Exploring the key research features and themes on the issue of translanguaging and EFL learners’ writing skills

Abstract

This study aims to investigate key features and themes of research on the impact of translanguaging on the development of EFL learners' writing skills, based on published studies in the Scopus and Google Scholar databases from January 2022 to December 2024. The findings showed that the key features were (i) the qualitative research design was mostly used (ii) Interview and writing script were employed as the top data collection tools (iii) the participants were mostly multilingual (iv) thematic analysis was in the top as data analysis technique (v) the central findings showed that there was a positive impact of translanguaging on student learning and identity development but the tension between students' translanguaging practices in informal/social contexts and their hesitation in formal academic environments exist and (vi) the insights for recommendation of the study are the curriculum reformation, teachers' training in multilingual pedagogy, recognition of students’ full linguistics repertoires and integration of AI and digital tools to support multilingual writing. On the other hand, the key themes in existing literature were teaching practices, pedagogical approaches, multilingual classroom experiences, multilingual writing practices, decoloniality, and educational technologies. The findings provided valuable insights for researchers, teachers, policymakers, and those involved in this field. © 2026 The Authors.