A Half-Century of Motivation Research in English Language Teaching: Insights from a Bibliometric Analysis

Lan Yu; Rosna Awang Hashim; Mohd Fairuz Jafar

doi:10.32890/mjli2026.23.1.2

Authors

Lan Yu School of Foreign Languages, Xinyang University, School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, China
Rosna Awang Hashim Institute of Excellent Teachers and Leaders in Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Mohd Fairuz Jafar Institute of Excellent Teachers and Leaders in Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2026.23.1.2

Keywords:

English language teaching (ELT), motivation, research trends, research status, emerging themes, bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to systematically examine the research landscape in the field of ELT motivation over the past five decades, thereby addressing the identified gap in providing a comprehensive mapping of this expanding domain.

Methodology – We employed a comprehensive approach utilizing bibliometric analysis, Origin, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace to analyse and visualise the publication trends, publication venues, highly cited articles and references, the most frequent topics and the emerging themes in ELT motivation domain, based on a metadata collection of 1007 articles retrieved and filtered from Scopus-indexed journals.

Findings – Results revealed a steady increase in annual publications on ELT motivation, with a marked surge beginning in 2011 and with the yearly total surpassing 200 in 2022. The top 20 publications in the fields of education and psychology were published in renowned journals such as, Computer Assisted Language Learning, System, Language Learning, and Language Teaching Research. The highly cited articles highlighted the diverse issues within the ELT motivation field, encompassing learner motivation, instructional strategies, educational settings, and the psychological aspects of language acquisition. Dörnyei, Z. (2005) and his colleagues have significantly advanced ELT motivation research, with numerous studies attaining the highest citation metrics. ‘Self-determination theory’ and ‘L2 motivational self-system’ have maintained a robust orientation in the co-occurrence of search keywords. Emerging trends like ‘directed motivational currents’ hinted at a novel framework from the complex dynamic perspective.

Significance – This study contributes to benefit researchers by extending their understanding of the evolution and future directions of ELT motivation research, while also providing valuable insights for ELT practitioners.

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