Since its birth in 1972, Educational Linguistics has become an independent subject. Standing in stark contrast to the rapid growth and thriving development of Educational Linguistics abroad, relevant research in China is meeting the dilemma of narrow research field and lack of empirical studies. By presenting and analyzing the development of Education Linguistics research abroad, this paper suggests that in the present period of strategic transformation, Educational Linguistics research in China could focus on studies on bilingual education, language service, language teaching study from ecology perspective, language rights and language education of immigrants and special groups, overseas spread of Chinese, etc. Besides, part of the paper is devoted to an introduction of related research methods.