Research trends in English language teaching as a foreign language

This research aims to investigate research trends in English language teaching. Document analysis is used in this research. Accordingly, master's and phD thesis which are restricted between the years 2015 and 2018 are determined as study group of the research. Accessible thesis on the browsing center of YÖK are included in this research. Data is collected by means of 'Publication Classification Form' which is developed by Sözbilir, Kutu and Yaşar . Type , year , data collection device, sample and sample size, data analysis of the thesis are investigated according to the steps of descriptive analysis approach. According to the results quantitative and mixed methods are preferred most commonly as design of study. Considering data analysis device, likert type of survey and semi structured interview stand out. While master degree students and teachers are striking as samples of the studies, 31-100 and 11-30 are the sample sizes which are used most commonly. Descriptive statistics,which is one of the quantitative analysis, and t-test are striking as inferential statistic in the studies. Considering topics of the studies, It is determined that communicative skills, English language teaching and learning, vocabulary teaching are the most common subjects of the thesis. As a result , according to the findings suggestions were submitted to proliferate qualitative reserach designs which enables deep understanding, designation of primary, secondary and high school students as sample which are the main targets of English language teaching , data collection devices which enable deep understanding and complex analysis techniques for the further studies. Considering the topics of the thesis, in addition to ''communicative skills'', ''English language teaching and learning'', ''vocabulary teaching'', unstudied topics are recommended for the further studies. Keywords: English language teaching, research trend, research design, foreign language