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The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has intensified debates over human agency, educational authority, and the governance of knowledge in contemporary education. This study examines how these issues are discursively constructed in the opening plenaries of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in 2023 and 2025. Focusing on plenary discourse as an agenda-setting site, the research investigates how institutional actors frame the role of AI, define educational priorities, and establish normative positions toward technological change.
Drawing on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model within an applied linguistics framework, the study conducts a comparative qualitative analysis of AI-related plenary segments. Textual analysis is supported by AntConc to identify recurrent lexical patterns, while closer examination analyzes modality, agency, evaluative language, rhetorical framing, and representations of human and technological actors. Particular attention is given to how authority, responsibility, and decision-making power are allocated among educators, institutions, learners, and AI systems.
The findings reveal a marked ideological shift between 2023 and 2025, transitioning from an initial focus on technological transformation and adaptation toward a robust reassertion of human values, ethical governance, and human agency. This shift reflects evolving institutional strategies to manage the normalization of generative AI by establishing ethical boundaries. By demonstrating how macro-level policy discourse shapes educational futures and redistributes symbolic power, the study provides critical insights for advancing AI literacy, teacher agency, and ethical frameworks in language education.
