Corpus Studies in the Age of Generative AI: Uncertainty, Curation, and the Future of Language Materials

Ferit Kilickaya

Abstract


The emergence of generative artificial intelligence calls for a rethinking of the assumptions underlying corpus-based research and pedagogy. This paper argues for a reconceptualization of corpus studies as a critical, reflexive, and socially situated practice. This entails viewing corpora not as inert containers but as multimodal and theoretically informed objects, curated with attention to provenance, modality, and communicative context. Pedagogically, greater transparency in the development of corpus-informed materials should be promoted so that learners understand issues of authorship, intentionality, and linguistic variation. Language education in the age of AI must move beyond communicative competence towards a critical awareness of how digital systems shape language use, cognition, and learners’ socialization into various discourse communities globally.

Keywords


artificial intelligence; corpus; language materials; resources

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/en.2026.11.77-86
Date of publication: 2026-10-22 09:21:31
Date of submission: 2025-09-28 14:22:21


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