Educational application of virtual reality in English education in vocational colleges: a bibliometric analysis
Educational application of virtual reality in English education in vocational colleges: a bibliometric analysis
Corresponding Author:
Marilssa Omar
Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION
To some extent, to learn and practice skills timely in natural environment is a way to provide
learning activities and to master knowledge efficiently for learners [1], [2]. Meanwhile, it also provides
opportunities for technologies that could provide environment for mastering and practicing knowledge
integrate into education procedure [3]. Especially for vocational education, which pays more attention to
cultivate talents who can meet the needs of labor market and keep up with rapid social development [4], [5].
As the developments of globalization, “intercultural communicative competences” are becoming an
indispensable working ability and English as lingua franca, has also become an important subject in
vocational education [6], [7]. Many scholars have noticed the phenomenon and have conducted literature
reviews or empirical researches on the virtual reality (VR) technology adoption in English education in the
vocational education context [8].
However, studies usually with different emphases, like focuses on general study of VR technology
application in education field [9], [10], focuses on the characteristics and advantages of VR technology
application in English education [11], focuses on the VR adoption in vocational education for practical
courses [12], and focuses on the skill-specific training and converse resources that VR provided [13].
However, some studies paid attention to the use of VR in English education, especially for vocational
colleges [14], [15].
This study tries to fill the research gap adopting bibliometric approach to delve into the research
landscape of VR technology application in English education within the context of vocational education in
terms of its evolution, hot topic, and strengths, and based on the research, some suggestions and prospects for
further research are provided. This study comes to identify research directions to serve as enrichment of
study in this domain and provide guidance for researchers to deepen research in this field. The study also
distinguishes itself by achieving precision and comprehensiveness in time span and search term selection,
offering current understanding of VR utilization condition and potential. This study also hopes to illustrate
and synthesize the trend of VR in English education within vocational education context that underscores the
need for this research. Consequently, this study addresses the following research questions:
i) What is the condition and evolution of research on VR technology in English education in vocational
colleges over past decade?
ii) Who are the most active authors, institutions, and countries publishing articles on the use of VR in
English education in vocational colleges?
iii) What are the main topics in the research on VR application in English education in vocational colleges?
iv) What are the future research directions of VR research field in English education in vocational colleges?
3. METHOD
This study adopted bibliometric analysis to examine the VR research in English education in
vocational colleges, based on five-step research process put forward by Öztürk et al. [26], including research
design, data collection, data analysis, data visualization, and interpretation, which illustrated in Figure 1. To
explain research procedure clearly, this study follows the steps and reasonably determine the research topics
[27]. Then, determining the research objectives described in the introduction part. Accordingly, the keywords
will be chosen based on research scope [18]. As WoS is a powerful database that offering high quality
academic materials, this study intends to collect data from it by using the keywords [28]. This study therefore
considered “VR”, “virtual reality” and “virtual reality technology” combined with “English” or “English
education” and “vocational education” or “vocational college” as the primary keywords to search the WoS
database using Boolean operators “OR” and “AND” in the “all fields” search field.
In data collection procedure, this study first choose the Web of Science core collection (WoSCC),
the high quality database recognized by many scholars [29]. And literatures are selected that published only
from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which are
regarded as authoritative publishers [30]. Meanwhile, the data were extracted based on inclusion and
exclusion criteria, including publication time, research scope, type and language. Based on the limited period,
articles published from 2015 to 2024. Six were selected to catch up with the research trend recently. Initially,
large number of documents (32,666) related to VR-focused research were extracted for screening. Firstly, the
documents were narrowed down to 1,038 using WOS category “education educational research”, means
Educational application of virtual reality in English education in vocational colleges: … (Ling Yao)
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documents were not within the educational research area were excluded. Secondly, 108 articles, including
proceeding papers, book reviews, and editorial materials excluded, since only journal articles were reviewed.
Thirdly, remaining 930 articles that were not published in English were excluded, still leaving 930 journal
articles to be analyzed. Then, all these articles obtained in Tab delimited file from WoS database.
All the documents were analyzed by using VOSviewer software in data analysis procedure [31].
VOSviewer was used to help do network analyzation and find out the most productive and influential authors,
countries and institutions, identify networks among publications and authors as well. Furthermore, keyword
co-occurrence analysis was performed to explore relationships among topics within publications by calculating
author keywords and creating thematic clusters [26]. Therefore, the themes and future trends in a field were
explained. The co-occurrence network of keywords and overlay visualization both displayed to represent
topics and identify recent trends [32]. Finally, the results were described and interpreted in this study.
4. RESULTS
4.1. The evolution of annual production
The VR application in education had attracted researcher’s attention since 2015, with 18, a small
number of journals were published. Then, the publications increased steadily in the next five years and
reached around 50 articles in 2019. Until 2020, which is considered as a turning point, the number of
publications soar up and reached 95, twice as many as that of previous years. In the next few years, the
number of publications growth rapidly, up to 231 in 2023. Although the number of publications in 2024 is
less than that of 2023, it is still an upward trend in general, as the 176 journals are only counted from the first
half of year. In all, the overall number of annual publications shows an upward trend, with relatively slow
growth in the first five years and faster growth in the last five years over the past decade, as seen in Figure 2.
Annual publications
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Table 1. Countries with the highest publications and total citation count, ranked by the top 10
No. Country Documents Citations
1 China 305 5,474
2 USA 196 4,954
3 England 56 1,310
4 Australia 55 1,532
5 Germany 48 1,155
6 Spain 44 1,578
7 Turkey 38 822
8 Denmark 29 1,999
9 Netherlands 29 381
10 South Korea 26 156
Table 2. The institutions ranked in the top 10 based on the total number of citations
No. Organization Country Citations Documents
1 University of Copenhagen Denmark 1,849 22
2 National Taiwan Normal University China 1,246 42
3 University of California, Santa Barbara USA 1,049 9
4 The Chinese University of Hong Kong China 818 24
5 National Taiwan University of Science and Technology China 672 34
6 Curtin University Australia 526 5
7 East China Normal University China 475 12
8 Atatürk University Turkey 383 6
9 National Cheng Kung University China 263 15
10 China Medical University China 242 5
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meanings are merged. In addition, the keywords which are the same in meaning but different in spelling are
also combined. For instance, “immersive virtual reality”, “VR”, “spherical video-based virtual reality” and
“virtual reality (VR)” are written as “virtual reality”. Each cluster represents a keyword and shows the most
linked and repeated keywords in the publications. As expected, the keywords “virtual reality” is the
frequently used keyword with 608 occurrences and 662 total link strengths. The four clusters in different
colors also show different trends of research. The first cluster (red color) including 15 items and the major
items including “cognitive load”, “higher education”, “creativity”, “experiential learning”, “motivation”,
“spatial ability”, among others. Second cluster (green color) contains 15 items, “educational technology”,
“game-based learning”, “gamification”, “mobile learning” and “education” are significant themes. There are
13 items in third cluster that colored in blue, while “improving classroom teaching”, “learning strategies”,
“secondary education”, “application in subject areas”, “interactive learning environments” and “media
education” are displayed as major item in this cluster. The fourth cluster (yellow color) contains 9 items,
“collaborative learning”, “empathy”, “three-dimensional displays”, “technology acceptance model” and
“usability” are the major items.
Table 3. The authors ranked in the top 10 based on the total number of citations
No. Authors Citations Documents
1 Makransky, Guido 1,849 22
2 Mayer, Richard E. 1,024 8
3 Jong, Morris Siu-Yung 590 15
4 Hwang, Gwo-Jen 495 25
5 Chang, Shao-Chen 238 6
6 Tsai, Chin-Chung 233 6
7 Klingenberg, Sara 217 6
8 Cheng, Kun-Hung 211 8
9 Chien, Shu-Yun 199 5
10 Lan, Yu-Ju 184 6
As illustrated in Figure 6, the overlaid co-occurrence network of keywords, which depicts the
temporal distribution of topics with colors ranging from purple to yellow and demonstrates that thematic
research directions in VR studies within the English education in the context of vocational colleges have
scattered from 2015 to 2024. Topics appearing in the most recent studies are represented with yellow, which
indicating the frequency of appearance. Observing the overlay visualization, as shown in Figure 7, it is easy
to deduce that more recent articles also focused on the “metaverse” in addition to “gamification” which
indicates that gamification learning strategy is emerging and currently trending topics. Additionally, “virtual
reality”, “higher education”, “training”, “learning strategy”, and other topics are also keeping pace with
research hotspots.
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5. DISCUSSION
The overview results reveal that the studies on VR application in educational field keep upward trend
in general. In sustained growth over the past decade, the significant growth trend shows in 2020, with the
publication number soaring up to 95, which twice as many articles published as the previous year. It is thanks
to the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 at the end of 2019 [4]. While most of papers discussed the role of VR
in the pandemic within all research field, some of them highly introduced VR into educational context, even
into school education system and compared the virtual education with in person education [33]. Since 2020,
research continue to grow, with the number of publications so far accounting for approximately 82% of the
total number of published in the past decade. This result indicates that there is an ongoing scholarly interest in
researching VR within English education domain, while scholars are continue to explore the application of
VR in teaching from different perspectives and to verify usefulness of VR in actual situation [34]. The
possible explanation for this development would be attributed to recent technological advancements, coupled
with the fact that traditional educators and learners easily embrace VR technology [35], VR is likely to
continue attracting users [36], and VR has positive impact on teaching and learning outcomes [37].
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Findings from bibliometric analysis supported by VOSviewer, the main contributors to VR research
in English education domain within vocational colleges context were explained, including countries,
institutions, authors and prominent topics as well. In terms of productive country, China ranks the first, followed
by US and England. It demonstrates the widespread interest toward research on VR application in English
education field. Related to productive countries, most of the influencing research institutions are from China,
like National Taiwan Normal University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology and other three institutions among the top ten research institutions.
However, it is worth noting that although University of Copenhagen in Denmark does not have the highest
number of publications, it has the most citations. To some extent, it demonstrates that articles in University of
Copenhagen are more qualified and influential. Based on analyzation, the most productive authors were Hwang,
Gwo-Jen, with 25 articles; Makransky Guido, who has higher number of citations (1,894), with his 22 articles.
According to the results of keyword co-occurrence analysis, this study identified four major
thematic clusters that related research directions. The first cluster focuses on utilization of VR technology in
education, since its usefulness reflects on teaching or learning outcomes through effecting cognitive load,
stimulating motivation and cultivating creativity. VR has been underlined as effective tool to engage learners
in learning, as it can stimulate learner’s motivation with reduced cognitive load, through empirical study [38].
Consistently, this study recognized that first cluster encompassed the significant topics, including VR and
technologies and online learning, which focuses on VR’s potential to improve learning outcomes and
enhance learners’ experiment by providing immersive environment [39], while also demonstrates VR as
widespread tool to learners’ perception toward English in online learning method [40]. English education
among learners that with lower level academic background can thus gain advantages and improve outcomes
from VR application in English education within vocational colleges [37]. Some studies highlighted how VR
applicated in English with its contribution to training qualified learners and educators [41].
The second cluster centers on VR employed in English education context with focuses on the
learning outcomes for special purpose, like English in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) education and science education. For instance, the language ability and STEM skill are increasingly
demand is mentioned and it’s concept would be better understand by visualizing invisible processes that
provided by VR [42]. In systematic meta-analysis of effects of VR on education, Cromley et al. [43]
demonstrates that VR has positive effects for all learning outcome types and shifts learners’ focus from
irrelevant to learning-relevant aspects of the VR learning environment. Other studies, Shu and Huang [44]
elaborates the significant impact on learning effectiveness through experimental research; Shadiev et al. [45]
has proven that VR technology was beneficial for knowledge development and helped learners acquire cross-
culture knowledge. VR technology has thus received verification in education context as promotional tool for
enhancing learning outcomes for special language requirement.
The third thematic cluster indicates that the majority of related research focuses on the real application
in education with basic features of VR, including “interactive learning environment”, “application in subject
area”, and “improving classroom learning”. Chien et al. [46] used VR learning environment to situate learners
in virtual English-speaking context, which has proven helpful for English-speaking performance, Żammit [47]
concerned that VR has ability to create engaging learning environment with entertaining features, however, it
also underscored VR as its’ high costs. The attitude of users toward VR utilization in education was examined
in the study of Nikimaleki and Rahimi [48], the positive attitude towards educational values of VR and users’
high motivation to use VR has been shown. The high acceptance of VR was derived from its’ ability to enrich
classroom instruction, particularly in terms of conveying intricate details [49]. Moreover, some studies hold that
researchers should consider update learning strategy through integrating VR with education, since VR
supported teaching method is good for cultivating learning motivation and self-efficacy [50].
The fourth cluster centers on users’ acceptance of VR in English education and utilization of
technology acceptance model, which deem as commonly used theory. As argued by Guo et al. [51],
technology acceptance model can serve as valuable tool for educators to develop novel learning strategies for
encouraging learners to use VR in learning procedure, the learning performance thus be enhanced. Study of
Fussell and Truong [52] states that VR is suitable for dynamic learning programs after testing hypotheses
with the support from technology acceptance model in their research. Fussell and Truong [52] explore the
educational capability of VR within technology acceptance model, while Shen et al. [53] extend technology
acceptance model theory and complete research by integrating theory and practical VR implication in
education context. Technology acceptance model was helpful for enhancing educational practice and guide
VR application in education field [54].
Additionally, the research trend is shown through overlay visualization of keywords. Recently,
scholars focus more on improving learners’ empathy [55] and self-efficacy [56] through VR utilization in
education. Trace back to former trend, during last 1 year (2021 to 2022), VR attracts scholars’ attention and
its’ implementation in several educational areas, including VR used in English education for special purpose
[57], VR used in higher education [58], design VR learning and teaching experience in stem education and
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VR used for improving users’ intentions in elementary education [59]. The fundamental research started
relatively early, and many scholars have been continuing to do the research. For instance, research centered
on features of VR and used it (like interactive learning environment VR provided in real instructional context
[60]. Meanwhile, educators apply VR to assist learning by employing game-based learning features and
improve learners’ knowledge gains in virtual learning environment [61].
This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of VR technology in English education
within vocational colleges, an area that has received limited attention in previous research. By examining 930
articles from the WOS database, the study systematically evaluates research strengths, thematic trends, scope,
and developments in this field, offering valuable insights into the role of VR in vocational English learning.
Unlike prior research that predominantly explores general VR applications in education, this study identifies
four key thematic clusters, including VR’s positive impact, its use for specific educational purposes, real-
world applications considering its characteristics, and user acceptance, providing a more refined understanding
of VR’s pedagogical significance. Furthermore, VOSviewer was utilized for keyword co-occurrence analysis,
revealing China as the leading country in VR research for English education, a finding that had not been
explicitly highlighted in earlier bibliometric analyses. The study’s findings contribute to the ongoing discourse
on VR integration by offering empirical insights for designing more effective vocational English curricula.
This targeted approach addresses a critical gap in VR-enhanced language learning and serves as a valuable
guide for educators, policymakers, and researchers in optimizing VR’s role in vocational education.
6. CONCLUSION
The study provides an overview of the current state of VR research in English education in vocational
colleges through a bibliometric analysis of literature data from the WoS database. The results show that an
increasing research trend on VR applications in English education. Analysis of published countries revealed that
China as the most productive country. Influenced by convergence of research collaborations within countries,
the most productive institutions and influential authors are largely from China. The co-occurrence of keywords
analyzation indicates that the research centered more on VR application in education as its’ positive impact on
eliminate cognitive load, stimulate learning interests, cultivate creativity and enrich learning methods. The
different research trend of research on VR implementation is reflected through overlay visualization. Research
topics have shifted from employing VR features to integrating VR for improved educational outcome. However,
the focus on VR research is has only increased without guiding research suggestions. Therefore, this study
expected that more papers could be coming out in the future with suggested future research directions.
Despite advancements, there are some directions worthy for further research. For instance, a
comprehensive understanding of VR application in vocational education is needed, since the research in such
context is relative limited. Meanwhile, a more in-depth studies from English education perspective would be
meaningful. Therefore, future research can focus on filling research gaps advance the field of VR adoption in
both English education and vocational education. Finally, the research provides insights for policymakers,
educators, learners and hold potential to play a role in promoting English education or vocational education
development.
The limitations are also shown in this study. The source of data is derived from WoS and only
English academic journals are included. Thus, articles in other language, conference papers and other types
of works cannot be analyzed. Further, the database can extend the scope, like Scopus and Google Scholar.
While VOSviewer was used for the bibliometric analysis, other tools such as Citespace could be employed in
future research for comparative analysis. As VR is still a relatively new area of research, there is significant
room for further exploration and practical application.
FUNDING INFORMATION
Authors acknowledge the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) for funding under Geran STEM
and Minda under the grant number GG-2024-002.
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Name of Author C M So Va Fo I R D O E Vi Su P Fu
Ling Yao ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Mohamad Sattar Rasul ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Marilssa Omar ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
DATA AVAILABILITY
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Web of Science at
https://www-webofscience-com. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from
the author, [LY]. The data, which contain information that could compromise the privacy of research
participants, are not publicly available due to certain restrictions. Derived data supporting the findings of this
study are available from the author, [LY] on request.
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BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS
Educational application of virtual reality in English education in vocational colleges: … (Ling Yao)