At the beginning of this semester, I invited my fellow language teachers to a discussion on the principles of using generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in foreign language courses at our university in our MS Teams Chat.
This discussion aimed to gather my colleagues’ opinions, proposed guidelines, and experiences related to using AI in language teaching.
I had created draft AI Integrity Rules for our students, and before sharing them, I wanted to talk with my colleagues about:
- the principles of using AI tools in language tasks and exercises,
- requirements for citing AI-generated content,
- how AI can support the learning process and where its use should be limited,
- their experiences with integrating AI into their teaching,
- modifications to the proposed rules that would accommodate the specifics of different language courses, and
- whether such rules are necessary at all.
Only four colleagues out of over 60 engaged themselves in the discussion which inspired me to create the following template for our students:
Make sure you read the Originality Statement before you start writing.
Originality Statement
☐I confirm that I wrote the work on my own, in my own words, without anyone else’s help. I did not use any generative AI tools.
☐ I confirm that I wrote the work on my own, in my own words, without anyone else’s help. I used generative AI tools, cited them and included my first draft, the exact prompt used, and the AI-generated response in an appendix.
☐ I confirm that I wrote the work on my own, in my own words, without anyone else’s help. I used generative AI tools, but I did not cite them, after consulting my teacher.
If you used generative AI tools, include the following information in the table in an Appendix:
- Names of AI tools you used (e.g. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grammarly, etc.)
- the exact prompt you used
- your first draft [BEFORE] and
- the AI’s response [AFTER]
Appendix
| AI Tools used | |
| Prompts used | |
| BEFORE | AFTER |
I don’t know about my colleagues but I started to include the above Originality Statement in the written assignments my students had to submit this semester. The assignments were notes from academic lectures delivered by native speakers at the university on up-to-date sociological phenomena or managerial concepts.
My observations so far have been the following:
International BBA students
The majority seem not to understand the ethical implications of using AI mindfully.
- Some prefer not to use AI at all – not even to check their spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes – which results in lower-quality assignments. These contain minor errors that, overall, diminish the positive impression of their work.
- Some students completely ignore the Originality Statement, even though my experienced teacher’s eye can clearly tell that the submitted content was most likely AI-generated.
- Some acknowledge using AI but fail to provide any details in the Appendix and submit an AI-generated draft as their own.[1]
- A few students have demonstrated that they wrote the assignments themselves and used AI mindfully to enhance the quality and overall impression of their work.
Law students
Among this group, two behaviors prevail:
- Some students prefer not to use AI at all – not even to check their spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes – which results in lower-quality assignments. These contain minor errors that, overall, diminish the positive impression of their work.
- Those who choose to use AI do so honestly, using it to correct mistakes and adjust their notes to the template and the required word count.