A systematic review of Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning research

With rapid development of mobile technology, the number of researches on its use in language education process has increased. This growing body of interest has led to a need for review studies that are expected to explain the literature and the trend in the field succinctly. Based on this ground, this study aimed to review the studies conducted on mobile-assisted vocabulary learning in two dimensions. Firstly, it tried to reveal a general map of the domain through bibliometric analysis. With this aim, Web of Science database was scanned and 687 publications were included in the analysis. Then, among these publications 19 articles were selected to identify the technological and pedagogical focus of research papers to determine the trend. The results of bibliometric analysis explained the most frequent keywords, the most productive countries, and the most influential authors and articles. Furthermore, it was discovered that achievement and perceptions were the most common topics in terms of language learning focus and it was gamification in the dimension of technological focus in empirical studies. Despite its preliminary character, the findings have provided insights for future studies.