Professor Glenn Stockwell

Professor

Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies

The Education University of Hong Kong

Keynote Speaker

Bio

Glenn Stockwell is Professor and Acting Head of the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong. He is author of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Editor-in-Chief of Computer Assisted Language Learning and the Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, and Series Editor of Elements in Technology in Second Language Education (Cambridge University Press). His research focuses on AI, pedagogy, and learner autonomy.

Keynote Speech Title

Fluent but Not Neutral: Trust, Truth, and the Hidden Language Policy of Generative AI

Speech Abstract

Generative AI responds to learners in many languages with similar fluency, and that fluency invites trust. This presentation argues that such trust may be misplaced, not because the output is always wrong, but because its limits are rarely visible. It draws on my work on generative AI as concealed language policy: the idea that these systems make policy-like decisions about which languages and varieties count, without announcing them. I examine three places where such decisions are made: coverage, or which languages are well represented in the data; handling, or how scripts and input shape what learners can do; and defaults, or which variety a model presents as the language itself. Where output is least reliable, learners may also be least able to judge it. I close by considering how responsibility is shared among developers, institutions and teachers, and what leaders in language education should ask of the tools they adopt.