Why understanding and responding to search engine bias matters to language educators

What is it about?

Search engines are often used by language educators as a source of materials for classes. There may be unintended consequences to doing so, however, given that results can be biased in terms of social group representation. In this article, I discuss the issue of AI bias and, specifically, search engine bias, its implications in terms of social group representation for teachers sourcing materials from the Internet, and how teachers and other materials creators in language education may begin to respond.

Featured Image

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article is important given the widespread use of search engines by English language teachers (and others) to locate materials, the increased presence of artificial intelligence, the possibility that AI can introduce forms of social group bias such as colorism, ableism, and ageism.