Writing Assistance

Spell checkers and grammar checkers have been available for a long time and are hardly considered controversial. With generative AI, new possibilities have emerged. It is no longer just about correcting spelling or grammatical errors, but also about, for example, translation and suggestions for structure, not to mention that AI can produce content in response to user prompts. For some students, a few suggestions for introductory phrases or an overview of the answer’s structure can also serve as a way to overcome writer’s block.

What is prohibited and what is merely inappropriate?

But just because you can do something with AI does not mean you always should or are allowed to do it! Naturally, there are moments in language courses when there may be excellent reasons to deny students any use of AI tools. But the question is much more general than that: there is a significant risk that some students will gratefully accept linguistic assistance from AI without taking the time to consider why, for example, a particular introduction is preferable to another. Rarely or never trying to find a structure in the material themselves, but just accepting a suggestion from AI, also does not provide any analytical training. And letting AI generate content instead of working out the answer themselves can impair their understanding of the subject: the writing process itself is a way to process the material and develop and deepen their own reasoning, interpretations, and methods. And if the AI-generated content is part of an essay, a thesis, or another task which will be formally assessed, as part of the examination, it may be considered cheating.

Discuss and test AI assistance with students

The best approach is to address academic writing early in the course, especially if you know you have many new students, for example, in the first term of a program, so that students develop a better understanding of what possible restrictions that apply. Some points to address are:

• The writing process as part of the learning process and not just a matter of external form
• The importance of different contexts: in which contexts is it completely uncontroversial to use AI, when is it completely prohibited, and when is it questionable?
• The importance of consistently considering and learning from AI’s suggestions
• Any rules about when AI use must be indicated

Give students some topics or problems and then let them, during an intensive session in the classroom, or online, asynchronously, test all possible variants of AI support: generating complete answers, retrieving references, getting ideas and suggestions for structures and arguments, translating texts, and checking spelling, grammar, paragraphing, etc. Discuss the results and pros and cons together with the students.