A Decade of Research Into Second Language Acquisition: A State-of-the-Science Review (2009-2019)

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the knowledge domain of second language acquisition (SLA) research in 2009-2019. It selected about a decade of studies in the SLA knowledge domain and applied an available data analysis tool CiteSpace to show a picture of SLA research. The 11-year period of studies was retrieved from the Web of Science database, totally 4, 660 bibliographic records. By employing the embedded algorithm analyzing literature in CiteSpace, the present study found the factors influencing SLA and statistical models were critical aspects in L2 research, and research topics were conducted in psychological, neuroscience, linguistic, and language teaching frameworks. Additionally, research patterns in the SLA domain have become more diversified, and empirical studies of cognitive science have gradually taken a dominant position in recent years. Spikes of increased numbers of detected papers in the period of 2009-2019 showed research focus and methodology would possibly continue to be interdisciplinary in future research.