Structure of Research Topics of Reading in a Foreign Language's Publications in the Past Two Decades (2002-2020): A Bibliometric Analysis

This bibliometric study analyzed the research topic structure of the Reading in a Foreign Language (RFL) journal in the past two decades. Using two well recognized bibliometric approaches, namely, the keyword co-occurrence analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, the study examined author keywords and their co-occurrence of 184 research articles from 2002 to 2020. Results revealed that (1) the journal covered a wide range of reading research topics, and its most frequently researched topics were extensive reading, reading fluency, vocabulary learning, reading of foreign languages other than English, etc; (2) frequently researched topics were clustered into eight groups, including development of reading fluency, learner factors, vocabulary, etc.; and (3) the network of research topics centered around six large nodes (i.e., standardized keywords), namely extensive reading, reading fluency, vocabulary learning, reader characteristics, reading instructions, and reading comprehension. The findings might help readers and potential contributors familiarize with the research topic structure of the RFL journal. This study has important pedagogical implications.

Title	Structure of Research Topics of Reading in a Foreign Language's Publications in the Past Two Decades (2002-2020): A Bibliometric Analysis
Creator	Wang, Y.
	Luo, Han
	Gui, M.
Publisher	Reading in a Foreign Language
Academic Department	Languages and Literary Studies
Division	Humanities
Organization	Lafayette College
Date Issued	October 2022
Date Available	2023-01-24
Type	Article
Language	English
Keyword	research themes
	keyword co-occurrence analysis
	second language reading
	hierarchical cluster analysis
	foreign language reading
	research topics
Bibliographic Citation	Wang, Y., H. Luo, and M. Gui (2022 Oct) "Structure of Research Topics of Reading in a Foreign Language's Publications in the Past Two Decades (2002-2020): A Bibliometric Analysis." Reading in a Foreign Language 34 (2): 398-413.
Standard Identifier	Handle 10385/ff3656776
Permalink	http://hdl.handle.net/10385/ff3656776
Rights Statement	Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives
Rights Holders	Gui, M.
	Luo, Han
	Wang, Y.