Research on second language cohesion and coherence: a bibliometric review

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric review of research on second language (L2) cohesion and coherence published between 1981 and 2025. Using reference and author co-citation analyses together with key bigram analysis, the study traces the development of this research area over four decades. Major findings include: (1) publication output remained modest in earlier decades but increased substantially over the past 10 years; (2) the field has been largely shaped by writing-oriented research, whereas studies on speaking remain comparatively limited; (3) coherence has received relatively less scholarly attention than cohesion; and (4) four major research themes can be identified. A qualitative synthesis of representative studies within each major research theme is provided, and the article concludes with a discussion of research gaps and directions for future research.