Commemorating the journal’s 30th anniversary
The purpose of this study was to investigate research trends in Foreign Languages Education by analyzing the articles published from its inaugural issue in 1995 to 2025, commemorating the journal’s 30th anniversary. The study analyzed a total of 1,347 research articles written by 1,892 researchers. The analysis focused on target learners, author types, target languages, article language, and research topics, categorized into three ten-year periods. The results reveal notable enhancements in the quantity and quality of research conducted over the period. Findings indicate that research activities peaked between 2005 and 2015, accompanied by a shift from single-authored papers to collaborative studies. While English remained the dominant target language, recent years have demonstrated diversification into Korean as a foreign language, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others. College students were the most frequently studied participants, and language learning/acquisition and teaching methods were consistently the most prominent research topics. Moreover, a notable increase in collaborative authorship was observed, reflecting expanded academic networking and growing research cooperation. By providing a comprehensive overview of three decades of research, this study offers valuable insights and a foundational resource for guiding future directions in foreign language education.