Two Decades of Practicum Research in Southeast Asia: A Bibliometric Analysis of Scholarship on Pre-Service Teachers' Field Experiences, 2008–2026

The practicum is widely regarded as the most critical component of initial teacher preparation, yet research on pre-service teachers’ field experiences in Southeast Asia has not been synthesized. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed literature on the pre-service teacher practicum and teaching internship in Southeast Asia. A high-recall search yielded 2,451 unique records, from which rule-based screening and verification identified 142 publications from 2008 to 2026. Performance analysis was complemented by science mapping (co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, citation, and co-citation analyses) in VOSviewer. Output grew at a compound annual rate of 21.0% from 2015 to 2025, and three-quarters of the publications appeared from 2020 onward. Indonesia contributed the largest share (35.9%), followed by Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and Australia was the main extra-regional collaborator; the Philippines produced a notable share but without international co-authorship. Collaboration networks were sparse and institution-based, and a few foundational studies dominated the citation network. Keyword and thematic analyses revealed a shift from program and international-practicum concerns toward teacher emotions, professional identity, self-efficacy, and mentoring relationships, with English language teacher education as the dominant domain. Co-citation analysis showed that the field draws mainly on Western theories of reflective practice, social-cognitive and sociocultural learning, and teacher identity, while increasingly citing Asian language teacher education research. The findings point to the need for cross-national research partnerships, cumulative theory-building, and greater attention to under-researched ASEAN contexts.