A Review of Foreign Language Education Policy Researches in China Through Bibliometric Analysis of CSSCI: History, Content and Trend

Abstract

This research investigates the structure and dynamics of foreign language policy and planning research in China over the last twenty years by using CiteSpace, a wellestablished software for bibliometric analysis. The purpose is to aid researchers and policy makers overseas and domestic to attain a clear picture of current state of this field. 203 articles were extracted in China Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI) published between January 1998 and December 2018 with the key words “foreign language policy” or foreign language planning”, or “foreign language policy and planning” for topic search. The results show that foreign language policy study in China sprouted around 1999, underwent three stages. By keyword co-occurrence analysis, the main topics changed from foreign language education, foreign language teaching &learning, language policy, education policy, pluralism, globalization, foreign language education policy, language planning, national foreign language capacity, language strategy, language resources, the USA, national interest, to global competence. Those topics fall into two clusters; however, the two clusters converge into the same label as national language capacity development. Reference co-citation analysis shows co-cited references form five clusters with national language capacity development as the largest and latest one. Comparison of the total network and the main network shows the research content is quite concentrated. A continued trend toward national language capacity development and global competence is predicted.