Digital Tools for Supporting Efl Learners and Teachers: A Bibliometric Study

The‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ study conducted a bibliometric analysis to map out the research landscape concerning the use of digital tools to support English Foreign Language (EFL) learners and teachers. The primary aim of the research was to identify various aspects of the research field from the analysis of the given set of data. To this end, 350 journal articles published between 2020 and 2026 and indexed in the Scopus database were subjected to systematic analysis. The articles were examined to ascertain the dominant themes of the research, identify the most influential authors and countries, recognize the collaboration patterns, and find the most cited publications in the area. Bibliometric data were processed with the help of VOSviewer, which made it possible to visualize the co-occurrence of keywords, co-authorship at the author and country levels, citation networks, and temporal research trends through network and overlay ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌maps. The‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ findings show that studies for digital instruments in a foreign language learning (EFL) setting have been thematic areas which mostly are educational technology, digital literacy, and technology-enhanced language learning-focused. The research on the co-occurrence of keywords makes it clear that the main role of technology-driven approaches is to solve pedagogical needs and learning challenges in EFL contexts. Analysis of the co-authorship at the author and country levels shows that the production of scholarly works is influenced by a small number of authors of major impact, as well as by the research networks concentrated regionally that, therefore, point to the uneven global participation of the field despite its expansion. Besides, citation analysis serves as an instrument to single out the pivotal group of publications that have been most frequently referred to and, thus, constitute the intellectual foundation of the research on digital tools in EFL education and the subsequent scholarly ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌works. Overall, the results demonstrate that studies on digital tools in EFL education have grown at a very fast pace over the last few years, and this growth has been accompanied by the diversification of themes and by the increasing sophistication of the methodologies used. Nevertheless, the findings also reveal that there is a call for more extensive global cooperation and more significant consideration of those educational environments that are less represented. This research is essential and useful source for literature. It shows how digital tools are studied in the EFL field and how this research has changed and developed itself over time. The study also gives clear information for researchers, teacher, and decision makers are interested in technology-supported language learning.

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