Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Foreign Language Speaking Assessment in China

As China continues to deepen its opening-up policies and gradually improve the foreign language speaking assessment system, foreign language learning has shifted its focus from written proficiency alone to practical language use. Meanwhile, the body of research literature on foreign language speaking assessment in China has been growing, with increasingly diverse assessment perspectives. Based on CNKI literature published from 2005 to 2026 (literature retrieval cut-off: September 2026; the 2026 dataset does not include publications for the full calendar year), this paper adopts bibliometric methods to examine publication volume, patterns of publication changes, research hotspots and trends in domestic foreign language speaking assessment research. It further predicts directions for future research. Visual analysis of CNKI literature shows that existing studies mainly target university-level learners, with core themes covering speaking instruction, assessment and learners’ oral production. Nevertheless, current research suffers from limitations including narrow research coverage, inconsistent long-term research efforts and insufficient cross-team collaboration among scholars.