Critical Literacy in EFL Contexts in the Age of AI: A Journal-Level Framework for Educators

1. Introduction

Critical literacy emerged as a transformative educational practice grounded in Paulo Freire’s notion of reading both “the word and the world.” Freire argued that literacy is never neutral; it always reflects power, ideology, and the interests of particular groups. For EFL learners, who must navigate English as a global lingua franca shaped by geopolitical and cultural forces, this perspective becomes particularly crucial.

The original impetus for this framework—a reflective conversation with my young daughter in 2003—revealed how children innately question the conditions of the world. Her question, “Why did people create all these bad things?” demonstrated the intuitive human desire to make sense of conflict, inequality, and contradiction. These early observations inspired a lifelong inquiry into how literacy education can empower learners to critically examine the systems shaping their realities.

In 2025, learners face not only textual and cultural systems but also algorithmic ones. AI models generate writing, curate knowledge, hallucinate facts, and shape learners’ digital realities. This shift has profound implications for what counts as “text,” who controls meaning, and how learners navigate the world. Their questions have evolved: “Why does AI distort truth?” “How does AI decide what English should sound like?” “Why does Google show this but hide that?” These questions demand an expanded critical literacy—one that incorporates technological awareness alongside sociopolitical critique.

2. Theoretical Background

A robust theoretical foundation is essential for understanding why critical literacy remains central to EFL education, especially in the age of digital and AI-mediated learning. This section draws from critical pedagogy, multiliteracies, sociocultural theory, and contemporary digital studies to establish a multidisciplinary grounding for educators and researchers.

2.1 Classical Freirean Foundations

Freire’s concept of conscientização forms the foundational basis: education must cultivate awareness of sociopolitical conditions and empower learners to transform them. Freire emphasized that reading the world precedes reading the word; literacy therefore involves understanding the sociopolitical contexts in which texts—whether written or digital—are produced and consumed.

Critical literacy thus challenges not only overtly oppressive content but also the subtle structures that shape consciousness. These include:

• oppressive textual representations that normalize inequality
• normative assumptions in language that reproduce stereotypes
• ideological constructions embedded in discourse that present the status quo as natural

In EFL contexts, such structures often appear in textbooks that center Western perspectives, privilege “native” norms, or represent marginalized cultures in simplified ways. Freire’s framework encourages educators to expose and challenge these hegemonic tendencies.

2.2 Multiliteracies and Translingual Perspectives

The New London Group (1996) reconceptualized literacy as a multilayered practice involving linguistic, cultural, and multimodal resources. This shift is particularly relevant in EFL contexts where learners must navigate not only English but also their own linguistic repertoires, identities, and social expectations.

Translingualism further challenges the idea of monolithic “correctness,” emphasizing flexibility and negotiation. It encourages learners to draw on their entire linguistic repertoires—including home languages, digital dialects, and English varieties—to construct meaning. Through this lens, critical literacy becomes not only about critique but also about identity empowerment and agency in meaning-making.

2.3 Digital and AI Literacies

The emergence of AI introduces a fundamentally new layer of textual mediation. Unlike traditional texts, AI-generated content is shaped by:

• training data sourced from uneven and biased global corpora
• algorithmic systems designed by corporations with commercial interests
• platform governance structures that determine visibility and credibility
• automated personalization that reinforces cognitive bubbles

Consequently, being critically literate now requires questioning how AI “reads” the world and how its outputs shape human interpretation. This extends Freire's call for conscientização into digital domains, demanding awareness not only of sociopolitical forces but also of computational ones.

3. Why Critical Literacy Matters in EFL Contexts

EFL learners encounter English not simply as a tool for communication but as a gateway to power, opportunity, and global participation. Simultaneously, English can function as a gatekeeping mechanism that reproduces inequalities. Critical literacy helps learners understand both the emancipatory potential and the oppressive dynamics of English in global contexts.

For example, in many EFL textbooks, Western cultural norms are presented as default, positioning learners’ home cultures as peripheral. AI tools trained primarily on Western datasets may reinforce these tendencies by normalizing Western discourse styles, value systems, and linguistic norms. Critical literacy therefore becomes essential for helping learners navigate these overlapping layers of textual and digital power.

4. Four Classical Dimensions

4.1 Disrupting the Taken-for-Granted

This dimension invites learners to question what society treats as natural or inevitable. In language education, this may include examining gendered idioms (“boys will be boys”), racialized metaphors, or grammatical examples that reflect traditional family structures. Educators can scaffold such inquiry by modeling how to interrogate texts and encouraging students to articulate alternative interpretations.

4.2 Interrogating Dominant Discourses

Dominant discourses often position certain Englishes as superior to others, implicitly devaluing local varieties. Similarly, AI systems trained on Euro-American data may reinforce global hierarchies by promoting specific cultural norms as universal. Teaching students to interrogate these discourses helps them understand how language shapes power relations.

4.3 Revealing the Political in the Neutral

Texts that appear objective—such as maps, infographics, or AI-generated grammar explanations—often carry ideological assumptions. For example, world maps in textbooks typically reflect Eurocentric spatial organization. Likewise, AI-generated essays may present Western arguments as more logical or legitimate because of their prominence in training data. Educators must help students see these biases and analyze how “neutrality” can mask political interests.

4.4 Praxis: Reflection and Social Action

Critical literacy is incomplete without praxis—the combination of reflection and action. Students may engage in community projects, create multimodal critiques, produce counter-narratives, or collaborate online to challenge injustice. The goal is not merely academic analysis but the cultivation of agency, enabling learners to participate meaningfully in public discourse.

5. Expanding Critical Literacy for the AI Era

As AI increasingly mediates communication, information, and imagination, critical literacy must evolve to address technological structures that shape how meaning is generated and circulated.

5.1 Critical AI Literacy

Critical AI literacy teaches students to examine how AI models operate, what data they rely on, and why their outputs may be biased. It also involves analyzing how AI shapes global English norms. For instance, if an AI model consistently prefers American spelling, grammar, or idioms, it subtly frames those forms as more legitimate. Discussing these patterns with learners helps demystify AI authority.

5.2 Datafication and Surveillance Pedagogy

Learners today leave digital footprints through every click, message, or search. These traces become part of their algorithmic identities, influencing what content they see. Educators can incorporate discussions about privacy, consent, and the ethics of data extraction to help learners understand how their online behaviors are commodified.

5.3 Multimodal and Platform Literacy

Meaning now emerges through a combination of text, image, sound, interface design, and algorithmic curation. An AI-generated image, for example, may reproduce stereotypes based on biased training data. Teaching students to analyze multimodal texts enables them to identify ideological patterns across diverse forms of communication.

5.4 Ethical Mediation by Teachers

Teachers act as ethical mediators, guiding students through the complex landscape of AI tools. They must navigate issues of fairness, transparency, and responsible use. This includes helping students distinguish between legitimate assistance (e.g., idea generation) and unethical shortcuts (e.g., outsourcing entire assignments to AI).

6. Pedagogical Implications for EFL Educators

Practical application is essential for critical literacy to take root. Educators can integrate critical literacy into EFL curricula through lesson design, assessment strategies, reflective activities, and community engagement.

Applications for Classroom Teachers

• Use AI-generated outputs as primary texts for critique, comparing them with human-written versions.
• Encourage students to analyze how AI tools frame certain cultures or identities.
• Introduce translanguaging to promote identity affirmation and epistemic diversity.
• Help students evaluate the credibility of sources through triangulation and digital verification.
• Use multimodal digital projects (e.g., infographic critiques, TikTok-style analyses) to broaden literacy practices.
• Integrate community issues to demonstrate how language can engage with social transformation.

7. Directions for Future Research

The intersection of AI and critical literacy opens several avenues for scholarly inquiry. Researchers may explore learner identity formation in AI-mediated environments, critical digital citizenship, or comparative analyses of AI bias across languages. Longitudinal studies can examine how sustained critical literacy instruction shapes learners' agency, attitudes, and digital ethics.

8. Conclusion

Critical literacy remains indispensable in EFL education. Its relevance is amplified—not diminished—by AI’s emergence. As AI reshapes global communication, educators must prepare learners to become critical navigators of both language and digital power. By integrating AI literacy, data ethics, multimodal practices, and sociopolitical critique into classical frameworks, educators can cultivate learners who are not only competent users of English but also critical, ethical, and empowered citizens.