From origins to horizons in translanguaging: a bibliometric analysis

The aim of this bibliometric study is to track the intellectual, conceptual, and social structure of translanguaging research in education. Using a rigorously curated Web of Science SSCI corpus (n = 1,314), the study triangulated VOSviewer (keyword co-occurrence; source/author co-citation with overlays), CitNetExplorer (direct-citation lineages), and CiteSpace (co-citation clusters, bursts, structural diagnostics). The findings reveal a coherent, triadic pattern: (i) a theory/ideology core that reframes bilingualism as repertoire; (ii) an expanding HE/EMI policy strand linking translanguaging to curriculum and assessment in higher education; and (iii) a deepening multimodal/interactional stream ranging from conversation analysis, linguistic landscapes, and to social media. Overlay visualization shows a temporal shift from early literacy/pedagogy to mid-phase identity/policy debates, and most recently to EMI/CLIL and digital–public-space translanguaging. The study discusses limitations (WoS/English scope; parameter sensitivity) and outline actionable agendas: design-oriented EMI assessment/curricula, mixed-method multimodal programs tied to outcomes and policy uptake, strengthened Global South partnerships, and research on teacher learning and organizational conditions. This study offers a reproducible, multi-tool template to track how translanguaging has changed from a “method” into a method, a theory, and a stance, and to show where future research is likely to grow.