THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEACHING WRITING: IS IT A DYSTOPIA?

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Nowadays, technology is required in the learning process. The integration of technology in a classroom shows that there is a transformation in the pattern of learning. This is in line with the educational development process in Indonesia, which follows the development of the era. Asides, students‘ learning necessities become an influential factor. Several technological-based learning tools come along with the transformation, including artificial intelligence (AI). AI is an intelligent system design which could mimic humans‘ work in the form of automatisation of digital media (Clark, 2020). People’s responses towards AI could be classified into three parts, which are sceptical, flat, and supporting (Tegmark, 2017). The sceptical group acknowledge AI's existence, yet they are pessimistic about its implementation of it. The flat group tends to welcome AI, yet they must adapt to the technology. The supporting group of AI are the most active in exploring its potential, conducting an experiment, and practising its implementation with several further evaluations.

Some issues arise with the emergence of AI, including how the automatisation system offered in the learning process will shift teachers’ roles. This assumption is wrong if we see teachers’ pedagogical skills and experiences, the students’ learning necessities, and the role of teachers in providing contextual and social guidance to their students (Holmes, 2019). The other issue related to (1) AI is the additional costs required to access and subscribe the technology, (2) people deem it not humanistic since the technology views students as having the same characteristics (homogenous), (3) limiting physical or psychomotor activities, (4) making the students more addicted to staying in front of the screen, and (5) being temporarily viral, especially with the existence of the sensational ChatGPT. The growing responses and issues on technology make AI a dystopia in learning. Is it true?

The Implementation of AI in Teaching Writing

Although AI is or is not welcomed by the community, it is pervasively used in all learning contexts, including language teaching. AI becomes a learning tool based on natural language processing, speech recognition, computer-aided language learning, games, translation, and intelligent agent (Pokrivcakova, 2019; Ali, 2020). Some researches show that AI helps in building a learning environment which complies with modernity, improving the engagement with the students, and providing flexibility in learning (Pikhart, 2020; UNESCO IITE, 2020; Miller, 2021). AI has different forms, including various applications.

The implementation of AI’s integration in learning, especially in teaching writing, could be done by using different applications, such as AI Writer, Smodin, Eskritor, Grammarly, AI Kaku, Poem Generator, Plot Generator, etc. Fitria (2021) recommends that the students can use Grammarly since it helps them in proofreading, starting from the spelling, sentence structure, to the grammar of the texts. Yet, the free version of Grammarly has limited features. Plot Generator offers the students different plots of short stories that could help them in comprehending the theoretical concepts in writing, getting through the writing process, and helping them in checking the grammar and vocabularies written in their texts (Sumakul, 2022). Other researches‘ in-depth analysis states that AI is a tool. Hence, teachers is the determining factors in the design of AI utilization in teaching writing. In this case, Utami (2023) mentions that the use of AI writing tools helps the students in writing academic texts, especially in planning and writing phase. Besides, AI writing tools are deemed having flexible accessibility, yet their accuracy and high plagiarism rates should be taken into further account.

From the researches above, the features offered by AI in learning can help the students in learning how to write, despite not being able to help them comprehensively. Teachers are still highly required, especially in strengthening students’ writing competence and giving them systematic feedback. The writing skills should be strengthened, and AI can be used as a supporting tool in learning. Besides, Kleiman (2023) suggests on the use of SPACE framework for the integration of AI in teaching writing. The framework is explained in further details as follows. Set - Setting the objective in writing. Prompt - Prompting AI to produce the required outcome. Asses - Assessing the accuracy, comprehension, bias, and writing quality. Specifically, we cannot trust and depend on AI 100%. To say the least, AI could help us in producing alternative texts which could be use in the next phase of writing. Curate - Curating the produced texts offered or made by AI and deciding the proportion of use in percentage as required. Edit - Editing the AI-produced texts with human power to ensure that the final product is the a good quality text. Hence, we should understand the limited ability of AI in the writing process.

From the discussion, the initial synthesis should affirm that AI gives positive impact in teaching writing, yet it requires a good pedagogical design based on the learning necessities and objectives. In its use, teachers and students are not expected to be trapped on its novelty. Apart from that, we should be strongly resistant that we do not use AI for an instant and forced objective. In this case, the use of AI should not be based on a rushed decision due to its fast development. We should be evaluative to AI by auditing the use of AI in assisting students in learning how to write. In the end, the decision on deeming AI a utopia or dystopia is based on our volition as the user. Trying not to be passive with AI’s development is still in line with understanding that AI’s existence will become mainstream later on.

 

References

Ali, Z. (2020). Artificial intelligence (AI): A review of its uses in language teaching and learning. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 769. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/769/1/012043. 

Clark, D. (2020). Artificial intelligence for learning: How to use AI to support employee development. London: Kogan Page.

Fitria, T. (2021). Grammarly as AI-powered english writing assistant: Students’ alternative for writing english. Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching, 5(1), 65-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.31002/metathesis.v5i1.3519.

Holmes, W., Bialik, M., & Fadel, C. (2019). Artıfıcıal ıntellıgence ın educatıon: Promıses and ımplıcatıons for teachıng and learnıng. Massachusetts: Center for Curriculum Redesign.

Kleiman, G. M. (2023). Teaching students to write with AI: The SPACE framework. https://medium.com/@glenn_kleiman/teaching-students-to-write-with-ai-the-space-framework-f10003ec48bc.

Miller, L & Wu, J. G. (2021). Language learning with technology: Perspectives from Asia. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2697-5.

Pikhart, M. (2020). Intelligent information processing for language education: The use of artificial intelligence in language learning apps. Procedia Computer Science, 176, 1412–1419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2020.09.151.

Pokrivcakova, S. (2019). Preparing teachers for the application of AI-powered technologies in foreign language education. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 7(3). 135-153. https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2019-0025.

Sumakul, D. T. Y. G., Hamied, F. A., & Sukyadi, D. (2022). Students’ perceptions of the use of AI in a writing class. Proceedings of the 67th TEFLIN International Virtual Conference & the 9th ICOELT 2021 (TEFLIN ICOELT 2021), 52-57. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220201.009.

Tegmark, M. (2017). Life 3.0: Being human in the age of artificial intelligence. New York: Knopf.

UNESCO IITE. (2020). AI in education: Change at the speed of learning. UNESCO IITE Policy Brief. Author: Steven Duggan. Editor: Svetlana Knyazeva.

Utami, S. P. T., Andayani, Winarni, R., & Sumarwati (2023). Utilization of artificial intelligence technologi in an academic writing class: How do Indonesian students perceive?. Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(4), ep450. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/13419.

*Published LINGO, Vol 4(2) Oct 2024

https://www.qiteplanguage.org/majalah