GPT and ELT: Productive, Disruptive, or Destructive?
How will the latest advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT affect English language teaching and learning? In this free webinar, four ed-tech and ELT experts come together to discuss the implications.
GPT and ELT: Productive, Disruptive, or Destructive (Paul Raine)
In this presentation, the speaker will address questions such as "what is GPT?", "what is ELT?" and even "what does it mean to learn a language?" The speaker will contend that ChatGPT will certainly disrupt the ELT industry, but whether that disruption is productive or destructive will depend on the way the technology is adopted and used by teachers and learners of English. Theories of language learning such as Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Canale and Swain's "communicative competence" will be re-examined in the light of ChatGPT.
ChatGPT: A Game Changer or a Gimmick in Language Learning? (Philip Kerr)
Philip's supplementary materials
Less than two months after the release of ChatGPT, there are already a good number of suggestions for making practical use of this technology in language teaching and learning. This short presentation will briefly review some of the ideas that have been put forward. For teaching, these ideas range from the trivial and dull to the dynamic and exciting, reflecting the ChatGPT user’s understanding of instructed language learning and their creativity in learning design. The technology promises to be an accelerator for both good and bad teaching practice. For self-directed learning, it remains too early to say.
The AI Bubble is Upon Us. Let's take advantage. (Kevin Ryan)
Kevin's supplementary materials
As we get to know ChatGPT better, our irrational exuberance will be tempered. It will cause some of us to change our ways of both teaching and learning. We look at how teachers adopt new technology and speculate how it will be different this time. We look at some predecessors, as well as how AI will be integrated into new technology using the OpenAI API.
ChatGPT: Where it's been and where it might be going (Joe Tomei)
ChatGPT, the subject of this webinar, is a chatbot that seems to be more than just a chatbot. Introduced as an open beta in mid December, the speed, versatility and range of responses of the program have many people wondering if and how they will cope with it. This presentation will talk about some of the background of ChatGPT, a background which will hopefully give us clues about what may happen in the future. This presentation will be divided into three parts. The first part will talk about the lead up to ChatGPT. The second part will talk about the question of AI alignment, a problem which I think will help us understand the challenges we as teachers face and in the third part, I'll talk about some possible cultural issues that may arise with the use of ChatGPT.
Paul Raine (MA TEFL/TESL, University of Birmingham 2012) is an award-winning teacher, presenter, author, and developer. His books include the best-selling 50 Ways to Teach with Technology and the innovative multi-path graded reader Journey to Mars. He has helped design and develop several websites for teachers and learners of EFL, including abaxlms.com and zengengo.com. He has published numerous research articles on the teaching and learning of English as a second language, and is particularly interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).
Philip Kerr is a teacher trainer and materials writers who lives in Vienna. His books include ‘Translation and Own-Language Activities’ (2014) and ’30 Trends in ELT’ (2022), both from CUP. He blogs about technology and language teaching at https://adaptivelearninginelt.wordpress.com/
Kevin Ryan has taught in Barcelona, Chicago, Nanjing and Tokyo. He teaches courses that usually have the words "digital" and *literacy" in the title, both at the undergraduate and graduate level at Showa Women's University. He is a founding member of the JALT CALL SIG and a 3-time President of the Tokyo PC User's Group, which was his most intense learning experience.
Joseph Tomei is a professor in the Faculty of British and American Studies at Kumamoto Gakuen University. He has taught EFL in France, Spain, and Japan and has a long held interest in computer-mediated communication. He also is interested in the application of functional/typological grammar to language teaching, practical activities in the language classroom, and writing instruction, and his doctorate is on using metaphor for EFL writing instruction.