Global Trends in Preschool Literacy (PL) Based on Bibliometric Analysis: Progress and Prospects

Preschool literacy (PL) is a critical period in the development of children’s literacy skills, which has a significant impact on their reading ability and academic achievement. In this context, there is a fragmentation of knowledge as PL involves different disciplines such as education, psychology, and linguistics. This is despite the existence of a large body of literature on PL. However, many studies focus on specific topics, which makes it difficult for researchers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current status, research hotspots, and trends in PL research, leaving a knowledge gap. Therefore, this study adopts a quantitative research approach for the literature data between 1992 and 2022 for a period of thirty years. This study used arithmetic in Microsoft Excel and bibliometric visualization tools, including VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. The aim was to analyze the current situation, trends, and future development of literacy at the preschool level, providing a scientific basis for preschool practice and policy development. An analysis was performed on 1208 screened documents from the Scopus database in Excel, resulting in the identification of annual publication trends, the 20 most cited documents, the 15 most productive authors, the top 10 institutions, and the 20 countries with the highest number of publications. Visual collaborative networks and co-occurrence analysis maps via VOSviewer and Bibliometrix were also conducted. The study found that the number of research papers published on PL has shown a steadily increasing trend, that the United States is a pioneer in the field of preschool literacy and is increasingly collaborating and researching with other countries, and that international connections are growing between publications and authors. Furthermore, preschool institutions, teachers, and families have positive attitudes towards preschool literacy, as reflected in theoretical research, teaching practice, and sustainable knowledge construction. Meanwhile, the findings of this study also revealed that new PL research has been extended to emerging literacy skills, family-based literacy models, and literacy intervention models. Future researchers can benefit from this study by increasing collaborative research that can sustainably add to the body of knowledge and improving the sustainability of PL.