This bonus episode is an excerpt from TW founder and publisher Martha Nichols’ interview with linguist and professor Naomi S. Baron. Both Martha and Naomi are college-level teachers, and in this clip, they discuss their own experiences in teaching and the ways that artificial intelligence (AI) can influence writing instruction for better and for worse.
Naomi points out that ChatGPT can offer effective feedback on basic writing skills, that which is often better than that provided by faculty or teaching assistants who aren’t writing instructors. Most students are writing strictly for a grade and not for any intended audience. In the end, if no one will be seriously reading students’ pieces outside of their courses, she asks, “Why not just let GPT do the writing and GPT do the grading? Because all this is for show.”
Of course, neither Naomi nor Martha think writing should be “for show.” But problems with traditional writing instruction aren’t just about the use of generative AI.
