1]. Due to the pervasive presence of multilingualism and its close relation to the cognitive development of the human being, the issue has long attracted attention from a wide range of areas in academia, such as applied linguistics, education, and psychology, or the overlapping areas of the preceding areas such as psycholinguistics and educational psychology.
Studies of multilingualism in the areas of applied linguistics and education is broadly categorized into several lines of research such as multilingualism and cognition, multilingualism and second/additional language acquisition, and multilingualism and language policy. First, researchers are interested in the relationship between multilingualism and cognition. In the first half of the 20th century, bilingualism or multilingualism were considered as a cognitive disadvantage [3], since bilingual or multilingual children might score lower on verbal tests of cognitive capabilities [4]. Based on such findings, bilingualism or multilingualism was considered as “the problem of the bilingual child” [5] and “one of the chief factors in producing mental retardation” [6]. However, recent studies prefer to view bilingualism or multilingualism as an advantage since it has been found that bilingual or multilingual people may come out with cognitive advantages [7] such as increased attentional control [8], metalinguistic awareness [9,10], working memory [11,12], and problem solving capabilities [13]. Of course, researchers may not always agree with the point of bilingual advantages and studies have found no significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals such as [14], [15], and [16] in terms of the previous mentioned points such as cognitive advantages and working memory (see [17] for a recent review on this topic).
Second, researchers are interested in the relationship between multilingualism and second/additional language acquisition. For example, researchers are interested in how the language information of a bilingual or multilingual is represented and processed in the mind [18,19,20,21,22]. In addition, people have investigated how the languages are acquired or learned [23,24,25,26] or attritted or lost [27,28,29]. Researchers have also explored bilingualism or multilingualism in classrooms [30,31,32,33].
Last, researchers have examined bilingualism or multilingualism from the perspective of language policy. For example, numerous studies have explored the bilingual or multilingual policy in various countries and regions such as France [34], Cameroon [35], and the Arabian Peninsula [36]. Other topics in this line of research include bilingualism or multilingualism policy and politics [37,38], bilingual language policy in classrooms [39,40], bilingual language policy in universities [41,42], and bilingual language policy in family [43,44,45].
Since a large number of studies in the area have been performed, it would be of interest to examine the research trends in bilingualism or multilingualism. Hence, the present study aims to explore the landscape or the state of the arts of bilingualism or multilingualism research in the past two decades with a bibliometric method. In particular, the following research questions are to be addressed in the present study.
  • What is the publication trend in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism?
  • What are the main publication venues in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism?
  • What are the most influential articles in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism?
  • What are the important research themes, including hot and cold themes, in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism?

2. Methods

The bibliometric approach [46,47,48] was used in the present study and the methods for data retrieval and processing are described as follows. The bibliometric approach, also known as informetrics [49] or scientometrics [50], refers to the quantitative analysis of academic literature based on relevant bibliometric information such as the authors, the publication venues, and citation counts [51]. First, the database of Web of Science Core Collection (indexed in SSCI and A&HCI) was retrieved on January 20, 2020. The database was used for the reason that they included high-impact journal publications as well as their corresponding bibliometric information such as the authors, the journals, the abstracts, and the article citation counts that were to be used for the bibliometric analyses in this study. The queries presented in Table 1 were used to extract the bibliometric information that was necessary for the follow-up analyses. To be specific, the purpose of the retrieval was to search the articles of bilingualism or multilingualism in the areas of linguistics and education that were published in English from 2000 and 2019. We set 2000 as the starting year of the queries since the database in our university library starts at 2000. In addition, we retrieved articles in the areas of linguistics and education since (1) most articles pertinent to bilingualism or multilingualism were published in journals in the two areas, and (2) such an option not only matches our research expertise but also fits well the theme of the special issue. Furthermore, the combined query “(TS = bilingual* OR TS = multilingual*)” was used to retrieve all publications in the database that contained key words such as “bilingual*” or “multilingual*” (i.e., “bilingual”, “bilinguals”, “bilingualism”, “multilingual”, “multilinguals”, and “multilingualism”) in the titles or abstracts. At this step, a total of 7216 entries were found by the queries.
Second, the detailed bibliometric information of the entries was then downloaded. The bibliometric information of the entries included article titles, authors, journal titles, publishing years, abstracts, citation counts of each article, etc. The entries without information such as the publishing year, the journal title, or an abstract were excluded, and the remaining 6909 entries were employed for the follow-up analyses.
Third, the number of articles published in each year of the examined span was calculated for the analysis of the publication trend. Also, the information of journal titles was used and counted for the analysis of the main publication venues.
Fourth, the information of citation counts of each article was used for the analysis of the most influential articles. The number of citations that an article receives is closely related with the number of years it has published. That is, the longer an article has been published, the more citations it may have received. Hence, the citation counts of each article were normalised with the following formula based on the common practice of previous bibliometric research such as [48].
Normalised   citation = R a w   c i t a t i o n   o f   a n   a r t i c l e T o t a l   n u m b e r   o f   c i t a t i o n s   i n   t h e   p u b l i s h i n g   y e a r  
Last, the important themes as well as the hot and cold themes in bilingualism or multilingualism were extracted based on the methods used in [52]. That is, all abstracts were first parsed for their sentence-level syntactic dependency relations with spaCy with homemade Python scripts. Then, the noun phrases were extracted out of the dependency parsing results. In the present study, we, following [53], defined a topic or a theme as a lexical noun phrase (the structure criterion) that occurs frequently across a wide range of texts (the repetition criterion). It should be noted that the specification of the thresholds for frequency and range of a theme is contingent. That is, it depends on many factors such as the data size used in the study and the research purpose. Also, the structure and repetition criteria may not guarantee that a frequent lexical noun phrase is a topic or a theme, and a manual check by the researchers or professionals (in case the researchers are not in the examined area) is needed. Next, the important themes were filtered in out of the candidate noun phrases with their frequency and range. Several rounds of experiments were performed in order to find the optimal criteria of frequency and range. The final criteria were set at 30 for both frequency and range, that is, a noun phrase may be considered as an important research theme in bilingualism or multilingualism if it occurs at least 30 times in at least 30 abstracts. The two researchers first individually judged if the candidate noun phrases were themes in bilingualism or multilingualism. They then discussed together and agreed that all the extracted candidates noun phrases were themes in the area. Finally, the hot and cold themes in the research themes were identified across the examined two decades with the normalised frequency of each research theme. The normalised frequency of each research theme was calculated with the following formula and the hot and cold themes were identified with a first-order autoregressive model. The first-order autoregressive model is a linear regression model that examines the trend of a group of values on a time series. It has been widely used to detect the research trend of themes such as in [52,54]. In the present study, the hot themes are those that have been detected a significant increase in use in the examined span by the autoregressive model, while the cold themes are those that have significantly decreased in use in the examined period. The first-order autoregressive model was fit with the packages forecast and lmtest in the R language [55].
Normalised   frequency   of   each   year = R a w   f r e q u e n n c y N u m b e r   o f   a b s t r a c t s   i n   e a c h   y e a r

3. Results and Discussion

In this section, major findings of the present study are reported.

3.1. Publication Trend

The number of articles published in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism is presented in Table 2. A linear regression model was fit and results showed that the number of articles published in the examined decades increased significantly (F(1,18) = 339.2, p. = 3.973 × 10−13, Multiple R-squared = 0.9496, Adjusted R-squared = 0.9468). The publication trend is illustrated in Figure 1. The results that more articles have been published may indicate that bilingualism or multilingualism have attracted increasing attention in the examined years.

3.2. Main Publication Venues

The top 20 journals in terms of the number of publications are presented in Table 3. The journals are the main publication venues of articles in bilingualism or multilingualism. It is obvious that approximately a half of the journals (nine journals) are in the areas of psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and cognition studies (i.e., Bilingualism-Language and Cognition, International Journal of Bilingualism, Applied Psycholinguistics, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, Brain and Language, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, Journal of Neurolinguistics, Journal of Memory and Language, and Journal of Psycholinguistic Research). Of the remaining journals, seven are in the areas of education and second language learning (International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language and Education, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Language Learning, Reading and Writing, Journal of Child Language, and Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies). The preceding findings showed that most studies investigate the issue of bilingualism or multilingualism from the perspective of language representation and processing and cognition development as well as how second or additional languages are learned and taught. Other journals include those in the areas of cross- or inter-cultural communication/development (Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Multilingua-Journal of Cross-Cultural and interlanguage Communication, and Journal of Pragmatics) and lexicography (Lexikos).

3.3. Influential Articles

We presented the top 20 most influential articles in terms of normalised citations in Table 4. Similar to the findings of main publication venues in the previous section, the influential articles can be broad categorized into two areas, that is, bilingualism or multilingualism from the perspective of psycholinguistics and cognition research [10,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65] and how second/additional languages are learned and taught [23,30,66,67,68,69,70,71,72].
The two most recent articles of the top 20 highly cited ones are [30,67], both of which discuss the issue of translanguaging. Translanguaging has recently attracted much attention in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism. It was originally used to refer to the pedagogical practice of using more than one language (such as the target second language and the learner’s mother tongue) in classroom teaching [73]. Such an understanding of the term has been widely discussed and advocated in works such as [30,74,75]. Li [67], however, extends translanguaging to a practical theory of language which takes language as a resource for people to think and to communicate. Hence, translanguaging, as [67] argues, goes much beyond the pedagogical practice and may serve as a transdisciplinary theory across the overlapping research areas such as linguistics, education, and psychology.

3.4. Important Research Themes of Bilingualism or Multilingualism

A total of 82 research themes met the threshold of frequency and range and were hence detected and extracted. The important research themes in bilingualism or multilingualism are presented in Table 5.
We fit first-order autoregression models to detect the hot and cold themes in bilingualism and or multilingualism. A total of 12 hot themes, those that had gained significantly more attention in the examined period, were detected. Meanwhile, two cold themes, those that had received significantly less attention, were identified. See Table 6 for the details.
Vocabulary knowledge has received significantly less attention, which suggests that this topic/theme has not garnered extensive attention in bilingualism or multilingualism research. Rather, they prefer to examine the issue more from deeper cognition levels such as metalinguistic awareness, phonological awareness, and executive control.
In addition, it is of interest to find that the theme of bilingual students has also lost its popularity in the past two decades. In contrast, researchers may become more interested in the issue from multilingual and more diverse perspectives, which is evidenced by the occurrence of such hot themes as multiple languages, multilingual students, multilingual children, and linguistic diversity. Researchers may also have attempted to address the concerns from the perspective of special groups of learners (deaf children) and socioeconomic views (socioeconomic status).
Last, the theme emergent bilinguals, which is closely related to translanguaging as discussed in the previous section, has recently gained its popularity in academia. Following [76], researchers such as [77,78,79] emergent bilinguals to refer to immigrant children who may learn the second/additional language at school while they still speak their mother tongue at home. Such a term, different from previously used popular terms such as bilingual students/learners, shows a recent advocate for heteroglossic language ideologies from monoglossic language ideologies [79].

4. Conclusions

In this study, we examined the research trends of bilingualism or multilingualism in the past two decades. The main findings are summarised as follows. First, a significant increase of publications in the area was found in the past two decades. Second, the main publication venues and the most influential articles were reported. The results seemingly indicated that the research in the area focused largely on two broad categories, specifically, (1) bilingualism or multilingualism from the perspective of psycholinguistics and cognition research and (2) how second/additional languages are learned and taught. Last, the important themes, including the hot and cold themes were identified. Researchers prefer to examine bilingualism and or multilingualism more from deeper cognition levels such as metalinguistic awareness, phonological awareness, and executive control. Also, they may become more interested in the issue from multilingual perspectives rather than the traditional bilingual view. The theme emergent bilinguals, a term closely related to translanguaging, has recently gained its popularity in academia, which seemingly indicates a recent advocate for heteroglossic language ideologies [79]. While the issue of bilingualism or multilingualism has attracted more attention in academia as the findings of the present study suggest, it may not only serve as a language issue or a concept in academia. In fact, it is closely related to social factors such as politics, culture, and economy [1]. For example, hot themes identified in the study such as emergent bilinguals and translanguaging are pertinent to the social or cultural identities of language learners. Hence, the issue of bilingualism or multilingualism may also play a role in the sustainable development, particularly when bilingualism or multilingualism is pervasive in the world [2].
Although the study has obtained findings that may illuminate the research area, it is limited in the type and discipline of the data. Only journal articles in linguistics and education science were used for the analyses. Future research may extend the study to other data types such as theses, dissertations, edited books, and monographs in linguistics and education, as well as other disciplines such as psychology and sociology in order to map a fuller picture of the state of the arts and research trends in the area of bilingualism or multilingualism.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.L.; methodology, L.L.; writing—original draft, Z.L. and L.L.; writing—review & editing, Z.L. and L.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Li, W. Dimensions of bilingualism. In The Bilingualism Reader; Li, W., Ed.; Routledge: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2001; pp. 3–25. ISBN 0203461347. [Google Scholar]
  2. Crystal, D. English as A Global Language, 2nd ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2003; ISBN 9780521823470. [Google Scholar]
  3. Antoniou, M. The advantages of bilingualism debate. Annu. Rev. Linguist. 2019, 5, 395–415. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  4. Darcy, N.T. A review of the literature on the effects of bilingualism upon the measurement of intelligence. J. Genet. Psychol. 1953, 82, 21–57. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  5. Smith, F. Bilingualism and mental development. Br. J. Psychol. Gen. Sect. 1923, 13, 271–282. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  6. Goodenough, F.L. Racial differences in the intelligence of school children. J. Exp. Psychol. 1926, 9, 388–397. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Adesope, O.O.; Lavin, T.; Thompson, T.; Ungerleider, C. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates of bilingualism. Rev. Educ. Res. 2010, 80, 207–245. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  8. Bialystok, E.; Craik, F.I.M.; Klein, R.; Viswanathan, M. Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychol. Aging 2004, 19, 290–303. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  9. Campbell, R.; Sais, E. Accelerated metalinguistic (phonological) awareness in bilingual children. Br. J. Dev. Psychol. 1995, 13, 61–68. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  10. Bialystok, E.; Majumder, S.; Martin, M.M. Developing phonological awareness: Is there a bilingual advantage? Appl. Psycholinguist. 2003, 24, 27–44. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  11. Fernandes, M.A.; Craik, F.; Bialystok, E.; Kreuger, S. Effects of bilingualism, aging, and semantic relatedness on memory under divided attention. Can. J. Exp. Psychol. 2007, 61, 128–141. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  12. Bialystok, E.; Craik, F.; Luk, G. Cognitive control and lexical access in younger and older bilinguals. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 2008, 34, 859–873. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  13. Bialystok, E. Effect of bilingualism and computer video game experience on the Simon task. Can. J. Exp. Psychol. 2006, 60, 68–79. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  14. Gathercole, V.C.M.; Thomas, E.M.; Kennedy, I.; Prys, C.; Young, N.; Viñas Guasch, N.; Roberts, E.J.; Hughes, E.K.; Jones, L. Does language dominance affect cognitive performance in bilinguals? Lifespan evidence from preschoolers through older adults on card sorting, Simon, and metalinguistic tasks. Front. Psychol. 2014, 5, 11. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  15. Paap, K.R.; Greenberg, Z.I. There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cogn. Psychol. 2013, 66, 232–258. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  16. Paap, K.R.; Johnson, H.A.; Sawi, O. Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances. Cortex 2015, 69, 265–278. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  17. Bailey, C.; Venta, A.; Langley, H. The bilingual [dis]advantage. Lang. Cogn. 2020, 12, 225–281. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  18. Levelt, W.J.M. Speaking: From Intention to Articulation; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 1989; ISBN 0262121379. [Google Scholar]
  19. Levelt, W.J.M.; Roelofs, A.; Meyer, A.S. A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behav. Brain Sci. 1999, 22, 1–38. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  20. Pickering, M.J.; Ferreira, V.S. Structural priming: A critical review. Psychol. Bull. 2008, 134, 427–459. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  21. Loebell, H.; Bock, K. Structural priming across languages. Linguistics 2003, 41, 791–824. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  22. Wei, H.; Boland, J.E.; Cai, Z.G.; Yuan, F.; Wang, M. Persistent structural priming during online second-language comprehension. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 2019, 45, 349–359. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  23. Marian, V.; Blumenfeld, H.K.; Kaushanskaya, M. The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 2007, 50, 940–967. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  24. Yang, C.; Montrul, S. Learning datives: The Tolerance Principle in monolingual and bilingual acquisition. Second Lang. Res. 2017, 33, 119–144. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  25. Bohman, T.M.; Bedore, L.M.; Peña, E.D.; Mendez-Perez, A.; Gillam, R.B. What you hear and what you say: Language performance in Spanish English bilinguals. Int. J. Biling. Educ. Biling. 2010, 13, 325–344. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  26. Gottardo, A. The Relationship between Language and Reading Skills in Bilingual Spanish-English Speakers. Top. Lang. Disord. 2002, 22, 46–70. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  27. Montrul, S. Second language acquisition and first language loss in adult early bilinguals: Exploring some differences and similarities. Second Lang. Res. 2005, 21, 199–249. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  28. Sorace, A. Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguist. Approaches Biling. 2011, 1, 2–34. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  29. Pires, A.; Rothman, J. Disentangling sources of incomplete acquisition: An explanation for competence divergence across heritage grammars. Int. J. Biling. 2009, 13, 211–238. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  30. Creese, A.; Blackledge, A. Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? Mod. Lang. J. 2010, 94, 103–115. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  31. Cervantes-Soon, C.G.; Dorner, L.; Palmer, D.; Heiman, D.; Schwerdtfeger, R.; Choi, J. Combating inequalities in two-way language immersion programs: Toward critical consciousness in bilingual education spaces. Rev. Res. Educ. 2017, 41, 403–427. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  32. Gallagher, F. Considered in context: EFL teachers’ views on the classroom as a bilingual space and codeswitching in shared-L1 and in multilingual contexts. System 2020, 91, 102262. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  33. D’warte, J. Recognizing and leveraging the bilingual meaning-making potential of young people aged six to eight years old in one Australian classroom. J. Early Child. Lit. 2020, 20, 296–326. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  34. Schedel, L.S. L’éducation bilingue en France. Politiques linguistiques, modèles et pratiques. Int. J. Biling. Educ. Biling. 2020, 23, 253–256. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  35. Takam, A.F.; Fassé, I.M. English and French bilingual education and language policy in Cameroon: The bottom-up approach or the policy of no policy? Lang. Policy 2020, 19, 61–86. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  36. Buckingham, L. Language, Identity and Education on the Arabian Peninsula: Bilingual Policies in a Multilingual Context, 1st ed.; Multilingual Matters: Bristol, UK, 2016; ISBN 9781783096626. [Google Scholar]
  37. Johannessen, B.G.G. Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Politics, Policies and Practices in a Globalized Society; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2019; ISBN 978-3-030-05495-3. [Google Scholar]
  38. Zuniga, C.E.; Henderson, K.I.; Palmer, D.K. Language policy toward equity: How bilingual teachers use policy mandates to their own ends. Lang. Educ. 2018, 32, 60–76. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  39. Allard, E.C.; Apt, S.; Sacks, I. Language policy and practice in almost-bilingual classrooms. Int. Multiling. Res. J. 2019, 13, 73–87. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  40. Henderson, K.I. Teacher language ideologies mediating classroom-level language policy in the implementation of dual language bilingual education. Linguist. Educ. 2017, 42, 21–33. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  41. Lau, K.; Lin, C.-Y. Internationalization of higher education and language policy: The case of a bilingual university in Taiwan. High. Educ. 2017, 74, 437–454. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  42. Keles, U.; Yazan, B.; Giles, A. Turkish-English bilingual content in the virtual linguistic landscape of a university in Turkey: Exclusive de facto language policies. Int. Multiling. Res. J. 2020, 14, 1–19. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  43. Wilson, S. Family language policy through the eyes of bilingual children: The case of French heritage speakers in the UK. J. Multiling. Multicult. Dev. 2020, 41, 121–139. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  44. Wilson, S. To mix or not to mix: Parental attitudes towards translanguaging and language management choices. Int. J. Biling. 2020. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  45. Costa Waetzold, J.; Melo-Pfeifer, S. How is the bilingual development of Portuguese heritage children perceived by their parents? Results from an ethnographic case study of a non-formal learning setting in Germany. Int. J. Biling. Educ. Biling. 2020, 1–21. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  46. Lei, L.; Liu, D. The research trends and contributions of System’s publications over the past four decades (1973–2017): A bibliometric analysis. System 2019, 80, 1–13. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  47. Lei, L.; Liu, D. Research trends in Applied Linguistics from 2005 to 2016: A bibliometric analysis and its implications. Appl. Linguist. 2019, 40, 540–561. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  48. Li, X.; Lei, L. A bibliometric analysis of topic modelling studies (2000–2017). J. Inf. Sci. 2019. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  49. Egghe, L.; Rousseau, R. Introduction to Informetrics: Quantitative Methods in Library, Documentation and Information Science; Elsevier: Amersterdam, The Netherlands; Oxford, UK, 1990; ISBN 0444884939. [Google Scholar]
  50. Bar-Ilan, J. Informetrics at the beginning of the 21st century—A review. J. Informetr. 2008, 2, 1–52. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  51. Ellegaard, O.; Wallin, J.A. The bibliometric analysis of scholarly production: How great is the impact? Scientometrics 2015, 105, 1809–1831. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  52. Lei, L.; Deng, Y.; Liu, D. Examining research topics with a dependency-based noun phrase extraction method: A case in accounting. Libr. Hi Tech. submitted.
  53. Justeson, J.S.; Katz, S.M. Technical terminology: Some linguistic properties and an algorithm for identification in text. Nat. Lang. Eng. 1995, 1, 9–27. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  54. R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing; R Core Team: Vienna, Austria, 2019; Available online: https://www.R-project.org/ (accessed on 28 July 2020).
  55. Dijkstra, T.; van Heuven, W.J.B. The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Biling. Lang. Cogn. 2002, 5, 175–197. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  56. Costa, A.; Santesteban, M. Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learners. J. Mem. Lang. 2004, 50, 491–511. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  57. Piske, T.; MacKay, I.R.A.; Flege, J.E. Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: A review. J. Phon. 2001, 29, 191–215. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  58. Hernandez, A.E.; Martinez, A.; Kohnert, K. In search of the language switch: An fMRI study of picture naming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Brain Lang. 2000, 73, 421–431. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
  59. Jiang, N. Lexical representation and development in a second language. Appl. Linguist. 2000, 21, 47–77. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  60. Bialystok, E. Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Biling. Lang. Cogn. 2009, 12, 3–11. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  61. Hahne, A. What’s different in second-language processing? Evidence from event-related brain potentials. J. Psycholinguist. Res. 2001, 30, 251–266. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  62. Jared, D.; Kroll, J.F. Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? J. Mem. Lang. 2001, 44, 2–31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  63. Bosch, L.; Sebastián-Gallés, N. Simultaneous bilingualism and the perception of a language-specific vowel contrast in the first year of life. Lang. Speech 2003, 46, 217–243. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  64. Gutierrez-Clellen, V.F.; Kreiter, J. Understanding child bilingual acquisition using parent and teacher reports. Appl. Psycholinguist. 2003, 24, 267–288. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  65. Geva, E.; Siegel, L.S. Orthographic and cognitive factors in the concurrent development of basic reading skills in two languages. Read. Writ. 2000, 12, 1–30. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  66. Li, W. Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language. Appl. Linguist. 2018, 39, 9–30. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  67. Cook, V. Using the first language in the classroom. Can. Mod. Lang. Rev. 2001, 57, 402–423. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  68. Carlo, M.S.; August, D.; McLaughlin, B.; Snow, C.E.; Dressler, C.; Lippman, D.N.; Lively, T.J.; WHITE, C.E. Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Read. Res. Q. 2004, 39, 188–215. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  69. De Groot, A.M.B.; Keijzer, R. What is hard to learn is easy to forget: The roles of word concreteness, cognate status, and word frequency in foreign-language vocabulary learning and forgetting. Lang. Learn. 2000, 50, 1–56. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  70. Gersten, R.; Baker, S. What we know about effective instructional practices for English-language learners. Except. Child. 2000, 66, 454–470. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  71. Wharton, G. Language learning strategy use of bilingual foreign language learners in Singapore. Lang. Learn. 2000, 50, 203–243. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  72. Baker, C.; Wright, W.E. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 6th ed.; Multilingual Matters: Bristol, UK; Blue Ridge Summit, PA, USA, 2017; ISBN 9781783097203. [Google Scholar]
  73. García, O.; Baetens Beardsmore, H. Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective; Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, UK, 2009; ISBN 9781405119948. [Google Scholar]
  74. Creese, A.; Blackledge, A. Translanguaging and identity in educational settings. Annu. Rev. Appl. Linguist. 2015, 35, 20–35. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  75. García, O.; Kleifgen, J.A. Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners; Teachers College Press: New York, NY, USA, 2010; ISBN 0807751146. [Google Scholar]
  76. Gort, M. Code-switching patterns in the writing-related talk of young emergent Bilinguals. J. Lit. Res. 2012, 44, 45–75. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  77. Menken, K. Emergent bilingual students in secondary school: Along the academic language and literacy continuum. Lang. Teach. 2013, 46, 438–476. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  78. Menken, K.; Solorza, C. No child left bilingual. Educ. Policy 2014, 28, 96–125. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  79. Flores, N.; Schissel, J.L. Dynamic bilingualism as the norm: Envisioning a heteroglossic approach to standards-based reform. TESOL Q. 2014, 48, 454–479. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
Sustainability 12 06058 g001 550
Figure 1. Publication trend in the examined decades.
Figure 1. Publication trend in the examined decades.
Sustainability 12 06058 g001
Table
Table 1. Retrieval queries.
Table 1. Retrieval queries.
(from Web of Science Core Collection)
(TS = bilingual* OR TS = multilingual*) AND LANGUAGE: (English) AND DOCUMENT TYPES: (Article)
Refined by: WEB OF SCIENCE CATEGORIES: (Linguistics OR Language Linguistics OR Education Educational Research OR Psychology Educational OR Education Special OR Education Scientific Disciplines)
Timespan: 2000–2019. Indexes: SSCI, A&HCI.
Table
Table 2. Number of publications published per year.
Table 2. Number of publications published per year.
YearNumber of Publications
2019742
2018811
2017708
2016657
2015499
2014476
2013484
2012441
2011437
2010367
2009281
2008237
2007177
2006132
2005118
200478
200368
200275
200166
200055
Total6909
Table
Table 3. Top 20 publication venues.
Table 3. Top 20 publication venues.
RankJournalsNumber of Publications
1Bilingualism-Language and Cognition513
2International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism325
3International Journal of Bilingualism307
4Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development178
5Applied Psycholinguistics151
6Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research136
7Brain and Language120
8Language and Education116
9Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism113
10Multilingua-Journal of Cross-Cultural and interlanguage Communication94
11Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics90
12Journal of Neurolinguistics88
13Journal of Pragmatics87
14Language Learning86
15Journal of Memory and Language80
16Reading and Writing77
17Journal of Psycholinguistic Research76
18Journal of Child Language72
19Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies72
20Lexikos68
Table
Table 4. Top 20 influential articles.
Table 4. Top 20 influential articles.
AuthorsYearTitleJournalsRaw CitationNormalised Citation
Dijkstra & van Heuven2002The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decisionBilingualism-Language and Cognition5370.1620
Costa & Santesteban2004Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learnersJournal of Memory and Language3770.0955
Piske, et al.2001Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: a reviewJournal of Phonetics3370.0945
Hernandez, et al.2000In search of the language switch: An fMRI study of picture naming in Spanish-English bilingualsBrain and Language2050.0861
Marion, et al.2007The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilingualsJournal of Speech Language and Hearing Research5130.0830
Geva & Siegel2000Orthographic and cognitive factors in the concurrent development of basic reading skills in two languagesReading and Writing1900.0798
Li2018Translanguaging as a practical theory of languageApplied Linguistics1160.0794
Cook2001Using the first language in the classroomCanadian Modern Language Review-Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes2790.0782
Jiang2000Lexical representation and development in a second languageApplied Linguistics1750.0735
Creese & Blackledge2010Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching?Modern Language Journal5760.0726
Carlo, et al.2004Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classroomsReading Research Quarterly2710.0686
Bialystok2009Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferentBilingualism-Language and Cognition3520.0592
de Groot & Keijzer2000What is hard to learn is easy to forget: The roles of word concreteness, cognate status, and word frequency in foreign-language vocabulary learning and forgettingLanguage Learning1320.0554
Hahne2001What’s different in second-language processing? Evidence from event-related brain potentialsJournal of Psycholinguistic Research1950.0547
Jared & Kroll2001Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words?Journal of Memory and Language1930.0541
Bosch & Sebastian-Galles2003Simultaneous bilingualism and the perception of a language-specific vowel contrast in the first year of lifeLanguage and Speech1880.0541
Gersten & Baker2000What we know about effective instructional practices for English-language learnersExceptional Children1260.0529
Wharton2000Language learning strategy use of bilingual foreign language learners in SingaporeLanguage Learning1260.0529
Bialystok, et al.2003Developing phonological awareness: Is there a bilingual advantage?Applied Psycholinguistics1810.0521
Gutierrez-Clellen & Kreiter2003Understanding child bilingual acquisition using parent and teacher reportsApplied Psycholinguistics1790.0515
Table
Table 5. Important research themes.
Table 5. Important research themes.
ThemesRaw FrequencyRangeAr1 Coefficientp.
Bilingual children593382−0.25470.2755
Bilingual education2671990.29050.3860
Language use2421970.08970.7258
Native speakers1751390.05710.7956
Bilingual speakers1561320.34370.1456
Emergent bilinguals67440.90360.0000
Monolingual children142111−0.10990.6685
Language proficiency142116−0.19520.4906
Language impairment115790.00670.9785
Language policy115950.19930.3573
Language learning11198−0.30460.1487
Different languages111104−0.14470.5193
Second language1071030.34650.0947
Higher education101740.12050.6126
Language dominance98710.27160.2420
Working memory98710.16270.5990
Specific language impairment9083−0.22120.3457
Language development88740.28640.1921
Heritage speakers86510.23370.2916
Language choice8662−0.09980.6565
Young children8468−0.10610.6293
Multilingual students50340.70320.0011
Language contact82710.14150.5538
Language acquisition8174−0.38100.0703
Second language acquisition79720.24350.2998
Cross–linguistic influence78530.34390.1190
Late bilinguals7856−0.15090.5187
Language ideologies78590.16000.4801
Early bilinguals7652−0.21770.3258
Morphological awareness7033−0.02910.9007
Multilingual children57340.60160.0006
First language67660.27610.2191
Linguistic diversity55490.56610.0037
First grade6233−0.02090.9248
Cognitive control59430.37930.0844
L2 learners57450.03520.9075
L2 proficiency57410.04630.8427
Socioeconomic status48430.56490.0024
Monolingual speakers5544−0.10960.6869
Deaf children71370.50650.0079
Lexical access5444−0.06000.7952
Translation equivalents53420.23550.2839
Bilingual aphasia5337−0.12310.7058
Language policies53460.39930.0547
Bilingual dictionaries47350.50510.0084
Metalinguistic awareness52330.49770.0103
Multiple languages83700.45850.0251
L2 acquisition5048−0.04000.8644
Phonological awareness155910.45720.0193
Native English speakers49380.07700.7352
Literacy development31300.44530.0393
Language processing4842−0.14360.5342
Language education48400.37630.0770
Language switching4730−0.51320.1726
Executive control50330.42540.0435
Multilingual contexts4744−0.08030.7563
Vocabulary knowledge4943−0.47140.0167
Language learners46430.29900.2175
Bilingual development45370.09280.6851
Speech-language pathologists45320.39280.0576
Speech production44380.11340.6432
Sign language4430−0.38970.4223
Minority languages44380.11780.6142
Word reading42370.20390.3656
Language practices4238−0.00480.9834
Multilingual education42370.38950.0658
Language planning42300.18990.3922
Word recognition4133−0.29950.4157
Language shift4137−0.40960.0544
Receptive vocabulary40320.31160.2136
Monolingual and bilingual children4034−0.26160.2335
L2 speakers40340.04060.8656
Language experience4036−0.39420.0603
Language exposure3932−0.06440.7781
Multilingual settings3837−0.38450.0675
Academic achievement3732−0.22530.4761
Language production3632−0.12390.5865
Language teaching35320.01340.9539
Bilingual individuals35330.10090.6660
Bilingual acquisition34310.37500.1649
American sign language3434−0.18410.4470
Bilingual students6854−0.72530.0003
Table
Table 6. Hot and cold themes.
Table 6. Hot and cold themes.
ThemesRaw FrequencyRangeAr1 Coefficientp.
Emergent bilinguals67440.90360.0000
Multilingual students50340.70320.0011
Multilingual children57340.60160.0006
Linguistic diversity55490.56610.0037
Socioeconomic status48430.56490.0024
Deaf children71370.50650.0079
Bilingual dictionaries47350.50510.0084
Metalinguistic awareness52330.49770.0103
Multiple languages83700.45850.0251
Phonological awareness155910.45720.0193
Literacy development31300.44530.0393
Executive control50330.42540.0435
Vocabulary knowledge4943−0.47140.0167
Bilingual students6854−0.72530.0003

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Lin, Z.; Lei, L. The Research Trends of Multilingualism in Applied Linguistics and Education (2000–2019): A Bibliometric Analysis. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6058. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156058

AMA Style

Lin Z, Lei L. The Research Trends of Multilingualism in Applied Linguistics and Education (2000–2019): A Bibliometric Analysis. Sustainability. 2020; 12(15):6058. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156058

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lin, Zhong, and Lei Lei. 2020. "The Research Trends of Multilingualism in Applied Linguistics and Education (2000–2019): A Bibliometric Analysis" Sustainability 12, no. 15: 6058. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156058

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop