ONLINE LEARNING DISCOURSE THROUGH LEMMAS AND COLLOCATION: A CORPUS-BASED METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

Abstract

This article investigates how online learning is represented in scholarly discourse, drawing on a purposebuilt corpus of peer-reviewed scientometric publications (approximately 990,000 tokens). The study examines word frequency and collocational patterns to identify the lexical and phraseological features that shape dominant conceptualizations of digital education. Frequent lemmas such as student, engagement, platform, and satisfaction are shown to play a central role in framing discussions around efficiency, learner involvement, and institutional accountability. The analysis focuses on high-frequency lemmas (student, learning, education, platform) and their recurring combinations, using Sketch Engine to trace how they function within fixed expressions like student engagement, online learning platform, and learning satisfaction. These collocations foreground the evaluative and outcome-oriented tendencies of academic writing on the topic. The data show that writers tend to repeat the same word combinations, often linking terms like online, learning, and student in similar ways. This pattern seems to follow common habits of academic writing and reflects how online education is typically discussed in research texts.. A close examination of the lemma student reveals a consistent portrayal of learners as recipients of instruction and objects of assessment, with limited emphasis on agency or co-construction. At the same time, the occurrence of terms related to emotional, social, and interactional dimensions signals a parallel concern with the affective and experiential facets of online learning. Overall, the findings suggest that institutional priorities and research traditions significantly shape the linguistic representation of digital education.