World Education Connect Multidisciplinary e-Publication, Vol. VI, Issue VII (July 2026), pp.448-461
Alicia Z. Maghuyop¹
¹College of Teacher Education, Surigao del Norte State University, Surigao City, Philippines
amaghuyop@snsu.edu.ph
This study mapped the psychological, lexical, and technological structure of English language research published from 2020 to 2025. A PRISMA-guided search of OpenAlex identified 6,489 records; 2,317 records that could be processed in VOSviewer constituted the analytical corpus. Keyword co-occurrence, overlay, and density visualizations were used to examine thematic structure, temporal patterns, and research concentration. Six interconnected clusters were identified: lexical processing and computational analysis; vocabulary learning and pragmatic use; psychological and affective dimensions; technology-enhanced learning; foreign-language pedagogy and intercultural communication; and assessment and reading outcomes. Psychology, vocabulary, and reading occupied central and high-density positions, whereas natural language processing, lexical diversity, multimedia, and distance education appeared among the more recent topics. These patterns indicate conceptual association rather than causal influence. The findings show an increasingly interdisciplinary research landscape in which established psychological and lexical concerns coexist with expanding computational and digitally mediated approaches. The study provides a reproducible interpretive framework for identifying research concentrations and emerging directions while acknowledging database, metadata, open-access, and citation-window biases.
Keywords: bibliometric analysis; English language teaching; second language learning; psychology; vocabulary; technology-enhanced learning; natural language processing; VOSviewer
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