Analysis of Hot Issues and Trends in Korean Language Education Research in China: A Visual Analysis Based on CNKI Database

Abstract

Objectives This study aims to explore the situations, hotspots, and dynamic evolution of Korean language education-related research in China to provide ideas and references for future works in this field.
 Methods This study adopts the method of bibliometric visualization. Based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) database and the metrological visualization software CiteSpace6.2. R4, this paper analyzes the published papers on Korean language education research from 2003 to 2023 and draws Knowledge graphs.
 Results This study has found that research on Korean language education in China can be divided into three stages, namely the initial development period (2003-2014), the stable growth period (2015-2020),and the decline period (2021 present). A high-yield author group has yet to be formed, and there needs to be more cooperation between authors and research institutions. The research institutions are concentrated in the northeastern provinces, with the main body being vocational colleges. The primary research focuses on teaching methods, curriculum reform, and language application.
 Conclusions By utilizing CiteSpace, this study presents six tabular visualizations of bibliometric data pertaining to Chinese research on Korean language education: list of the most published authors, list of research institutes , list of journals, list of high frequency keywords and centrality, keyword co-occurrence network map and the top 10 keywords with the strongest citation burstness. In conjunction with the temporal distribution table of the research, these six tables and figures comprehensively depict the current state of research in Korean language education in mainland China. Research exhibits a high degree of concentration in subjects, themes, and outcomes, which is also a limitation. In future studies, researchers should emphasize using interdisciplinary methods to expand the scope of Korean language education research while strengthening institutional and cross-border cooperation to explore growing hotspots.