Abstract
Despite the benefits that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring to teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), the emergence of ChatGPT has raised concerns in higher education. This highlights the need to carry out studies dealing with how to achieve an ethical and responsible use of AI and discuss its benefits, risks and drawbacks. There are sundry options that are currently being explored to find ways of incorporating ChatGPT into the language classroom, aiming to support transformative pedagogies. This paper focuses on one such option aimed at boosting ESP learners’ communication skills through project-based learning and the integration of ChatGPT. The authors report on the outcomes of an experimental project conducted at a Spanish university whereby intermediate ESP learners participated in a collaborative project based on curricular content making use of ChatGPT to build on each other’s input and co-construct knowledge. One of the aims of the study was to analyze how learners used ChatGPT to reformulate complex ideas conveyed in English to a level of understanding that was appropriate to their level of comprehension. The authors report on the findings of this project. Amongst the more interesting findings are ways of incorporating automatically generated corrective feedback, alleviating instructors from conducting this task and be able to focus on other learner support actions, as well as discovering that project-based learning and integrated AI tools can effectively aid ESP learners in developing life skills, such as effective communication, that can be of help in their future professional careers.
Presenters
Ana Gimeno SanzProfessor, Department of Applied Linguistics, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain Beatriz Martín Marchante
Lecturer, Applied Linguistics, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Considering Digital Pedagogies
KEYWORDS
English for Specific Purposes, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Project-Based Learning
