Mapping research on English medium instruction through a bibliometric analysis

This comprehensive bibliometric analysis aims to map the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging trends in English Medium Instruction (EMI) research. Utilising 596 SSCI-indexed articles from the Web of Science Core Collection, we employed VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Biblioshiny to analyse co-authorship networks, co-citation clusters, keyword co-occurrence, and country collaborations. Five thematic clusters were identified, i.e. classroom discourse and translanguaging, internationalisation and higher education policy, learner outcomes and affective variables, language ideology and policy, and content-language integration. The findings indicate a shift from system-level policy to learner-centred, pedagogically grounded, and multilingual approaches, with increasing attention to self-efficacy, engagement, and emotional dimensions. The study highlights growing interdisciplinarity and persistent geographical gaps by suggesting future research directions to expand regional representation and theoretical scope. The study offers a systematic overview, foundational for empirical inquiry and evidence-based policy-making in the evolving EMI landscape.