A Review of Cognitive Diagnosis Assessment in Language from 2000 to 2021: A Visualized Analysis with CiteSpace II

Abstract

As an assessment approach, Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (hereafter CDA) provides fine-grained evaluations of examinees based on their test performance for stakeholders. It has received much attention since it was applied in language testing. Hence, it is crucial to keep abreast of emerging trends and the intellectual base of CDA in language assessment to offer guidance for future testers. In order to have a whole picture of CDA in language, a synthesized network is depicted in this paper based on 1614 original research and review papers, which are obtained from a refined topic search on "cognitive diagnosi*" from 2000 and 2021. CiteSpace is utilized to simplify the analysis of the research hotspots, emerging trends, and intellectual structure. The paper starts with a brief description of the involved time, region, and discipline, aiming to picture a whole image of CDA. Then research topics and the intellectual structure of CDA are emphasized. The findings show that most existing research focuses on theoretical discussions. Few practical applications highlight writing diagnoses and retrofitting reading assessments. A recent emerging trend is utilizing CDA to implement longitudinal supervision through computer-based assessments and intelligent tutoring systems.