A Discourse Study on Literacy Using LDA Topic Modeling: Focusing on News Data

This study aims to analyze the societal discourse surrounding the keyword ‘literacy’ and related topics in domestic news articles following the COVID-19 pandemic, interpreting the findings from an educational perspective. Utilizing the Big Kinds platform, we collected news article data from 54 domestic media outlets spanning from January 1, 2020, to November 18, 2023. The collected data was preprocessed using the KoNLP and NIADic packages in R to conduct a Korean text analysis, followed by text mining using the LDA topic modeling method. The analysis identified “digital technology, digital literacy, platforms, and data”(Topic 2) as the central theme. Additionally, the significance of leveraging digital resources was underscored through topics such as “Netflix, YouTube, social media(SNS), and content” (Topics 1 & 5), while the necessity of educational approaches was highlighted through topics including “textbooks, EBS, elementary school, and high school”(Topics 3 & 5). The rapid expansion of the digital environment post-pandemic has heightened the importance of multimodal text reading, emphasizing the essential role of literacy enhancement and the development of critical thinking skills among learners. Based on these findings, this study proposes strategies to strengthen digital literacy by designing personalized learning environments through digital textbooks and EdTech, systematically developing and applying multimodal text reading strategies, and reinforcing media education. It is imperative to support adolescents in critically analyzing and strategically utilizing multimodal texts that are familiar to them in the digital age while also fostering their Disciplinary Literacy, through well-structured educational scaffolding.