A Systematic Review of Narrative Studies in the English Language Teaching Field in Latin America

Abstract

This systematic review focuses on the significance of narrative inquiry in Latin American English language teaching research. Following an exploratory and descriptive methodology, we identified 198 publications in Redalyc, SciELO, and Scopus. PRISMA guidelines and detailed inclusion/exclusion criteria were used for selecting 38 articles published in 14 journals. A VOSviewer bibliometric map revealed connections between specific countries and keywords. According to the findings, narrative inquiry contributes to English language teaching research in four areas: pedagogical, methodological, ontological, and epistemological. Additionally, narratives emerge as a research lens and a pedagogical resource that can help teachers and students express themselves. As a result, this review provides insights into the perceptions and experiences of language education in the local region.