A Bibliometric Analysis of Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication in Language Learning Using VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer

Abstract

Synchronous computer-mediated communication in the online language classroom has gained growing attention in the wake of the worldwide epidemic. Nevertheless, only a few researchers have studied it through bibliometric analyses. This study aimed to retrospect the previous development and figure out the role of intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback in synchronous computer-mediated communication-based language learning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze previous studies (n = 1292) by VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. The findings revealed prolific authors, sources, organizations, and regions in tables, which indicated that scholars in this field were mainly located in the USA and China. With a rising research tendency, several heated topics were also presented with VOSviewer. The findings also signified that intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback all played an important role in synchronous computer-mediated communication-based language learning and they were interdependent. Implications for future studies were also discussed.

1. Introduction

Recent years have witnessed the universal phenomenon that the outbreak of COVID-19 led to a seismic shift in teaching modes [1]. Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) has caught the attention of language teachers since conducting online instruction became the new norm. To timely fit syllabus arrangements in and traditionally achieve learning outcomes, the instruction is always employed in synchronous live streaming. Several studies once advocated advantages within SCMC mode over face-to-face mode [2]. Video-based SCMC, for instance, was responsible for more frequent participation [3]. Students attached great importance to expressing their frustrations in online synchronous lessons during the pandemic, with their feelings of belongingness enhanced [4]. Consequently, studying SCMC applied in language classrooms is of great importance.

Numerous scholarly review studies concentrated on SCMC could be accessible.

Table 1. The comparison between previous studies on SCMC and this study.

Study	Type	Time Period	Highlight	Number of Publications
[5]	A scoping review	1996–2016	SCMC-based telecollaboration	55
[6]	A scientometric review	1977–2020	Research trends in computer-assisted language learning	3697
[7]	A meta-analysis	2000–2021	Videoconference in L2 learning	5
This study	A bibliometric analysis	2008–2022	the role of three elements in SCMC	1381

compares differences between previous and current studies in terms of type, time period, highlights, and the number of publications involved. A scoping review focused on SCMC-based telecollaboration, with 55 works analyzed [5]. There was also a study aiming to determine the research trends in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), which took SCMC as one of the components of CALL. A total of 3697 publications were involved in this scientometric review [6]. Additionally, a famous meta-analysis on video conferencing in L2 learning [7] was also represented, with merely five publications included. However, none of them were studied through a bibliometric analysis with the assistance of two visualization and clustering software programs simultaneously. More research is also needed to investigate SCMC in language learning and some related constructs.

Given the gaps mentioned above, it is thus essential to conduct a bibliometric analysis. Bibliometric analysis is characterized by quantitative techniques applied to bibliometric data in a specific field [8]. Software programs such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and CitNetExplorer are indispensable in bibliometric analysis. By analyzing data downloaded from digital databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, the software provide bibliometric mapping, showcasing the co-authorship, co-occurrence of keywords, citations, and bibliographic coupling between documents, which can be displayed visually with beautiful graphics to quickly focus on the hotly-debated topics in the specific field. Compared with traditional quantitative methodology, such an analysis possesses several merits in terms of efficiency and accuracy. It could identify the research gaps [8] and emerging topics in the specific field and lower readers’ cognitive burden [9] comprehensively and objectively.

The authors attempted to adopt the combination of two software programs, VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer, to construct and visualize bibliometric networks [10]. First and foremost, the authors employed VOSviewer to analyze prolific authors, sources, organizations, and areas studying SCMC in learning languages. The year-based trend of the topic was subsequently analyzed with a statistic chart. Third, heated topics on SCMC in language learning would be presented with clustering techniques in VOSviewer. Last but not least, the authors utilized CitNetExplorer to drill down the three longest paths for further bibliometric analysis on SCMC, trying to figure out their importance in the research background. Further explanation of the software will be shown in Section 3.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Bibliometric Analysis in Educational Contexts

Bibliometric analysis has recently gained increasing popularity among scholars in education science with outstanding achievements. A quantum physics education research [11] was bibliometrically conducted in terms of annual publication and citation, productive authors, countries, and sources, as well as the most relevant journals and most cited articles as performance analysis. As for scientific mapping, the co-authorship network, relevant keywords and their co-occurrence patterns, and co-word relationships were also analyzed with VOSviewer. The same story went on in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) in online learning [1], top ten scholars, sources, affiliations, and countries were identified with VOSviewer. Clustering techniques in CitNetExplorer established the essential role of metacognition and self-efficacy in CoI. The knowledge domain of academic mobility research was bibliometrically analyzed using CiteSpace [9], with the number and trend of annual publications, productive institutions and regions, high-frequency keywords, co-citation reference, author, and journal identified. These studies not only showed the performance of previous studies but also identified emerging research domains for future studies.

2.2. SCMC and Its Counterpart in Educational Contexts

Coupled with asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC), synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) is another means of supporting telecollaboration [5]. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) was originally defined as a way of offering chances for language learners to communicate with native speakers of the target language [12]. Initially, studies on CMC focused on ACMC applied in language classrooms, such as e-mail [5] and massive open online courses (MOOC). Asynchronous exchanges were available for knowledge construction at different levels of cognitive presence on topics ranging from technology tools and their affordances to computer-assisted language testing and classroom management [13]. However, there is no evidence that asynchronous online instructional videos are at play in internalizing learners’ knowledge of English [14]. In comparison, synchronous feedback could reinforce their counterpart feedback in mobile-assisted second-language learning contexts [15].

Recent years have seen a booming development of studies on SCMC tools in language learning [3,16]. There were multimodal SCMC tools, such as text-based, video-based, audio-based, or the combined form [7]. SCMC tools included videoconferencing like Tencent Meeting and Skype and writing applications such as Wikis and Forums. With technology growing by leaps and bounds, SCMC has always been adopted in online language learning, sometimes in conjunction with social media [3]. However, opinions were divided on webcams, the mediator of online courses, in L2 pedagogical interactions [17]. Entering online discussion forums enhanced L2 learners’ intercultural competence and self-efficacy in interaction with native speakers [18], and their collaborative willingness would be improved [3]. To better understand the development of SCMC in language learning, the authors presented three questions:

RQ1: What are the top ten authors, sources, organizations, and countries among the studies on synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

RQ2: What is the year-based trend of included publications and citations on synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

RQ3: What are the heated topics related to synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

2.3. Intercultural Competence in Language Learning

Nowadays, developing learners’ intercultural competence has become a hotly debated issue in educational contexts [19]. Intercultural competence (IC) was first defined as one of four components of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) [20]. IC is correlated with other components, including linguistic, social, and discourse competence. Telecollaboration was evidenced to have positively exerted impacts on the learners’ ICC [21]. Byram once reported five elements in IC, namely, attitudes, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, and critical cultural awareness [20]. Numerous experimental studies were conducted to testify to the importance of intercultural competence, with participants from different countries engaging in it. Indeed, telecollaborative projects did facilitate EFL students’ cross-cultural awareness [22]. Several studies also documented the growth of intercultural knowledge and second language ability due to participation in telecollaboration [21].

2.4. Social Presence in Language Learning

As is widely known, along with teaching and cognitive presence, social presence was also characterized by traditional constructs of the framework of CoI in online learning [1]. Social presence could be enhanced with the support of Tencent Meeting [3] because, in a computer-mediated discourse, participants socialized and constructed knowledge in teaching spaces [13]. Social network analysis was suggested as an emerging method to investigate social presence further [23]. Inadequate social presence was seen as one of the reasons that abound for the challenging creation of learning-conducive interaction amid COVID-19 [24]. Introverts and extroverts differed in perceptions of their social presence in video communication [25]. Moreover, the interlocutors’ social presence in multimodal interaction was discussed from cognitive [26] and psychological [27] perspectives.

2.5. Corrective Feedback in Language Learning

If corrective feedback was provided in a preferred way, language learners’ outcomes would be better [28]. Corrective feedback in the classroom could be divided into six sorts, i.e., metalinguistic feedback, recast, explicit correction, clarification requests, elicitation, and repetition [29]. In general, EFL learners receiving explicit corrective feedback outperformed those receiving implicit feedback [30]. In telecollaborative exchanges among L2 students, skillful adoption of corrective techniques was observed, thus demonstrating the popularity of correction in online pedagogical activities [31], most of which were produced in communication via video chats [32]. Moreover, scholars attached great importance to peer feedback and a positive relationship among students in L2 SCMC interaction [32]. However, the L2 outcome of oral recasts in the face-to-face teaching model was reported to be better than that in the SCMC [33].

Online written corrective feedback in language courses has gained popularity in academic circles in recent decades. Direct synchronous written corrective feedback was more beneficial to students’ accuracy in writing in their L2 [34]. Synchronous written corrective feedback could facilitate students in realizing their gaps in the interlanguage [35] and jointly learning new linguistic features [34]. From the perspective of psychology, participants experienced flow during peer revision in a virtual writing course, especially during the sharing peer revision tasks part [27]. Although the three elements mentioned above play roles in the language classroom, their relationship with SCMC was unknown. In addition, the three constructs have never been discussed with SCMC together. The authors thus put forward the following research questions:

RQ4: Does intercultural competence play an important role in synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

RQ5: Does social presence play an important role in synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

RQ6: Does corrective feedback play an important role in synchronous computer-mediated communication in language learning?

3. Research Methods

The procedure of a bibliometric study includes defining the aims and scope, choosing the techniques, collecting data, running the bibliometric analysis, and reporting the findings [8]. The first three steps were clarified in this section.

3.1. Defining the Aims and Scope

Defining the goals and scope could be an essential prerequisite for further steps of bibliometric analyses [8]. The authors aimed to retrospect on prolific research constituents in the research background and to unpack the intellectual structure of the research field. The relationship between pertained themes in the research field should also be explored. As for the scope of the analysis, 500 or more papers deserve a bibliometric analysis [8]. The authors thus set out to collect extant publications over 500.

3.2. Choosing the Techniques

The current study adopted VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer to meet the aims and scope mentioned above. VOSviewer was used to display graphic representations of bibliometric maps [36] of clusters and their citation relations in a cluster solution and to indicate heatedly discussed topics in a cluster solution [10]. Complemented by VOSviewer [10], CitNetExplorer could provide an overview of the most frequently cited publications in a citation network and present networks of co-citation or bibliographic coupling relations between researchers or individual publications [37]. In a nutshell, both of them, with cluster techniques, could improve the bibliometric analysis. VOSviewer could conduct the clustering solutions in an aggregate manner, whereas CitNetExplorer could cluster the publications in terms of their citation relationships at an individual level [10].

3.3. Collecting Data

The authors accessed the website of the database, Web of Science on December 6th, 2022. The authors searched the term in the range of Web of Science Core Collection (from 1985 to the search data) to obtain leading scholarly works all over the world. The editions of Web of Science Core Collections encompass Science Citation Index Expand (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Current Chemical Reactions (CCR-EXPANDED), and Index Chemicus (IC).

In order to obtain satisfactory search results, the authors utilized Boolean search in the digital database and screened previous studies according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. They keyed in search terms “computer assist* language learn*” OR “computer mediat* communicat*” OR “CMC” OR “synchronous” OR “videoconferenc*”OR “computer assist* instruct*”OR “online instruct*” OR “online interact*” (Topic) AND “language learn*” OR “second language learn*” OR “foreign language*” OR “EFL” OR “ESL” (Topic). A total of 1381 results were obtained, with their publication years ranging from 2008 to 2022. Types of publications include articles (n = 1275), early access (n = 89), review articles (n = 63), book reviews (n = 33), proceeding papers (n = 11), editorial materials (n = 9), and corrections (n = 1). If downloaded Web of Science files contain the early access type of documents, researchers will fail to upload in CitNetExplorer because the “publish year” lines are unavailable. To avoid such technical errors, the authors excluded early access documents (n = 89).

These included publications were written in various languages, namely, English (n = 1243), Spanish (n = 15), French (n = 8), Russian (n = 7), Bulgarian (n = 5), Portuguese (n = 5), Chinese (n = 4), Estonian (n = 1), German (n = 1), Korean (n = 1), Malay (n = 1), and Turkish (n = 1). Subsequently, the authors downloaded the included results and utilized VOSviewer to calculate the top ten authors, sources, organizations, and countries among them. The results section will further describe the process of running the bibliometric analysis and reporting the findings.

4. Results

4.1. RQ1: What Are the Top Ten Authors, Sources, Organizations, and Countries among the Studies on SCMC in Language Learning?

The authors utilized VOSviewer to calculate the top ten authors, sources, organizations, and countries. As

Table 2. The top ten co-cited authors obtained from VOSviewer.

Rank	Authors	Documents	Citation	Total Link Strength
1	Smith, B.	5	310	28
2	Peterson, M.	7	308	11
3	Chapelle, C.A.	5	279	13
4	Lee, L.	8	263	6
5	Ziegler, N.	6	210	37
6	Baralt, M.	6	207	11
7	Warschauer, M.	6	199	13
8	Dooly, M.	10	191	17
9	Guichon, N.	5	184	38
10	Satar, H.M.	6	183	25

shows, the top ten co-cited authors include Smith, B.; Peterson, M.; Chapelle, C.A.; Lee, L.; Ziegler, N.; Baralt, M.; Warschauer, M.; Dooly, M.; Guichon, N.; and Satar, H.M. The top ten co-cited sources in

Table 3. The top ten co-cited sources obtained from VOSviewer.

Rank	Sources	Documents	Citation	Total Link Strength
1	Computer Assisted Language Learning	163	3708	685
2	Language Learning & Technology	151	3228	622
3	ReCALL	85	1855	431
4	Modern Language Journal	23	1149	242
5	Educational Technology & Society	23	656	64
6	System	59	581	288
7	Foreign Language Annals	38	506	131
8	Interactive Learning Environments	20	338	101
9	Computer & Education	13	329	57
10	Language Teaching Research	26	223	126

include Studies in Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Learning & Technology, ReCALL, Modern Language Journal, Educational Technology & Society, System, Foreign Language Annals, Interactive Learning Environments, Computer & Education, and Language Teaching Research. The top ten co-cited organizations are illustrated in

Table 4. The top ten co-cited organizations obtained from VOSviewer.

Rank	Organizations	Documents	Citation	Total Link Strength
1	University of Maryland	8	518	66
2	Iowa State University	13	413	61
3	Open University	17	409	93
4	Arizona State University	12	387	79
5	University of California, Davis	12	368	66
6	Griffith University	9	357	53
7	University of California, Irvine	12	329	47
8	University of Hong Kong	7	327	55
9	Michigan State University	17	312	85
10	Kyoto University	10	311	31

, including the University of Maryland, Iowa State University, the Open University, Arizona State University, the University of California (Davis), Griffith University, the University of California (Irvine), the University of Hong Kong, Michigan State University, and Kyoto University. When calculating the top ten co-cited countries, the authors ignored documents that were co-authored by numerous countries. Thus, the verified selected ten countries or areas in

Table 5. The top ten co-cited countries or areas obtained from VOSviewer.

Rank	Countries/Areas	Documents	Citation	Total Link Strength
1	USA	379	6875	1524
2	Taiwan	133	2524	646
3	People’s Republic of China	143	1670	628
4	Japan	72	1140	362
5	Australia	63	1049	391
6	UK	80	961	467
7	Spain	79	836	395
8	New Zealand	22	501	161
9	Türkiye	54	483	289
10	Republic of Korea	43	482	209

are the USA, Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Australia, the UK, Spain, New Zealand, Türkiye, and the Republic of Korea. According to the first three tables, the majority of the co-cited authors, indexed journals, and organizations are American and British.

4.2. RQ2: What Is the Year-based Trend of Included Publications and Citations on SCMC in Language Learning?

Citation activity and trends can be graphically presented with citation reports in Web of Science. The author thus clicked the “Citation Report” item after accessing Web of Science. A statistic chart (Figure 1) was downloaded, showcasing the times cited and publications of synchronous computer-mediated communication in online language learning contexts over time. The number of publications per year was shown with histograms, and the trend of citations per year was displayed with line charts.

It is obvious that both the year-based trend of included publications and citations are increasing at an unstable rate due to various research backgrounds shown in Figure 1. As for the number of publications, it is continuously rising. Many publications published from 2021 to 2022 are classified as early access, so they are not shown in the figure. Their actual number of publications could be larger than the data in the figure. The ever-increasing number of the upcoming seven years demonstrates a better foreground of SCMC in online language learning contexts. Notably, the number of publications first exceeds 140 in 2020 and keeps rising because of the outbreak of COVID-19. A massive shift in the educational system could be perceived since the worldwide epidemic, and many research topics concerning teaching and learning are thus becoming heatedly discussed anew. As for the citation part, compared with the slopes from 2008 to 2018, a higher one from 2018 to 2022 can be seen, showcasing that SCMC in language learning is catching increasing attention.

4.3. RQ3: What Are the Heated Topics Related to SCMC in Language Learning?

VOSviewer was adopted to visualize the heated keywords of the included studies downloaded from Web of Science Core Collection in texts. Due to capacity limitations, three text documents were downloaded. The authors then uploaded the documents to VOSviewer and created a map based on the bibliographic data. The author selected full counting as the counting method, making a co-occurrence map of all keywords. The minimum number of occurrences of a keyword was set at 5. Among the 2557 keywords, 237 met the set threshold. By doing so, Figure 2 was finally formed. Thus, the keywords thus can be calculated and presented concretely, with bigger words representing greater occurrences and thicker lines meaning greater total link strengths.

The 237 keywords were classified into eight clusters, and the authors summarized the top five keywords of each cluster with great occurrence and total link strengths in

Table 6. The top five keywords in each cluster obtained from VOSviewer.

N	Keywords
1	English, online, education, social presence, perspectives
2	learners, classroom, corrective feedback, negotiated interaction, negotiation
3	computer-mediated communication, language, communication, language learning, competence
4	students, foreign-language, collaborative learning, peer feedback, task-based language teaching
5	technology, instruction, skills, vocabulary, knowledge
6	CMC, proficiency, CALL, motivation, participation
7	telecommunication, videoconferencing, model, intercultural competence, virtual exchange
8	distance, Chinese, foreign language anxiety, intercultural communication, oral interaction

. Cluster 1 consists of 58 items, like English (Occurrence = 96, Total link strength = 530), online (Occurrence = 69, Total link strength = 359), and education (Occurrence = 43, Total link strength = 216). Cluster 2 is comprised of 42 items, including learners (Occurrence = 71, Total link strength = 490), classroom (Occurrence = 61, Total link strength = 419), and corrective feedback (Occurrence = 39, Total link strength = 265). 36 items are included in cluster 3, like computer-mediated communication (Occurrence = 169, Total link strength = 899), language (Occurrence = 104, Total link strength = 553), and communication (Occurrence = 47, Total link strength = 257). There are 29 items in cluster 4, such as students (Occurrence = 79, Total link strength = 449), foreign-language (Occurrence = 52, Total link strength = 309), and collaborative learning (Occurrence = 39, Total link strength = 265). Cluster 5 includes 28 items, like technology (Occurrence = 70, Total link strength = 417), instruction (Occurrence = 33, Total link strength = 201), and skills (Occurrence = 23, Total link strength = 127). 23 items are in Cluster 6, like CMC (Occurrence = 38, Total link strength = 202), proficiency (Occurrence = 29, Total link strength = 210), and call (Occurrence = 28, Total link strength = 142). There are 13 items in cluster 7, such as telecollaboration (Occurrence = 65, Total link strength = 310), videoconferencing (Occurrence = 28, Total link strength = 102), and model (Occurrence = 24, Total link strength = 152). Cluster 8 is comprised of 8 items, including distance (Occurrence = 14, Total link strength = 60), Chinese (Occurrence = 12, Total link strength = 50), and intercultural communication (Occurrence = 9, Total link strength = 56).

CitNetExplorer was utilized to visualize the citation networks and summarize the included publications in a chart to solve the research questions set forth [10]. The current network included 1710 publications with 10535 citation links, ranging from 1972 to 2022. Five clusters were identified. Due to the requirement of minimum size, 179 publications did not belong to any cluster. Figure 3 is an illustration of the citation network visualization of 100 publications with high citation scores in proportional representation of groups. As presented in Figure 3, publications are clustered based on citation links with default clustering parameters and optimization parameters. The level of detail of the clustering hinges on the former. The detailed information is summarized in

Table 7. Detailed information about the clustering network in CitNetExplorer.

N	Color	Number of Publications	The Highest Citation Score	Number in Figure 3	Percentage
1	Blue	864	141	82	82%
2	Green	304	55	8	8%
3	Purple	293	57	9	9%
4	Orange	39	39	1	1%
5	Yellow	31	11	0	0

.

4.4. RQ4: Does Intercultural Competence Play an Important Role in SCMC in Language Learning?

The authors adopted CitNetExplorer as the research instrument. They attempted to drill down the longest path of several pairs of works to figure out the heated topics discussed for further analysis. It is widely acknowledged that the longest path between two publications demonstrates their citation relationship and further sheds light on the hot topics in the research field.

By selecting [20] and [19] in CitNetExplorer, there were six publications and 10 citation links among them. After drilling down the longest path, the authors identified the citation relationship of five publications [19,20,38,39,40] in Figure 4. Intercultural competence was first set forth as one of the components of the model of ICC [20]. The following publications emphasized the learning outcome of language learning using web-based pedagogies [19] or social media [39] in terms of intercultural competence, thus showcasing that the development of intercultural competence was a hot issue in synchronous online interaction courses, especially in EFL and ESL learning.

Although this path was shorter than the following two paths, it could still enlighten us on the significance of intercultural competence in SCMC in language learning contexts. It was evidenced that telecollaboration positively impacted the learners’ intercultural communicative competence [21]. With technology growing by leaps and bounds and globalization occurring worldwide, it is easier to interact with native speakers of target languages. Intercultural communication, therefore, plays a pivotal role in language learning. It was once reported that EFL students maintained positive attitudes and perceptions of computer-mediated communication because communication with native speakers improved their intercultural competence [19]. Factors such as diversity, pragmatic cultural stances, and potential conflicts were associated with eliminating prejudices and stereotypes and improving critical cultural awareness in the intercultural teaching context [41].

4.5. RQ5: Does Social Presence Play an Important Role in SCMC in Language Learning?

The authors then found the second-longest path of 12 publications, with the initial one [42] published in 1998 and the last one [43] issued in 2022. The visualization of the second longest path was then illustrated in Figure 5. From the citation network, it is evident that social presence is a hot issue regarding SCMC. According to Beauvois [42], networked computers were regarded as an innovative tool used in research and education. Their usage in synchronous communication was a combined process, exerting a positive impact on foreign language learning with multifaceted outcomes. Later, the function and perception of web cameras and interlocutors’ presence in online multimodal interaction were deeply discussed [17,44,45].

The importance of social presence in SCMC in language learning contexts could be explained in two dimensions. For participants, explicit acknowledgment of others’ social presence was deemed a vital predictor of upgrading the learners’ affective and cohesive development during an online synchronous course [4]. By showing students’ images and participating in the synchronous video-based interactional courses together, a sense of community could be improved, thus motivating their acquisition and uptake of knowledge. Apart from that, information and communications technology in online writing classes could positively influence social presence [46]. On the other hand, from the perspective of teaching practitioners, social presence could progressively promote their participation skills with increasing interaction in EFL classes [23].

4.6. RQ6: Does Corrective Feedback Play an Important Role in SCMC in Language Learning?

As represented in Figure 6, the third longest path comprises 14 publications, ranging from 1996 to 2022. After figuring out their citation relationship and highlights, the authors found that these fourteen publications simultaneously mentioned corrective feedback. These articles mainly focused on the types, directness of feedback, and genre where the feedback was applied, which were previously reviewed in the second section. Among the 14 works, feedback about the EFL writing course [47,48,49] was most frequently talked about. Except for the aspects above, the role of peer feedback and correction were also discussed, thus jointly contributing to corrective feedback.

Peer feedback could facilitate the outcome in SCMC for language learning to some extent. Amid SCMC activities for language learning, learners participated in peer-to-peer interaction and received feedback from their peers [7]. Learning with peers could raise the participants’ awareness of competition and cooperation, thus further linked to successful outcomes. Compared with recasts and metalinguistic feedback, peer feedback was conducive to EFL learners’ performance in writing [50]. Oral peer feedback in L1 could be more efficacious than that in L2, which lowered the learners’ foreign language anxiety. It could enhance individuals’ oral proficiency, self-efficacy, willingness to communicate, ability to take risks, and so on [51]. Although personal belief was proven to be a dynamic factor in the effectiveness of corrective feedback in synchronous video-based exchanges [28], feedback is undeniably indispensable in learning and teaching.

Corrective feedback does play a pivotal role in SCMC, especially in writing instruction. This process facilitated EFL learners’ metalinguistic understanding of target features and helped them realize the uniqueness of writing. Linguistic writing errors could be addressed more accurately [52], in that synchronous written corrective feedback could mediate language learners’ task performance [53]. Online-enhanced corrective feedback could help language learners realize gaps in the interlanguage [35]. The revision could also influence individuals’ long-term L2 development [54].

Intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback all count in SCMC in language learning, surprisingly being interdependent. Social presence could be indispensable in cross-cultural communication. Corrective feedback from peers or teachers could also be expressed in their social presence. In specific applications for learning a language online, like VIPKID, the development of intercultural competence could be achieved by foreign teachers with oral corrective feedback. Figure 7 could be an illustration of their relationship.

5. Discussion

Answering the six research questions is of great importance and deserves further discussion. The first three research questions revealed the productive researchers, trends, and related topics of SCMC in language learning in a visualized way. RQ1 listed the top ten authors, sources, organizations, and countries or areas studying SCMC, showcasing that studies about SCMC were booming in the USA and UK. Except for the USA, other countries, such as China, Japan, and Australia, were also concentrating on this topic. They figured out the pioneers in SCMC, promoted communication between academic communities, and advanced the future development of this field in the Asian community. RQ2 showed a chart on the trend of SCMC, indicating its ever-increasing popularity in the academic field. Therefore, SCMC in language classrooms deserves further exploration. RQ3 illustrated the heatedly discussed keywords related to SCMC. VOSviewer clustered these words, and the authors merely listed keywords with high occurrences and total link strengths. The clustering map provides hints for future studies on SCMC in that keywords with lower occurrences are of great research value.

The application of CitNetExplorer was significantly linked to three further questions by drilling down the longest path separately. The drilled-down longest paths visually present the citation relations of specific topics to analyze the clustering solution. The drilling-down functionality is of great value for future studies, chronically showcasing the citation relationships of works and facilitating the scholars’ understanding of the topics. In the following three research questions, whether intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback play an important role in SCMC of online pedagogies were further discussed. Simultaneously, the relationship between the three elements was also analyzed. Specifically, all three elements are vital to SCMC for language learning. They are interdependent and interrelated, which could be a newly developed point of view. Deeper explanations of their importance for SCMC would be given with examples.

RQ4 attempted to explain the significance of intercultural competence in SCMC for language learning. Confronting the numerous obstacles arising from cultural differences, we should cultivate intercultural competence to deal with the diversified world, thus achieving successful communication. Students’ attention and cultural issues during the interaction were conceived as two significant factors in their positive attitude toward multimodal SCMC [55]. A case in point could be a prevalent piece of software called Cambly, an educational application for learning languages with SCMC that deals with the two aspects mentioned. Communicating with native speakers could upgrade both the learners’ intercultural competence and language skills. The wide application indicated the importance of telecollaboration [22].

RQ5 further focused on social presence in SCMC for language learning. As one of the traditional constructs of the framework ofCoI, social presence could perceive the online learning outcome [44] and improve the attitude toward the methodology applied in the online courses. The images of peers and instructors to some extent reduce the learners’ cognitive loads with a sense of companionship. The results advocated the benefits of the mediator in online interaction for improving social presence, countering the idea that webcams exerted negative impacts [17]. Take Tencent Meeting, a software for synchronous videoconferencing, as an instance. Tencent Meeting enables students to improve their collaboration through forum discussion and screen sharing. At the same time, their social presence would increase due to SCMC [3].

RQ6 investigated and evidenced the importance of corrective feedback in SCMC in language learning contexts. The findings do match those observed in earlier studies. The results depicted the effectiveness of peer and corrective feedback in the SCMC setting, substantiating the growing attention to written corrective feedback in academic circles. This could be attributable to the popularity of automated writing evaluation in recent years, such as Grammarly, an AI-assisted synchronous feedback tool [56].

6. Conclusions

This section comprises three subheadings: Major Findings, Limitations, and Implications for Future Research.

6.1. Major Findings

The current study attempted to summarize the development of SCMC and the relationship between intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback with SCMC in language learning. The authors adopted quantitative and qualitative methods to cope with these research questions. The development of SCMC in language learning was visually presented through VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. The findings also indicated that intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback played crucial roles in SCMC in language learning. The three elements are also intercorrelated with each other.

Some theoretical or practical conclusions can be drawn beyond the conducted experiment using VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer. In terms of theoretical conclusion, the authors established the framework of SCMC in language learning with three essential elements, intercultural communication, social presence, and corrective feedback. This study also substantiated the effectiveness of guidelines for conducting bibliometric analysis [8], thus providing a novel view of studying SCMC in language learning. In terms of practical conclusions, the study first promoted further studies conducted in a bibliometric way, thereby playing a guiding role in further educational reform. Teaching practitioners should consider the above three items regarding online educational technology to maximize the learning outcome.

6.2. Limitations

Admittedly, there are still some limitations in the current study. In the first place, the authors only obtained related literature from one digital database, Web of Science, because CitNetExplorer cannot analyze data from the literature from other online databases. Therefore, the number of studies may not be adequate. In the second place, CitNetExplorer could not be compatible with early access publications. Consequently, some pieces of literature with novel ideas may be ignored in the adoption of the software.

6.3. Implications for Future Research

The study shed light on the measurements needed to maximize online learning outcomes with intercultural competence, social presence, and corrective feedback in SCMC. When conducting SCMC-based online courses, language teachers should consider at least the following three elements in that all of them are at play in SCMC. Well-designed tasks, effective metacognitive and cognitive skills, and accessibility to the Internet are essential to maximizing the potential of intercultural communication [38]. Others’ social presence also improves the learners’ affective and cohesive abilities [4]. A combination of technologies and sources artfully shaped the usage of technology-mediated feedback in L2 writing instruction [57].

The authors also found that written corrective feedback gained great popularity among related scholars through visualization and clustering software. Nowadays, AI-assisted writing tools are reported as more prominent than instructional writing classes, gaining ever-increasing popularity [56]. For teachers and program designers, a combination of automated written corrective feedback and computer-mediated peer feedback could maximize the effectiveness of EFL learners’ writing. Thus, the learners could become more motivated and autonomous [58].

To enhance the affordance of applications that could hold synchronous teaching activities, further studies could be expanded. There are still several items that practitioners should consider when conducting an online interaction. To provide learners with a better learning experience, practitioners could administer studies with the structural equation model that testifies to users’ adoption of related software in language learning. Based on previous models, for instance, the technology acceptance model, more and more constructs would be confirmed and discovered with confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. Therefore, the application could be pertinently upgraded.