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Article published In: Decolonising or Recolonising?: Generative AI through the eyes of applied linguists, language teachers, and learners
Edited by Toni Dobinson, Julian Chen and Carly Steele
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 47:3] 2024
► pp. 340–365

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AIsplaining

Generative AI explains linguistic identities to me

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Sydney
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Sydney.

Published online: 6 January 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24077.car
Abstract
The growing implementation of Generative AI (GenAI) in education has implications on the representation of knowledge and identity across languages. In a context where content biases have been reported in AI-generated content, it becomes relevant to interrogate the ways in which AI technologies represent different linguistic identities. This article conducts a systematic analysis of AI-generated content to identify the potential discursive strategies that can contribute to the perpetuation of existing sociolinguistic hierarchies. Data for this study consist of a set of GenAI explanations of assorted linguistic identities comprising dominant and non-dominant languages. The method combines specialization codes from the sociology of knowledge with discourse analysis. Specialization codes are composed of two axes with a differing degree of emphasis (+/−) on epistemic and social relations (ER/SR). This tool is useful for understanding explanations because it focuses on what sort of information is considered legitimate knowledge and what kinds of knowers are considered valid. The analysis of epistemic and social relations reveals a sociolinguistic hierarchy articulated across three definitory aspects of identity: relationship to the world, structuring across time and space, and possibilities for the future.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.GenAI biases and epistemic oppression
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1GenAI explains dominant languages
      • Relationship to the world
      • Structuring of relationship to the world
      • Possibilities for the future
    • 4.2GenAI explains non-dominant languages
      • Relationship to the world
      • Structuring of relationship to the world
      • Possibilities for the future
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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