The aim of this study is to analyze the research trend of speech acts in Korean language. This study targets 371 master's and doctoral dissertations published from 1985 to 2020. These papers are analyzed according to the year of publication, type of paper, type of speech act, research topic, subject of research, and data collection method. As a result of the analysis, research related to speech acts in Korean have been diversified in terms of topics, subjects of research, and data collection methods along with a quantitative increase. However, three directions are proposed for the development of the study of speech acts in Korean language. First, subjects of research need to be diversified in terms of their learning environment and proficiency. Second, in order to analyze the actual use of language, it is required to collect data close to actual conversation. Lastly, longitudinal studies are needed to research Korean language learners' development or acquisition of Korean language.