From Freire’s Critical Pedagogy to the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Continuities, Ruptures, and New Educational Challenges

This article examines the historical and contemporary relevance of critical pedagogy for language education in the digital age. Grounded in Paulo Freire’s conception of education as the practice of freedom, it traces the global evolution of this pedagogical tradition and discusses its encounters with digital technologies and artificial intelligence. Drawing on a conceptual, literature-based analytical approach, the article articulates a clearer research focus by examining how critical literacy, critical digital literacy, and emerging forms of critical AI literacy can inform language learning in technologically mediated contexts. Within this landscape, we explore how AI-based activities can support reflective engagement and serve as mediating resources for contextualized, interest-driven language learning connected to students’ realities. Rather than presenting empirical cases, we propose a pedagogical framework grounded in critical pedagogy for analyzing and designing AI-mediated language practices. Building on Freirean traditions of dialogue, praxis, and critical consciousness, we argue that engaging with AI and digital media, through analysis and pedagogical design, can open new spaces for inquiry and dialogue in language teacher education. The aim is to foreground how critical pedagogy can guide ethical, dialogic, and humanizing approaches to language education in digitally and algorithmically saturated contexts.