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Topic · Language and Linguistics

EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning

EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning is a research topic within Language and Linguistics. Science Explorer counts 64k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to language teaching and second language acquisition, including second language acquisition, language teaching methodologies, corrective feedback, L2 motivation, task-based instruction, language anxiety, teacher cognition, lingua franca English, language learning strategies, and interlanguage development.

  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Language Teaching
  • Corrective Feedback
  • L2 Motivation
  • Task-based Instruction
  • Language Anxiety
  • Teacher Cognition
  • Lingua Franca English
  • Language Learning Strategies
  • Interlanguage Development
Research works
64k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+31%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning

Which countries lead EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research?

By volume, China and Indonesia publish the most (2.4k and 2.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 Indonesia 2.4k works
  3. 3 United States 1.8k works
  4. 4 Malaysia 598 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 579 works
  6. 6 Japan 567 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 542 works
  8. 8 Vietnam 531 works
  9. 9 Spain 451 works
  10. 10 Saudi Arabia 440 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 23.2%Indonesia: 23.2%United States: 17.7%Malaysia: 5.8%6 others listed: 30.1%23%largest
China2,400 · 23.2%Indonesia2,397 · 23.2%United States1,827 · 17.7%Malaysia598 · 5.8%6 others listed3,112 · 30.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research?

By volume in 2022-now, Islamic Azad University, Tehran publishes the most EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research, followed by State University of Makassar and Universiti Teknologi MARA.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 125 works
  2. 2 State University of MakassarIndonesia 95 works
  3. 3 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 93 works
  4. 4 Can Tho UniversityVietnam 78 works
  5. 5 State University of MalangIndonesia 77 works
  6. 6 Indonesia University of EducationIndonesia 74 works
  7. 7 China West Normal UniversityChina 69 works
  8. 8 Education University of Hong KongChina 68 works
  9. 9 National University of MalaysiaMalaysia 67 works
  10. 10 Yogyakarta State UniversityIndonesia 65 works

Who are the leading researchers in EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning?

The most-cited researchers publishing on EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning include Noam Chomsky, Michael Tomasello and Herbert W. Marsh.

  1. 1 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  2. 2 Michael Tomasello Germany 135k citations
  3. 3 Herbert W. Marsh Australia 128k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning?

The most cited paper in EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning is "Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy" (Stefan Frazier, H. Douglas Brown, 2001), with 6,240 citations. Next come "THEORETICAL BASES OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES TO SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND TESTING" (5,011) and "The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1" (4,905).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Stefan Frazier, H. Douglas Brown · TESOL Quarterly 2001 6,240
2 THEORETICAL BASES OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES TO SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND TESTING Michael Canale, Merrill Swain · Applied Linguistics 1980 5,011
3 The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1 R. W. SCHMIDT · Applied Linguistics Open access Jun 1990 4,905
4 The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition Zoltán Dörnyei 29 Jun 2005 4,119
5 A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning Paula Samper García, Peter Skehan · TESOL Quarterly 1999 3,524
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research done?

The largest centres of EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Trà Vinh, Can Tho and Nakhchivan.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 243 works
  2. 2 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 190 works
  3. 3 Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam 174 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 173 works
  5. 5 MalangIndonesia 172 works
  6. 6 JakartaIndonesia 167 works
  7. 7 MedanIndonesia 164 works
  8. 8 MakassarIndonesia 156 works
  9. 9 TashkentUzbekistan 156 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 155 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Trà VinhVN · 27.0 works53×
  2. Can ThoVN · 78.2 works29×
  3. NakhchivanAZ · 36.5 works28×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning than the world average.

See EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning on the map

Where is the best place to study EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning?

Among universities, judged by research, Education University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Auckland score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%25%50%mean 36.31%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chinese University o…Education University…University of AucklandUniversity of Macau
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Education University of Hong KongChina 77.837.1%30.8×68 +39.3%
2Chinese University of Hong KongChina 77.045.4%4.2×47 +15.3%
3University of AucklandNew Zealand 73.733.6%6.8×57 +26.9%
4University of MacauChina 73.229.4%9.6×47 +31.5%
5Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 69.735.2%3.9×52 +58.4%
6University of Hong KongChina 67.435.4%4.2×60 -7.4%
7Golestan UniversityIran 64.858.1%15.3×11 +56.2%
8University College LondonUnited Kingdom 64.232.3%1.7×43 +20.5%
9University of the Basque CountrySpain 61.928.8%4.6×34 +32.0%
10City University of MacauChina 61.827.8%9.5×22 +312.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning, country by country

Is EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 31% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.074% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning0.085% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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