BALEAP 2023 conference

Abstract

It’s widely acknowledged that artificial intelligence (A.I) technology is gradually changing the landscape of higher education. Across the world, higher education institutions have been adopting A.I technology to make admission decisions, design student help programs and plan instructional activities (Zaide, 2019). In many instances, we have accepted this technology blindly, seeing only its potential benefits in terms of increasing efficiency, and providing support to our teaching. In some instances, we have even encouraged our students to use it in order to “polish” their writing. However, it is not until the advent of GPT-3 (Generative Pretrained Transformer 3) that made many academics realized the profound impact that A.I technology can truly bring to their teaching, and not all for good (Corgier, 2022). Developed by Open AI, a US enterprise funded by Elon Musk and Microsoft, GPT-3 is the latest language model which can produce humanlike text based on deep learning (Crawford, 2022). Among the many possibilities presented by GPT-3, it is the opinion of the presenters that EAP practitioners should be mainly concerned about the fact that users, potentially students, can now generate cogent, comprehensible and grammatically error-free texts based on providing a simple prompt. This essentially means that students can now use numerous online programs that are relatively inexpensive (especially when compared to other alternatives such as contract cheating websites or ghostwriting services), and which utilize GPT-3 technology to complete essays and other writing tasks within seconds. Moreover, because all texts generated by GPT-3 are original, there is very little chance that such texts will be detected by mainstream plagiarism detection software utilized by many academic institutions, like Turnitin. In addition to generating texts based on prompts, A.I technology also enables users to improve their writing via the proofreading services provided. For example, Wordtune, a service provided by AI21 Labs, can not only fix grammatical errors in sentences but also provide multiple suggestions for users to rewrite sections of their text or individual sentences in order to change the tone.

All of these technological advances raise serious questions for EAP practitioners, especially when it comes to the teaching of EAP writing. In this presentation, we will firstly review a selection of the GPT-3-based websites to showcase how students can potentially utilize them. Following that, we will discuss the potential implications that such sophisticated technology can have for the teaching of EAP writing skills. We argue that firstly, there should be clear guidance about whether the use of artificial intelligence technology may constitute academic integrity violations. Secondly, EAP practitioners should also consider a shift in their approach to curriculum and assessment design when teaching writing skills. Lastly, despite all of the potential negative impacts brought by “disruptive” A.I. technologies, we will also explore the pedagogical value of A.I technology and how we can best utilize it to the benefit of students in our daily teaching practice.

Corgier, J. (2022, September 14). Will Artificial Intelligence Kill College Writing? The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/will-artificial-intelligence-kill-college-writing
Crawford, H. (2022, May 23). AI writing has entered a new dimension, and it’s going to change education. The Spinoff. https://thespinoff.co.nz/tech/23-05-2022/ai-writing-has-entered-a-new-dimension-and-its-going-to-change-education
Zaide, E. (2019). Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Applications, Promise and Perils, and Ethical Questions | EDUCAUSE. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2019/8/artificial-intel