The Teaching of Creole Languages in the Context of Generative Artificial Intelligence: Practices, Challenges, and Perceptions in the French West Indies

Abstract

This study explores the implementation of generative artificial intelligence (now GenAI) in education, particularly in teaching French Creole as a foreign language (FCFL) using a mixed-methods approach. In the age of “all-digital” technology, GenAI is on the rise, challenging traditional conceptions of knowledge production for educational purposes. As a reminder, GenAI generates “new data that resembles that created by humans”. To what extent does this alter the role and position of French Creole teachers in their professional practices? In order to answer this question, we propose to compile a compendium of practices (GenAI tools used for generating ideas, planning lessons, tailoring content, offering timely feedback…), challenges (language constraints, restricted access to digital resources, reduction of creativity and critical thinking…) and perceptions based on field research (interviews, classroom observation, questionnaires, document analysis, among others) conducted within the educational community in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Martinique. Ultimately, this groundbreaking research aims to support and train the teaching staff in a “contextualized, Intelligent, and civic-minded” use of GenAI in a multilingual educational setting.