Exploring two decades of research on classroom dialogue by using bibliometric analysis

Classroom dialogue is a commonly used method for teaching and learning, and a close study of dialogue has increasingly become an active field of research. In order to have a comprehensive overview of the field, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on 3914 papers published from 1999 to 2018 retrieved from WoS database in relation to classroom dialogue. Specifically, we analyzed trends in publications and citations, recognized prolific authors, institutions and journals, identified geographical publication distributions, visualized the characteristics of collaboration among authors, institutions, and countries/regions, as well as revealing the evolution of themes over the past 20 years. Findings include, firstly, the fact that publications and citations in relation to classroom dialogue have grown consistently over the past 20 years. Secondly, the USA has contributed dramatically more publications, especially since the year 2012. Thirdly, scientific collaborations in perspectives of country/region, institution and author can be explored by accessing the dynamic social networks. Fourthly, thematic features in relation to research on classroom dialogue were revealed by analyzing keywords, with several recurring keywords being identified throughout the period (e.g. 'classroom', 'discourse', 'student') and at the same time, new keywords have emerged (e.g. 'technology', 'computer-mediated communication'), which reflect the shifting trends in the field. This work is useful in terms of indicating the current status of research to scholars as well as practitioners, enabling them to be more aware of the research hotspots when making decisions about which topic to address.