International, Interdisciplinary, Interconnected: a Decade of CALL Research through Bibliometric Connections

Kelly J Cunningham (Iowa State University) & Steph Link (Oklahoma State University)

The 15th Annual Technology for Second Language Learning Conference (TSLL): Crossing Boundaries: The Geographical and Intellectual Diffusion of Technology for Language Learning

Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

10:45 am Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 - Gold Room

Abstract:

Interdisciplinary perspectives continuously impact the study of language and technology. These perspectives help shape the intellectual boundaries that develop across years of research. However, a systematic exploration into the formulation of these boundaries has yet to be conducted and given the wealth of CALL research, it can be difficult for researchers and practitioners to conceptualize the field as a whole. Our research utilizes bibliometric techniques to demonstrate the conceptual evolution of CALL and look at key subfields, interdisciplinary influences and international collaborations in the field.

Using VOSviewer, a software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks, and bibliometric and text-based data from four top CALL journals (CALICO Journal, ReCALL, CALL & LLT), we explore the development of concepts and connections related to technology in second language learning. Through this analysis and constructed visualizations, the disciplinary and geographic influences and boundary crossing patterns become clear. Drawing from techniques such as bibliometric coupling, co-occurrence, co-citation and co-authorship analysis, the influence of major disciplines, researchers, institutions, and countries in the field of CALL can be captured. This bibliometric research can show conceptual focus over time, the key subfields of CALL, the dominant influences in those subfields and international partnerships. Going beyond this, analysis can show how CALL draws from multiple disciplinary traditions and how CALL journals are situated in larger research fields. Using bibliometrics this study offers researchers and practitioners snapshots of the last decade of CALL from multiple perspectives.