Dynamic Insights into Research Trends and Trajectories in Early Reading: An Analytical Exploration via Dynamic Topic Modeling

Early reading is critically important for children's academic and life outcomes, yet a comprehensive review of its global knowledge structure is lacking. This study addresses this gap by employing a dynamic topic model (DTM) to analyze 1,638 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection published between 1995 and 2023. The DTM, a text mining technique, allows for the identification of prevailing research topics and their evolution over time, providing a more comprehensive and dynamic analysis than traditional literature reviews. Data preparation involved retrieving, cleaning, and tokenizing article titles, keywords, and abstracts, followed by lemmatization and text vectorization. Optimal topic identification was determined by coherence scores, leading to the selection of 11 topics, each with ten primary terms.

The analysis revealed 11 cardinal topics: (1) Interventions' impacts on early reading competencies, focusing on teacher-led strategies, the home literacy environment, and targeted interventions for special populations. (2) Foundational elements in early reading: phonological awareness, letters, and spelling, underscoring their crucial role in developing reading aptitudes. (3) Early mathematical ability and reading achievement, highlighting the interplay and modulating role of executive functions. (4) Supporting early literacy skills and fostering preschoolers' writing abilities, emphasizing the importance of diverse approaches beyond just handwriting. (5) Cultivating early reading skills in bilingual children, particularly Spanish–English speakers, considering linguistic synergy and external factors. (6) Building an early reading environment, stressing the role of public libraries, family, and community programs. (7) Early phonological awareness training for children with deafness or hard of hearing (DHH) and/or speech sound disorders (SSD). (8) Disentangling early dyslexia through proactive detection and neurobiological underpinnings. (9) Interactive factors in early reading: genetics and the environment. (10) Early reading development: visual and neural activation, examining brain activity patterns. (11) Early literacy proficiencies in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), providing crucial information for interventions.

Research interest has consistently increased for Topics 1, 2, 5, 6, and 11, with Topic 1 (Interventions' impacts) remaining a prominent hotspot. Keyword evolution in Topic 1 shows a shift towards an integrated approach embracing digital tools, with increased focus on 'book,' 'shared book reading,' and 'digital books.' Topic 2 demonstrates growing emphasis on early reading in the Chinese linguistic context with keywords like 'Chinese' and 'vocabulary.' Topic 6 highlights the importance of 'family,' 'community,' and 'partnerships,' while Topic 11 shows increased interest in the impact of 'parents,' 'teachers,' and 'schools' on early skills development in children with ASD. Conversely, Topics 7, 9, and 10 have shown a downward trend in research interest, suggesting a decline in academic focus. Topics 3, 4, and 8 have relatively stable trends, with slight increases in Topic 4.

This study offers significant theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, it provides an objective, quantitative analysis of early reading research, supports the development of intervention strategies across diverse contexts, expands cross-cultural and bilingual reading theories, and highlights the application of neurobiology in identifying early reading disorders. Practically, it emphasizes personalized and culturally sensitive educational strategies, the need for policy support for diverse educational environments, and the promotion of interdisciplinary research. Future research directions include exploring the digital age's impact on reading experiences, deepening cross-cultural and multilingual reading studies (especially Chinese–English bilingualism), investigating integrated learning approaches that combine reading with other skills like mathematics and writing, focusing on reading performance in special populations within community contexts, and optimizing the application of neuroscience in early reading research.

The study successfully identified and analyzed 11 primary research topics in early reading, revealing the profound influence of the digital age and the critical importance of personalized, culturally sensitive, and interdisciplinary educational strategies. It suggests future research paths in digital reading, cross-cultural/multilingual reading, integrated learning, special populations, and neuroscience. A limitation is the exclusive use of the Web of Science Core Collection; future studies could expand to other databases and extend the time span for a more comprehensive understanding.