This post summarises the key points from the webinar on how ChatGPT can help language teachers while giving a short musing for language educators. Read on to find out more.
The introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 has sent tremors throughout the connected world and has fuelled tons of discussions on the implications of large language models and generative AI on different facets of our modern life. Within the span of a few months, many enthusiastic scholars and bloggers have put forward their opinions on these issues. The notion of prompt engineering and the importance of this previously latent skill has become the limelight of many guides that are published just slightly slower than the speed of light.
ChatGPT is but one extremely successful artificial intelligence-powered chatbot built on large language models – where the mere size of the model is a critical factor underpinning the capability of the engine. At its core, ChatGPT is designed to enable natural conversations. It is able to understand the context of conversations, remember certain facts and details, and generate meaningful responses to its interlocutor. It is the first chatbot of its kind that is able to converse in multiple languages and dialects.
This has huge implications for language education. For one, teachers can now use ChatGPT to allow students to practise written conversations in the target language. By holding conversations with the chatbot, students can get exposed to larger quantities of target language input which can be crucial in L2 learning situations. On a larger scale, ChatGPT could potentially revolutionise language education, particularly in the processes of language teaching and learning.
This is why this webinar on how ChatGPT can help language teachers is a timely one, as it provides an accessible overview of the possibilities and specific use cases on how ChatGPT can help language teachers.
Summary of the Webinar
This webinar may be titled “OpenAI & the future of language teaching”, but the focus is generally very much on ChatGPT and the possible use cases in the context of language education.
Scott Thornbury, a well-known teacher, teacher trainer and writer who have been working in the field of English language education, was the main moderator for the webinar. Scott Thornbury gave a simple introduction to the events leading to the inception of this webinar. In the process, he also provided an important checklist of questions based on 8 key principles that we may reflect upon, as language educators, to decide whether we want to adopt a particular EdTech tool (4:07 – 6:04):
- Adaptivity;
- Authenticity;
- Creativity;
- Interactivity;
- Mediation;
- Autonomy;
- Engagement; and
- Indispensability
Subsequently, Sam Gravell, a teacher of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for professionals (or if you prefer Business English) in Germany, presented on the different use cases he has harnessed the capabilities of ChatGPT:
- use in needs analysis and course planning for his students who were professionals in accountancy and finance;
- churning out scenarios which he can use as part of Task-Based Language Teaching;
- drafting of rubrics and assessment items (with sample answers) as part of the scenarios;
- generate authentic texts (e.g. work emails, book reviews) for a wide variety of possible topics that are relevant for professionals for use in the teaching and learning process or in assessment;
- adaptation of existing texts for different purposes (e.g. modified input to suit the learners, rewrite and improving texts for educational purposes); etc.
To put it simply, ChatGPT becomes his personal assistant in lesson preparation.
Svetlana Kandybovich, who is also a teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer with many years of experience in English Language Teaching, also shared her use cases. Svetlana provided many practical prompt templates language teachers will want to harness and she has also provided on her website. Particularly, her consolidation of the anatomy of a ChatGPT prompt (learning objectives, role and context, task, constraints) is very useful and practical for language teachers.
Svetlana has also demonstrated how ChatGPT can become the learners’ language tutor under guidance from teachers. Beyond the simple task of text generation and modification, she also provided a system for generating texts that are purposeful for teaching and learning, dedicated for different audiences. Her examples are also more applicable for the K-12 contexts.
My Musing
For information, ChatGPT is not the only AI solution developed by OpenAI. OpenAI is an AI research and development company which has created and maintained various language models that can be utilised by businesses and developers to create APIs that offer AI solutions to users. ChatGPT is powered by the GPT-3.5-Turbo model, but there are other models that fall under the InstructGPT umbrella with diverse attributes, likely trained using separate algorithms or approaches. Additionally, OpenAI has prepared image models with DALL-E as an accessible interface, and audio models represented by Whisper.
The webinar referenced in this article mainly concentrates on ChatGPT, which is understandable since it is one of the AI models that has been made widely known and constructed with the purpose of creating an all-purpose chatbot based on the concept of Artificial General Intelligence.
I find the checklist provided by Scott to be very important. I have mentioned about “the glitz factor” in my article on “5 fundamental questions about Educational Technology you ought to ask in 2022”. Educators should not go into a frenzy with every new EdTech Kid on the block, and should adopt a broad set of principles to guide decision-making on any EdTech tools, AI or otherwise.
On the other hand, I do believe our educators might also have been exposed to many articles in highlighting all the alarming concerns this new tool can have – plagiarism, relevance of knowledge acquisition, impediment to independent use of languages, etc. I hope we are also not sucked into the other extreme where ChatGPT has been framed as an educational foe that is ever-growing. If needed, this article from the Brookings Institution might be more assuring.
ChatGPT has definitely been amazing – let’s not trivialise the potential it can have in improving our processes and making language teaching more efficient. It is also not the panacea to all our gaps in language teaching, and we are fairly aware of the implications it can have in education.
Most importantly, it is not going to go away – same for the other generative AI tools that are out there. How much do we know whether our learners are already using some of those tools, even before ChatGPT came? Think again, Google Translate has been haunting L2 language classrooms for many years. If we do not engage our learners and understand their needs in the use of these tools, if we do not guide them in the responsible and ethical use of these tools, they will still potentially be using them – beyond our observation and without our knowledge.
Conclusion
To a certain extent, ChatGPT is still in its early stages. We probably still have a lot to learn about the possible use cases it can bring. But, do not just look at ChatGPT. There are many AI solutions that build APIs to OpenAI models, or other large language models out there. From the user’s perspective, I do see a myriads of such solutions: Quillbot, OneAI language studio, Jasper, Otter, etc. If you do an exhaustive search in different languages, you can be amazed at the number of generative AI solutions related to language out there. ChatGPT is merely one, though a very powerful and multi-purpose one.
In addition, OpenAI is not the only monopoly of large language models. Google’s LaMDA might have cracked some jokes through Bard in the initial launch, but please do not estimate its potential to be as powerful as OpenAI’s language models. Let’s not forget what China might also already be building in its laboratories.
Let us continue to learn, adapt and help each other along this journey. I will also continue to look out for resources and useful articles, if not writing one myself, on such topics for our community.
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