African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 11(1) - Full Length Research Paper: A bibliometric analysis of postgraduate theses on bilingualism covering the preschool period in Turkey

Oct 15, 2026

Preschool education is examined here in relation to child bilingualism through a bibliometric review of postgraduate theses in Turkey. The study addresses a perceived gap: theses investigating bilingualism across disciplines remain insufficient in national literature. Using qualitative case study design and data from the YÖK database, the analysis covers theses registered between 2003 and 2022 and breaks down variables and concentration patterns. Results show bilingualism work mainly appears in master’s theses, while education/teaching-oriented studies lead among related fields.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background and need for interdisciplinary study

Related postgraduate and article research

Scope, aims, and structure of the paper

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 11(1), pp. 119-128, March 2023 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.111.23.014 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper A bibliometric analysis of postgraduate theses on bilingualism covering the preschool period in Turkey Elif Ermağan İstanbul Medeniyet University, İstanbul, Turkey. Accepted 20 March, 2023 | ABSTRACT
Preschool education describes the education process of the child until primary school, and it is also within the scope of child bilingualism . This study examined the studies on bilingualism covering the preschool period in Turkey. The main statement of this study is that related postgraduate theses in different disciplines investigating the issue of bilingualism covering the preschool period are insufficient in the national literature in Turkey. This study aimed to analyze postgraduate theses between 2003 and 2022 registered in the Turkish Higher Education Institution (YÖK) database and to break down different variables. The main findings are that bilingualism studies are mostly concentrated on master's theses, they are not the subject of doctoral theses. Furthermore, education- and teaching-oriented theses are at the forefront and should be handled together with other disciplines. The model of the study is a qualitative case study, and the data of the study were obtained from theses on the website of YÖK. In the analysis of the data, the bibliometric technique is used, and statistics about the subject are created.
Keywords: Bilingualism, postgraduate theses, bibliometric analysis, preschool, Turkey. | | --- | | E-mail: [elif.ermagan@medeniyet.edu.tr. Tel:](elif.ermagan@medeniyet.edu.tr. Tel:) +905426196734. | INTRODUCTION As Albert Costa points out in his book The Bilingual Brain,"more than half of the world's population is bilingual, yet few of us understand how this extraordinary, complex ability functions” (Costa, 2020) . In the modern world, bilingualism is one of the most common conditions, regardless of whether it is the result of immigration, different ancestry-tribes, or growing up in a family that had to work in a variety of countries. Further, bilingualism is one of the main concepts affecting people through various aspects, such as linguistic and personal development from childhood, healthy integration into society, or being open to different cultures (Baker and Wright, 2021; Grosjean, 2019) . However, this subject has not yet been studied sufficiently worldwide and in Turkey. For this reason, conducting interdisciplinary studies on this subject is essential. Research conducted by individuals or institutions, books and newspaper articles on this subject have contributed to raising awareness; however, the material may also contain subjective information and may not be statistically investigated from multiple perspectives. Postgraduate studies not only review the relevant literature in a variety of languages around the world but also incorporate it into an academic identity through different analysis methods. It is observed that the scarcity of postgraduate theses in Turkey is remarkable and recently, this subject has gained a great deal of academic importance. There are some books (Güleç et al. , 2021; Yıldız, Arslan and Thomas, 2021; Haznedar, 2021), book chapters (İnal and Çakır, 2021), articles and theses on bilingualism, including the preschool period in Turkey. This analysis focuses on postgraduate theses in order to gain a deeper understanding of the Turkish academy's perspective on these topics. Moreover, some studies reviewed articles and theseson bilingualism without limiting themselves to a specific domain. Kaya et al. (2022) studied postgraduate thesesand refereed articles on bilingualism and multilingualism without regard to a particular field of study, while Avcı and Kurudayıoğlu (2022) and Günaydın (2020) focused on articles on bilingualism in Turkish education. On the other hand, using a field-neutral approach, Ünyılmaz (2022) exa

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

To analyze postgraduate theses between 2003 and 2022 on bilingualism covering the preschool period in Turkey, and to break down variables using bibliometric methods.

What data source and approach are used?

Data are obtained from theses available through the YÖK website, and the analysis uses bibliometric techniques within a qualitative case study model.

What do the results indicate about where bilingualism research appears most?

Bilingualism studies are mostly concentrated in master’s theses rather than doctoral theses, and education- and teaching-oriented theses are prominent.

Oct 15, 2026

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