YANCHEN LIU (SCHOOL OF FOREIGN STUDIES)

EXPLORING TRENDS AND INSIGHTS IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS REVIEW : TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are essential for enhancing teachers' professional competence and improving students' learning outcomes, necessitating a thorough review of research in this area. In this sense, this study utilized CiteSpace to perform an extensive review based on 1,686 publications on PLC spanning from 1993 to 2022, gathered from the Web of Science database. The findings revealed (1) The quantity of PLC publications has consistently increased annually over the last three decades and continues to show promise in recent times; notably, no established stable core group of authors or institutions in the PLC field exists. (2) Research foci encompassed teachers' professional development, students' knowledge building, education in schools, and communities of practice. (3) The evolution of the related studies was delineated into three stages, indicating a notable transition in PLC research from focusing on organizational aspects to the primary factors influencing PLC development. (4) Emerging research frontiers predominantly included lesson study, novice teachers, and student achievement. As emphasized in this review, insights gleaned from the evolution of PLC contribute valuable perspectives to the worldwide discourse on implementing PLC to enhance teacher professional development across diverse educational systems.

Yanchen Liu, doctoral student of Xi'an Jiaotong University, major in teacher professional development.