Title: Connections Between University Students’ Texts and Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Name of presenter: Heli Susanna Virkkunen
Affiliation and academic title: University of Vaasa, University lecturer, PhD
Email address: hkat@uwasa.fi
Keywords: value, texts, Academic Writing, university student, motivation, age of Artificial Intelligence
Abstract:
This presentation examines how university students perceive the relationship between their personally important texts and their values in the age of artificial intelligence. The study draws on survey data collected in 2025 from students across different fields at the University of Vaasa and is analysed using discourse-analytic methods.
The findings show how students articulate the connections between their texts and both individual and collective values. Individual values refer to personal aims achieved through the text, while collective values emerge through the text’s content and the shared value structures of the discourse community. The study sheds light on the values students wish to align with—or distance themselves from—during their studies (cf. Ylijoki 1998).
The theoretical framework is critical discourse analysis, which approaches language use as part of social action and as reflecting the values and beliefs embedded in that action (Fairclough 1992). Individual values are examined through Schwartz’s (2005) theory of value formation in relation to aspirations, societal change, and tradition. Collective values are discussed as shared discursive norms manifested in evaluative meanings of texts (Swales 1990; Bhatia 2004; Martin & White 2005; Katajamäki 2018).
The study contributes to understanding how students navigate value structures in academic communication—both in their writing processes and in a landscape increasingly shaped by AI tools.
References:
Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. Lontoo & New York: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. (2004). Worlds of Written Discourse. A Genre-Based View. Lontoo & New York: Continuum.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Katajamäki, H. (2018). Tekijän identiteetti taloussanomalehtien pääkirjoituksissa: Pääkirjoitustoimittajan sosiaalisesta roolista tuotettu, teksteistä tulkittu. Soveltavan kielitieteen väi-töskirja. Acta Wasaensia 411. Saatavilla; http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-476-833-7
Martin, J. R. & P. R. R. White (2005). The Language of Evaluation. Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan.
Schwartz, S. H. (2005). Universalismiarvot ja moraalisen universumimme laajuus. Teoksessa Arvot, moraali ja yhteiskunta. Toim. Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman, Marja Ahokas, Liisa Myyry & Susanna Lähteenoja. Sosiaalipsykologisia näkökulmia yhteiskunnan muutokseen. Helsinki: Gaudeamus. 216 – 236.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis. English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ylijoki, O.-H. (1998). Akateemiset heimokulttuurit ja noviisien sosialisaatio. Tampere: Vastapaino.