| Course Subject: | Advanced Reading and Writing |
| Student Level: | First-year international students in the NU Immerse program |
| Number of Students: | 14 |
| Developed by: | Rachel Toncelli, Lecturer, College of Professional Studies |
What Students Did
In this lesson, students engaged ChatGPT to identify and analyze key themes from a reading (i.e., “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan) and to “interview the author” to extend students’ thinking about language, identity, and society.
Learning Goals and Purpose
The learning goals of this activity were for students to:
- Identify key themes from the reading
- Generate critical definitions of “standard” vs “broken” English
- Analyze the relationship of language and identity in the context of the reading
- Critically engage with AI-generated output
Assessment
This was an in-class activity that was not graded. It was completed early in the semester to broaden the discussion about how/when ChatGPT could be a useful tool.
Faculty Reflections
The students were highly engaged and curious about the ChatGPT responses. They took the critical evaluation seriously and did not automatically agree with generated ideas. One student noted that generated themes “complemented” his group’s ideas in interesting ways, so it helped them think more deeply. Another student strongly questioned the output during the “interview” process. Overall I found the students eager but critical about the effectiveness of ChatGPT. I think having them formulate their own ideas and then comparing those with generated output got them thinking more deeply about the content of the reading and its major themes.
Step-by-Step Student Instructions
| Step 1 | Prior to the class, students read the essay “Mother Tongue.” |
| Step 2 | To build connections to prior knowledge and lived experiences, students participate in a whole class discussion of accent (how everyone speaks with one) and how we use language differently with different people, contexts, relationships. |
| Step 3 | Students learn about the author’s background through a brief presentation. |
| Step 4 | Students complete a freewriting exercise to identify main ideas. |
| Step 5 | Students use ChatGPT to identify key themes, paste these into their Google doc, and then compare them to their ideas. Collaboratively, they generate a final list of 3 main themes, which each group presents to the class. |
| Step 6 | Students learn about the controversial concepts of “Standard English” and “Broken English” through a brief presentation. |
| Step 7 | In small groups, students engage ChatGPT to “interview” the author (Amy Tan) about these concepts. |
| Step 8 | Students refer back to the reading to locate evidence confirming or negating the ChatGPT-generated “author responses.” |
| Step 9 | Groups then define how these concepts can be controversial and present their perspectives to the class. |
| Step 10 | Groups then explore how language use connects to identity with the option to use ChatGPT to aid their discussion. |
| Step 11 | Students participate in a whole class discussion of language and identity. |
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