Child Language Brokering in educational settings: A bibliometric analysis and scientific mapping

Accelerating migratory flows, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, are remodelling national sociolinguistic dynamics and raising significant institutional communication barriers for non-host-language speaking families. In this context, the Child Language Brokering (CLB) phenomenon emerges, positioning children as essential linguistic and cultural mediators for their families and communities. In multilingual and multicultural settings, CLB appears as a mediation practice with institutional and community implications for communication, inclusion, and diversity management. This study examines the CLB phenomenon in education to provide a structured scientific mapping analysis and thus contribute to the systematisation of the field. A bibliometric, thematic, and conceptual analysis was conducted to evaluate 144 publications (1998–2024) indexed in WoS and Scopus, using VOSviewer to explore co-occurrence networks and produce strategic diagrams. The results revealed sustained growth in scientific production, divided into three periods: 1998–2014, 2015–2020, and 2021–2024. Publications were concentrated in high-impact journals and were produced primarily by researchers based in the United States. The analysed publications originated mainly from universities. Disciplines covered Translation and Interpreting, Linguistics, Communication, Social Sciences, and Education. The thematic and conceptual evolution reflected a shift from immigration, acculturation, and identity towards bilingualism, heritage languages and the psycho-affective implications of CLB, culminating in multilingualism and education. Thus, CLB moves from being conceived as a family practice to a sociolinguistic phenomenon with relevant psycho-pedagogical implications. The study points out the need to acknowledge this reality to improve educational experiences of those involved.