ALIS Newsletter - September 2023 (Plain Text Version)
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SURVEY OF GAI USE IN AL COMMUNITY: SUMMARY OF RESPONSES Natalia Dolgova, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA Heather Weger, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, USA
Dear ALIS community, We thank those of you who contributed to our survey on ChatGPT and/or GAI (generative artificial intelligence) use for professional needs through the new MyTESOL platform and Facebook ALIS page. The results are now in! A total of 25 responses were received. In this piece, we will provide a brief report of results for each of the three questions, including respondents’ comments: Summary of Survey Results Question 1: Reported Frequency of ChatGPT/GAI Use
Figure 1 Responses to the first question Most respondents reported only occasional use of ChatGPT/GAI (two-thirds noted using these tools either ‘sometimes’ or seldom’), whereas the remaining third reported using these tools frequently (choosing either ‘daily’ or ‘regularly’ as their options). Question 2: Reported Most Valuable Uses of ChatGPT/GAI in English Teaching Contexts Figure 2 Responses to the second question The most popular uses of GAI are for generating sample teaching materials and for basic error correction. Other popular choices were generating quiz questions and providing explanations/definitions of specialized/technical terms. Question 3: Reported Possible Drawbacks or Dangers of ChatGPT/GAI Figure 3 Responses to the third question Most respondents thought that reduction in critical thinking skills of our students was the highest potential danger of using GAI, closely followed by plagiarism and ethical violations. The next “cluster” of drawbacks consisted of the possibility of inaccurate responses, learning loss for users, and lack of unique human characteristics in GAI-produced responses. Surprisingly, very few respondents deemed GAI to be a threat to the teaching profession. Comments by Respondents Some of our respondents provided further details about their own experiences in using ChatGPT. Comments on Creative Uses “I use AI to produce AI-augmented educational content created by me such as educational videos, attractive visuals to ask critical thinking-based questions in the warm-up stage for example, or to help them develop a story writing.” [Fatma Ahmed Attaalla] “You can create a demo video by using generative AI tools. AI can also make suggestions to help you improve the user experience. You can write a lesson plan or answer any questions during the teaching process.” [Mohamed Fawzy] “I've used ChatGPT to generate some short paragraphs and sentences with target vocabulary in my teaching. This does save time in generating materials. However, they all require editing to fit the students' levels and background knowledge. I've also used it in my mobile app Eduling Speak so that students' responses can be corrected for further reflection, so this can be a potential benefit of ChatGPT from the learning side. I'm looking for ways to teach students to use it in a way that will be beneficial for their L2 development.” [Linh Phung] Proceed with Caution Finally, one respondent softens her creative uses with a few words of caution: “I'm really enjoying using Chat GPT and its capabilities, even though I haven't explored all of them yet. I think it could be a valuable tool for my students, especially for improving their writing through feedback. However, I'm a bit concerned about how they might perceive it. As a teacher, my role has evolved from being a knowledge provider to creating engaging learning experiences, and I find it challenging to make my students understand and appreciate this new approach.” [Anabella Demarchi] Conclusion We hope the results of this survey gave you some food for thought. While GAI tools are here to stay, the story of how we use and interact with them is an ever-evolving one. For now, we hope that the patterns of this survey or the feature articles of the current issue encourage you to try these tools on your own so that you can critically consider the usefulness of these tools for your needs.
Natalia Dolgova is Teaching Associate Professor in the English for Academic Purposes Program at the George Washington University; her research interests address various applications of usage-based linguistics to pedagogy. Dr. Heather Weger is faculty of Legal English at Georgetown University Law Center where she designs and delivers curriculum for multilingual students pursuing a Masters of Law (LLM) degree. |
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