From Clinical Treatment to Classroom Interventions: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Evolution of Speech Anxiety

Speech anxiety serves as a significant barrier to language acquisition and communicative competence; however, a systematic mapping of its evolving research landscape remains limited. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of speech anxiety literature from 1955 to 2025 to map keyword co-occurrence networks, publication trends, and influential works, capturing the field’s trajectory from early clinical investigations to contemporary educational applications. Using Harzing’s Publish or Perish software, 200 documents were initially retrieved from Google Scholar, and 191 articles were selected via PRISMA screening for network analysis in VOSviewer. The results revealed a distinct thematic shift from foundational clinical treatments toward modern classroom-based and multimodal interventions. The ten most-cited articles predominantly focused on cognitive-behavioral approaches and acoustic markers of anxiety, establishing a robust intellectual foundation for current pedagogy. However, the analysis identified critical gaps in longitudinal research on the sustained efficacy of classroom-based interventions and the scarcity of studies integrating anxiety-reduction strategies into authentic instructional settings. The study concludes that while the field has matured, future research should prioritize longitudinal, classroom-centered designs that leverage emerging educational technologies to develop holistic, anxiety-sensitive pedagogies that enhance learner well-being and speaking proficiency in diverse academic environments.