Mapping Trends of Distance Language Education: An Overview of Research (2015-2021)

This study intends to explores the current trends in the field of distance language education research published between the periods of 2015 and 2021. The objective is to provide insight into the current points of emphasis of research on distance education. An extensive overview of research was conducted reviewing all journals in Scopus dataset. A total of 990 articles was extracted according to relevance and pertinence criterion. Principally, bibliometric analysis was employed with the objective of mapping the current state of the arts in distance language education research. Also, content analysis was solely used to identify the methodological approaches utilized by the researchers. The study identifies the most frequently cited authors and most commonly used keywords and terms and journals with highest number of publications in studies on distance language education. The following categories represent the focal themes: research areas, methodological approaches, co-authorship between countries and authors. The findings of this study are expected to provide a comprehensive mapping to the state of the art in the field and may provide a significant insight in the identification of potential neglected areas in the field of distance education with recommendations for prospective research and practic