Abstract:

The present paper analyses the use of AI technology in the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) class based on the system approach envisaged by Baker & Smith (2019) who divided these tools into three main categories: learner-facing, teacher-facing and system-facing. For the present study, the first two approaches are the most useful aspects for the use of AIEd (Artificial Intelligence in Education) for teaching, learning, assessment. Thus, learner-facing AIEd is considered “adaptive”, “personalized” or “differentiated” while teacher-facing AIEd can “reduce workload”, “innovate in the classroom”, “experiment” (Baker & Smith, 2019). From this perspective, the present study represents an attempt at presenting how AIEd was integrated at the University of Bucharest with students enrolled in two different fields: Faculty of Letters and Faculties of Biology and Chemistry. AI tools used were ChatGPT, Google Chrome, Duolingo. From a teacher-facing AIEd perspective, ChatGPT proves useful as it manages to minimize the time spent for designing studying materials, provides diversity for the materials (poems, songs, dialogues) with specific terminology. This is extremely useful when certain topics are hard to tackle by a ESP teacher who teaches terminology specific to fields they are not experts in and this represents a challenge. It also helps to “create descriptions of natural language” and “better processed corpora” (Pokrivcakova, 2023). The activities included in the ESP class while using ChatGPT were brainstorming, speaking, writing and debate in a sandwich method that incorporated ChatGPT-generated content into discussion, becoming part of topics such as EU values, war, migration, culture, gender - for the humanities students. For the natural sciences students, the AI tool generated content on the topic of xenotransplantation which was approached from different perspectives: ethical, medical, religious as debate. All these represent the teacher-facing AIEd. From a learner-facing AIEd point of view, ChatGPT tool becomes a personalized tool. ChatGPT can guide the learner in different subjects by checking their level of knowledge the student has and building up from that point according to the student’s particular level of knowledge giving important hints for less familiar topics. Regarding speaking, the AI tools used such as Google Chrome, Duolingo are easy to use, intuitive and pronunciation is delivered at different speeds and accents so that the students understand, repeat and learn correctly new terminology or hard-to-pronounce words especially when the mother tongue is a big influence and the new words are of Greek/Latin origin. Thus, the advantages of using ChatGPT are that it offers creative, instant materials that help teachers spend less time on content creation. Students benefit by guided learning while using the application. Nevertheless, disadvantages include the fact that the information delivered cannot be checked for copyright infringement, has to be continuously checked in terms of content, form and spelling. Students can use the application in non-ethical ways, overuse it for tasks involving essay creation. AI may even become a surrogate for the universities when cutting costs in order to “use automatic AI solutions” (Zawacki-Richter & all, 2019). All in all, there are advantages and disadvantages when using AIEd and both students and teachers need to be prepared to use AI prompts engineering because AI is here to stay.

Keywords:

AI tools, education, ESP, language learning.