With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, educational activities have faced significant disruptions, leading to a widespread adoption of online teaching and a transformation in the evaluation of teaching quality. Using CiteSpace visualization software, the study examines 1485 papers from the Chinese database of China Knowledge Network and 1656 papers from the English database of Web of Science (WoS) spanning the period from January 2013 to June 2023 as research samples. The findings reveal heightened activity in China and other countries research on teaching quality evaluation, moreover, research in both contexts predominantly comprises independent studies, supplemented by collaborative efforts. Notably, there is an increased focus on the exploration of online teaching quality evaluation, specifically delving into methodologies and systems. The emphasis has shifted towards students’ learning initiatives and a comprehensive evaluation of teachers’ work before, during and after class. While research in other countries has also identified new hotspots related to online teaching, the number of studies is comparatively limited. The study proposes the imperative need to update the evaluation criteria for online teaching and enhance the infrastructure of online teaching platforms. Additionally, it advocates for reforms in the evaluation systems of educational institutions and innovations of teachers’ instructional methods.

Nowadays, international exchanges are becoming more and more frequent in the world. As a global language, English can establish a communication bridge between different countries and nationalities, and its importance is obvious. Since 2001, China has gradually added English education to the curriculum plan of primary schools in various regions. Later, with the deepening of the industry’s understanding of English teaching, the education reform has also followed up. It can be said that the level of educators and educates is rising spirally. However, there are still many restrictive factors in the current situation of primary school students’ learning English, among which the more prominent factors are the strength of English teachers and the evaluation mechanism for students’ learning achievements.