A Bibliometric Analysis of the Role of Culture in English Language Teaching from 2014 to 2024

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the role of culture in English language teaching (ELT) through a bibliometric analysis of scholarly publications indexed in Web of Science (WOS) from 2014–2024. While extensive research has explored cultural dimensions in ELT, significant gaps remain, particularly concerning the underrepresentation of marginalized communities and regions. To adress this gap, this study provides a comprehensive overview of cultural integration trends in ELT research. To achieve this, the study utilizes VOSviewer program to visualize research trends through keywords, authors, sources, and countries, while descriptive analysis explores publication patterns by year, country, and institution. The findings indicate that 2024 was the most productive year with 149 publications, underscoring the growing prominence of cultural integration in ELT research. Key contributors include the United States, China, and European countries, reflecting interdisciplinary collaborations. Building on these insights, the study identifies influential authors such as Michael Byram and Claire Kramsch, whose contributions have been pivotal in advancing intercultural competence and cultural dimensions within ELT. Furthermore, co-citation and co-occurrence analyses highlight dominant concepts such as “culture,” “intercultural competence,” and “critical thinking,” emphasizing ELT’s multifaceted nature across educational, psychological, and technological domains. In light of these findings, the study underscores the need for a more inclusive research agenda to foster equitable and culturally responsive practices in ELT. By addressing these gaps, this study provides valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and researchers, stressing the importance of integrating cultural awareness into pedagogy to promote inclusive and globally relevant education.

Keywords

• culture
• English language teaching
• bibliometric analysis

İngilizce Öğretiminde Kültürün Rolünü Araştırmak: Kapsamlı Bir Bibliyometrik Analiz

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, 2014-2024 yılları arasında Web of Science (WOS) veri tabanında dizinlenmiş akademik yayınların bibliyometrik analizini yaparak İngilizce Dil Öğretimi (İDÖ)'nde kültürün rolünü incelemektir. İDÖ alanında kültürel boyutlar üzerine kapsamlı araştırmalar yapılmış olsa da, özellikle dezavantajlı topluluklar ve bölgelerin yeterince temsil edilmediği önemli boşluklar bulunmaktadır. Bu boşluğu gidermek amacıyla, çalışma İDÖ araştırmalarındaki kültürel entegrasyon eğilimlerine kapsamlı bir bakış sunmaktadır. Bu amaca ulaşmak için çalışma, araştırma eğilimlerini anahtar kelimeler, yazarlar, kaynaklar ve ülkeler üzerinden görselleştirmek amacıyla VOSviewer programını kullanmaktadır. Ayrıca betimsel analiz yöntemiyle yayınların yıl, ülke ve kurum bazındaki dağılımları incelenmektedir. Bulgular, 2024 yılının 149 yayınla en verimli yıl olduğunu ortaya koymuş ve bu durum İDÖ araştırmalarında kültürel entegrasyonun artan önemini gözler önüne sermiştir. Çalışmaya en fazla katkı sağlayan ülkeler arasında Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, Çin ve çeşitli Avrupa ülkeleri yer almakta olup bu durum disiplinlerarası iş birliğinin önemini vurgulamaktadır. Bu bulgulara dayanarak, çalışma, İDÖ'de kültürlerarası yeterlilik ve kültürel boyutların gelişiminde Michael Byram ve Claire Kramsch gibi etkili yazarların öncü rollerini ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca, eş-atıf ve eş-oluşum analizleri, “kültür”, “kültürlerarası yeterlilik” ve “eleştirel düşünme” gibi baskın kavramları vurgulayarak İDÖ’nün eğitim, psikoloji ve teknoloji gibi çok yönlü alanlardaki yerini gözler önüne sermektedir. Bu bulgular ışığında, çalışma İDÖ'de daha kapsayıcı bir araştırma gündeminin gerekliliğini vurgulayarak eşitlikçi ve kültürel açıdan duyarlı uygulamaların teşvik edilmesine dikkat çekmektedir. Bu boşlukların ele alınmasıyla birlikte bu çalışma, eğitimciler, politika yapıcılar ve araştırmacılar için değerli içgörüler sunmakta ve kapsayıcı, küresel açıdan geçerli bir eğitim anlayışının yaygınlaştırılması için kültürel farkındalığın pedagojik uygulamalara entegre edilmesinin önemini ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

• kültür
• İngiliz dili eğitimi
• biliyometrik analiz

References

1. Ai-min, L. & Rizen, C. (2014). Complex system theory and college English teaching developments. American Journal of Educational Research, 2(10), 925-931. https://doi.org/10.12691/education-2-10-12
2. Adriaanse, L. S. (2013). Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar: A content comprehensiveness comparison. The Electronic Library, 31(6), 727–744. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2011-0174
3. Akkuş, B., & Postmes, T., & Stroebe, K. (2017). Community collectivism: a social dynamic approach to conceptualizing culture. Plos One, 12(9), e0185725. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185725
4. Aldosari, H. & Alrefai, I. (2020). Exploring the role of cultural teaching in efl college programs: an introspective study. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 8(4), 174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18
5. Al-Sha'r, A. M. A. (2021). University efl students’ perceptions toward globalization of English and its effect on their pragmatic competence. Asian Research Journal of Arts &Amp; Social Sciences, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.9734/arjass/2021/v13i230207
6. Bagea, I. (2023). Cultural influences in language learning in a global context. Indo-MathEdu Intellectuals Journal, 4(2), 630-645. https://doi.org/10.54373/imeij.v4i2.248
7. Barton, G. & Riddle, S. (2021). Culturally responsive and meaningful music education: multimodality, meaning-making, and communication in diverse learning contexts. Research Studies in Music Education, 44(2), 345-362. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103x211009323
8. Birkle, C., Pendlebury, D., Schnell, J., & Adams, J. (2020). Web of Science as a data source for research on scientific and scholarly activity. Quantitative Science Studies, 1(3-5), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00018

9. Byrd Clark, J.S., & Dervin, F. (Eds.). (2014). Reflexivity in Language and Intercultural Education: Rethinking Multilingualism and Interculturality (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315879604
10. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.
11. Byram, M. (2021). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence: Revisited, Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800410251
12. Chang, J. (2021). The ideology of English-as-the-global-language in Taiwan’s private English language schools. Arab World English Journal, 12(4), 53-68. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.4
13. Chen, M. (2014). Postmethod pedagogy and its influence on efl teaching strategies. English Language Teaching, 7(5). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v7n5p17
14. Chimmarak, U., Prabjandee, D., & Namfah, N. (2023). Global englishes: textbook analysis and teachers’ perception. English Language Teaching, 16(9), 64. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v16n9p64
15. Chong, S. W., Isaacs, T., & McKinley, J. (2022). Ecological systems theory and second language research. Language Teaching, 56(3), 333-348. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444822000283
16. Crookes, G. (2021). Critical language pedagogy. Language Teaching, 55(1), 46-63. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444820000609
17. Cruz, R. A., Manchanda, S., Firestone, A. R., & Rodl, J. E. (2019). An examination of teachers’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, 43(3), 197-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888406419875194
18. Cunill, O. M., Salva´, A. S., Gonzalez, L. O., & Mulet-Forteza, C. (2019). Thirty-fifth anniversary of the international journal of hospitality management: A bibliometric overview. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 78(4), 89-101. https://10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.10.013
19. Deardorff, D. K. (2009). The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence. SAGE.
20. Dai, L. (2011). Practical techniques for cultural-based language teaching in the efl classroom. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.5.1031-1036
21. Dao, P. and Sato, M. (2021). Exploring fluctuations in the relationship between learners’ positive emotional engagement and their interactional behaviours. Language Teaching Research, 25(6), 972-994. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688211044238
22. Deveci, İ. (2022). Review of Entrepreneurship Education Literature in Educational Contexts: Bibliometric Analysis. Participatory Educational Research, 9(1), 214-232. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.22.12.9.1
23. Dornyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum.
24. Drozdzewski, D. (2017). “less‐than‐fluent” and culturally connected: language learning and cultural fluency as research methodology. Area, 50(1), 109-116. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12357
25. Duff, P. A. & Kobayashi, M. (2010). The intersection of social, cognitive, and cultural processes in language learning. In R. Batstone (Ed.), Sociocognitive perspectives on language use and language learning (pp. 75–93). Oxford University Press.
26. Erbil, D. G. (2020). A review of flipped classroom and cooperative learning method within the context of Vygotsky theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01157
27. Etri, W. (2021). Strategies for withstanding the inevitable at ground zero —an analysis of intercultural sensitivity in the elt classroom. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 11(01), 34-48. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2021.111003
28. Fang, F. and Ren, W. (2018). Developing students’ awareness of global englishes. ELT Journal, 72(4), 384-394. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccy012
29. Fekete, A. (2023). The impact of language socialization on the linguacultural and motivational profiles of multilingual learners. Linguo Didáctica, 2, 70-88. https://doi.org/10.33776/linguodidactica.v2.7905
30. García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Pivot London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765
31. Guilherme, M. & Souza, L. M. T. M. d. (2019). Glocal languages and critical intercultural awareness. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351184656
32. Gül, S. (2021). The evaluation of the cultural transmission through course books teaching Turkish & Persian as a foreign language. Karadeniz Uluslararası Bilimsel Dergi, 1(49), 154-164. https://doi.org/10.17498/kdeniz.881469
33. Gürsoy, İ. A. (2022). Book review: culture and cultural interaction in foreign/second language teaching edited by G. Aydin. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 10(2), 163-164. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.10n.2p.163
34. Güzel Yüce, S., & Emir, G. (2020). An Evaluation of the English Language Teaching Textbooks within the Context of Culture of Thinking. Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences International, 10(1), 583-628. https://doi.org/10.18039/ajesi.682060
35. Hai, L. (2020). The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: theory, research and practice. Reflections, 27(1), 121-123. https://doi.org/10.61508/refl.v27i1.241972
36. Hiver, P. and Al‐Hoorie, A. H. (2016). A dynamic ensemble for second language research: putting complexity theory into practice. The Modern Language Journal, 100(4), 741-756. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12347
37. Hong, Y. and Chiu, C. (2001). Toward a paradigm shift: from cross-cultural differences in social cognition to social-cognitive mediation of cultural differences. Social Cognition, 19(3), 181-196. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.19.3.181.21471
38. Ilina, M. S. (2019). Factors of students’ successful learning and cognitive activity at the English lessons. ARPHA Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.3897/ap.1.e0954
39. James, K.L., Randall, N.P. & Haddaway, N.R. (2016). A methodology for systematic mapping in environmental sciences. Environ Evid 5, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-016-0059-6
40. Kaličanin, M. (2018). Controversy in the classroom: the case of trainspotting. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 6(1), 043. https://doi.org/10.22190/jtesap1801043k
41. Krstikj, A., Sosa Godina, J., García Bañuelos, L., González Peña, O. I., Quintero Milián, H. N., Urbina Coronado, P. D., & Vanoye García, A. Y. (2022). Analysis of Competency Assessment of Educational Innovation in Upper Secondary School and Higher Education: A Mapping Review. Sustainability, 14(13), 8089. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138089
42. Kramsch, C. (1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press.
43. Larsen‐Freeman, D. (2011). Complex, dynamic systems: a new transdisciplinary theme for applied linguistics. Language Teaching, 45(2), 202-214. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000061
44. Li, X. (2022). A study on integrating Chinese culture into elt classroom - based on the latest English syllabuses in China. Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 7(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20220701.12
45. Li, H., An, H., Wang, Y., Huang, J., & Gao, X. (2016). Evolutionary features of academic articles co-keyword network and keywords co-occurrence network: Based on two-mode affiliation network. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 450, 657–669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2016.01.017
46. Mahmoodarabi, M. & Khodabakhsh, M. R. (2015). Critical pedagogy: efl teachers’ views, experience and academic degrees. English Language Teaching, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n6p100
47. Marwa, M., Cahyono, B. Y., Latief, M. A., & Prayogo, J. A. (2021). Intercultural topics in the Indonesian English language teaching classroom: contextualizing local and neutral cultures to target and global cultures. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 21(1), 34-45. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v21i1.4
48. Maqsood, M., Zahid, A., Asghar, T., Farooqi, S., & Shahbaz, M. (2024). Issues in teaching English in a cultural context. Migration Letters, 21(S4), 1020-1027. https://doi.org/10.59670/ml.v21is4.7411
49. Nardo, A. (2021). Exploring a Vygotsky theory of education and its evolutionary foundations. Educational Theory, 71(3), 331-352. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12485
50. Nault, D. (2006). Going global: Rethinking culture teaching in ELT contexts. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19(3), 314–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310608668770
51. Newman, S. (2018). Vygotsky, wittgenstein, and sociocultural theory. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 48(3), 350-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12174
52. Nhem, D. (2020). Culture and ELT: Cambodian teachers’ perception and practice of textbook adaptation to realise intercultural awareness, ELT Forum J. Engl. Lang. Teach. 9 (1), 65– http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/elt.v9i1.38409
53. Önal, S. (2019). A Comparative Study on the Perceptions of Instructors and Students in the Preparatory Schools of a State and a Private University Regarding the Integration of Target Culture into the Teaching of the English Language (Unpublished Phd Dissertation), Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey). 
54. Pathan, H., Memon, R. A., Memon, S., Khoso, A. R., & Bux, I. (2018). A critical review of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory in second language acquisition. International Journal of English Linguistics, 8(4), 232. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n4p232
55. Perianes‐Rodríguez, A., Waltman, L., & Van Eck, N. J. (2016). Constructing bibliometric networks: a comparison between full and fractional counting. Journal of Informetrics, 10(4), 1178-1195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2016.10.006
56. Perl‐Nussbaum, D., Schwarz, B. B., & Yerushalmi, E. (2023). Interdisciplinary dialogic argumentation among out‐of‐field and in‐field physics teachers. Science Education, 107(6), 1457-1484. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21811
57. Peters, H. P. F., & Van-Raan, A. F. J. (1991). Structuring scientific activities by co-author analysis. Scientometrics, 20(1), 235–255.
58. Razmeh, S. (2024). From screen to society: second language learners’ cultural adaptation and identity reconstruction in virtual knowledge communities. Journal for Multicultural Education, 18(1/2), 139-152. https://doi.org/10.1108/jme-10-2023-0106
59. Rose, H. & Galloway, N. (2019). Global englishes for language teaching. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316678343
60. Salhab, M. (2024). Exploring cultural expectations, linguistic discrimination, and language learning anxiety: a comparative study of Bosnian and Arab students in Bosnia and Herzegovina. MAP Education and Humanities, 15-27. https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2373.2024.5.15
61. Serafini, E. J. (2017). Exploring the dynamic long‐term interaction between cognitive and psychosocial resources in adult second language development at varying proficiency. The Modern Language Journal, 101(2), 369-390. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12400
62. Shafie, M. S. and Baharudin, H. (2021). Conceptual framework for multilingual bidayuh’s pupil in teaching and learning Arabic as foreign language. Ijaz Arabi Journal of Arabic Learning, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.18860/ijazarabi.v4i3.12922
63. Shaw, P. (2009). The syllabus is dead, long live the syllabus: thoughts on the state of language curriculum, content, language, tasks, projects, materials, wikis, blogs and the world wide web. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(5), 1266-1283. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818x.2009.00154.x
64. Small, H. (1973). Co-citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 24(4), 265–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.4630240406
65. Softa, V. & Gjergji, E. (2022). The cultural aspect of learning environment in foreign languages as a means of empowering social and integrative attitudes. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 11(4), 79. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2022.v11n4p79
66. Starkey, H., (2008) “Diversity and citizenship education: global perspectives”, London Review of Education 6(1), 90–92. doi: https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.06.1.12
67. Sulaimani, A. & Elyas, T. (2015). A critical review of the celta syllabus within the context of Saudi Arabia. Romanian Journal of English Studies, 12(1), 22-28. https://doi.org/10.1515/rjes-2015-0003
68. Sun, Y. (2024). How to teach English without cultural bias. Arts, Culture and Language, 1(4). https://doi.org/10.61173/ry2avw73
69. Sung, C. C. M. (2015). Implementing a global englishes component in a university English course in Hong Kong. English Today, 31(4), 42-49. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266078415000383
70. Swain, M., Kinnear, P., & Steinman, L. (2015). Sociocultural theory in second language education. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783093182
71. Tardy, C. M., Reed, K., Slinkard, J. R., & LaMance, R. (2020). Exploring global englishes content and language variation in an academic writing course. TESOL Journal, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.520
72. Thomas, C. (2019). The consciousness of a classroom: enacting a critical composition pedagogy at an urban middle school. Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.3102/1444987
73. van Eck, N.J., Waltman, L. (2010) Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84, 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
74. van Eck, N. J. and Waltman, L. (2017). Citation-based clustering of publications using citnetexplorer and vosviewer. Scientometrics, 111(2), 1053-1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2300-7
75. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
76. Wang, F. & Shen, Z. (2023). Research of theme-based teaching’s effectiveness in English language education. The Educational Review, USA, 7(7), 962-967. https://doi.org/10.26855/er.2023.07.020
77. Wang, S., Wang, F., Zhu, Z., Wang, J., Tran, T., & Du, Z. (2024). Artificial intelligence in education: A systematic literature review. Expert Systems with Applications, 252, 124167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2024.124167
78. Warschauer, M. (2000). The changing global economy and the future of English teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 511–535. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587741
79. Yin, J. & Dewaele, J. (2018). The effect of positive orientation and perceived social support on foreign language classroom anxiety. System, 74, 149-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.01.002
80. Yuliantari, S., & Huda, T. (2023). Integration of Culturally-Responsive Teaching in English Learning. Pubmedia Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, 1(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.47134/jpbi.v1i1.17
81. Zaimoğlu, S. (2024). Exploring Research Trends in Sustainability in English Language Education from 2014 to 2024: A Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of Language Research (JLR), 8(2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.51726/jlr.1537547
82. Zhan, Z., Shen, W., Xu, Z., Niu, S., & You, G. (2022). A bibliometric analysis of the global landscape on STEM education (2004–2021): Towards global distribution, subject integration, and research trends. Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 16(2), 171–203. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJIE-08-2022-0090
83. Zhou, X. (2024). Sociocultural theory in early childhood education. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 51(1), 190-196. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/51/20240981
84. Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429-472. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094428114562629