334 / 2021-09-09 22:25:12

A Review on the Evolution of EAP Research (2002-2019): Evidence from Knowledge Mapping of Research Articles published in Journal of English for Academic Purpose

bibliometric analysis, citation analysis, visualization, research themes, Journal of English for Academic Purposes (JEAP)

Utilizing the bibliometric data of research articles published by Journal of English for Academic Purposes (JEAP) from 2002-2019, this study examines the journal’s knowledge structure and its evolving research themes over the 18 years divided into two periods. Popular research tools in bibliometrics, CiteSpace and VOSveiwer, are employed to characterize the bibliometric data and visualize the data network respectively. The results of this study show that: (1) the journal has been taking tentative steps towards publishing research articles through its entire publication history; (2) the most productive author is Ken Hyland, and the most countries/regions are USA, UK, Australia and Hong Kong, with the University of Hong Kong being the most productive institution; (3) the most cited source journal is the well-established English for Specific Purposes journal; (4) keyword co-occurrence and clustering analysis indicate that four distinctive research themes in JEAP could be summarized as : (a) English for Academic Purposes (EAP); (b) academic writing; (c) genre analysis; (d) “intermediate” methodological theme; (5) keyword evolution and burstness analysis unveils the thematic change from the early establishment of its own subculture in linguistic field to more in-depth methodological and pedagogical EAP research in the most recent years.