METM25 presentation

Do they still need me? Teaching scientific writing in the age of AI

David Barick, Amstelveen, Netherlands

In recent years, the introduction of large language models, chatbots and their like has significantly altered the working lives of many language professionals. Still, this development was initially of no great concern for scientific writing teachers who support aspiring authors in creating an original research article for publication. Since the first AI-based models seemed to be limited to copy-editing a text or making basic grammatical suggestions, the input of teachers still seemed highly valuable in producing a text that would meet a journal’s requirements.

Then came the widely publicized release of ChatGPT-4 in 2023. Here was a generative AI model capable of spitting out seemingly original material in a matter of seconds, issuing writing advice along the way. Some ominous questions for academic writing teachers began to hang in the air. Could ChatGPT-4 actually generate a piece of text suitable for publication in a scientific journal? And even more pertinent: would the role of the teacher be diminished under these new circumstances? Both universities and organizations for language professionals seemed to respond to these issues very seriously: since then, they have produced a steady stream of workshops, presentations and exercises devoted to applications of generative AI in the classroom.

In this presentation, I will summarize the most interesting takeaways from the workshops I have attended and describe my experiences with using new AI exercises suggested by them. I will also offer my impressions of their efficacy, focusing in particular on how well AI performs when asked to comment on aspects of writing that go beyond scientific detail, such as the structure of sentences and paragraphs.  This presentation is intended not only for academic writing teachers, but also for language professionals from any field who are wondering how significant a role AI can play in the creation of original texts.
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About the presenter

David Barick studied musicology and English at the University of Michigan before moving to the Netherlands in 1979. He is a freelance lecturer in academic writing, working primarily with PhD candidates at various Dutch universities and hospitals. He is also an experienced academic editor and translator.