Visual Analysis Of Applied Linguistics Researches In China And Foreign Countries Based On Bibliometric Methods

Applied Linguistics researches in China and foreign countries during the past 21 years(1998-2018)are collected in this paper.Chinese journal Yuyan Wenzi Yingyong and English journal Applied Linguistics are used as Source Set,papers citing the Source Set are collected as Expanded Set.In this way of Forward Citation Expansion comes the Resultant Set.Citespace,a tool for visual exploration of scientific literature,is used in this study.Based on Document Co-citation Analysis,it is found that in China Chinese Information Processing and Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language are the early research fronts in Applied Linguistics,while Language Use and Language Competence are important research fronts after 2010.Language Planning is currently the most active research fronts,focusing on Language Resources,International Chinese Teaching,Language Landscape as well as The Belt and Road Initiative.In abroad,Language Teaching,especially Second Language Teaching and Foreign Language Teaching are major research fronts.The study of Second Language Acquisition abroad shift from Language Acquisition to Language Development.The current research front is trans-disciplinary research framework and language teaching belief in multilingual and multicultural world.Based on Word Frequency Analysis and Keyword Co-occurrence Analysis,it is found that research hot spots of Applied Linguistics in China can be divided into four parts:Language Teaching,Language Planning,generalized Sociolinguistics and Chinese Information Processing.Before 2007,more attention has been paid to Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language,Chinese Information Processing and Language Planning.After 2007,discussions in Sociolinguistics have increased.Keywords such as Language Situation,Language Attitude,Language Resources,Language Use,Language Identity,Language Industry and Language Competence have gradually emerged.Researches on Language Situation are increasing.Study on Language Situation usually pay attention to language management activities at national and social levels,among which the mental identity and language attitudes of language users in language communities aroused much debates around 2011,while around 2016 the economic benefits of Language Resources,Language Industry and Language Competence became major focus.As for overseas hot spots,the most prominent ones in Applied Linguistics researches are still in the field of Language Teaching.Language Proficiency,CAF Assessment(Complexity,Accuracy,Fluency),Language Learning in Globalization and Multilingualism are active research hot spots currently.Based on comparative study,conclusions have been drawn that the research objects of Applied Linguistics are gradually generalized both in China and abroad.Besides,Chinese and international research own their advantages in research methods.However,differences between Chinese and international study lie in the following 3 aspects: in terms of the research object,Chinese school in linguistic situation is emerging swiftly;in terms of the research paradigm,theoretical framework from trans-disciplinary perspective is being advised in international Applied Linguistics;in terms of the research field,research fronts and hot spots in domestic researches dispersed in a broad branches,while in international Applied Linguistics major ones lie in Language Teaching.Based on conclusions above,two suggestions are proposed for the development of Applied Linguistics in China.One is to translate and introduce Chinese Applied Linguistics theories to international academics.The other,build massive accessible platform of papers online in China.