Challenges and practical solutions in Applied Linguistics systematic review

Abstract With the expansion of Applied Linguistics as a research field and the broadening of its topics, the synthesis of accumulated research has become increasingly active over the past decade. This trend is facilitated by the growing number of academic journals, especially open-access journals, being published worldwide. As a result, various guidelines for conducting systematic reviews (e.g., Chong, 2025 ; Page et al., 2021 ) have been established in Applied Linguistics, as in other disciplines. These guidelines have advanced the discussion on methods for data collection, the establishment of inclusion/exclusion criteria, and the selection of analytical approaches. It is generally understood that most researchers conduct their reviews in accordance with these established guidelines. This chapter, however, explores the practical challenges encountered while conducting a systematic review of L2 motivation research in the Japanese EFL context. Based on my own experience, I describe dilemmas related to language choice, database selection, and the thoroughness of the review. The chapter aims to encourage broader discussions on how to effectively conduct systematic reviews in a field with increasingly diverse and multilingual nature of Applied Linguistics research, and provides a reflective perspective on these issues and proposes solutions for future systematic reviews.