ChatGPT as an Educational Tool: Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations for Communication, Business Writing, and Composition Courses

This empirical study examines ChatGPT as an educational and learning tool.It investigates the opportunities and challenges that ChatGPT provides to the students and instructors of communication,business writing,and composition courses.It also strives to provide recommendations.After conducting 30 theory-based and application-based ChatGPT tests,it is found that ChatGPT has the potential of replacing search engines as it provides accurate and reliable input to students.For opportunities,the study found that ChatGPT provides a platform for students to seek answers to theory-based questions and generate ideas for application-based questions.It also provides a platform for instructors to integrate technology in classrooms and conduct workshops to discuss and evaluate generated responses.For challenges,the study found that ChatGPT,if unethically used by students,may lead to human unintelligence and unlearning.This may also present a challenge to instructors as the use of ChatGPT negatively affects their ability to differentiate between meticulous and automation-dependent students,on the one hand,and measure the achievement of learning outcomes,on the other hand.Based on the outcome of the analysis,this study recommends communication,business writing,and composition instructors to(1)refrain from making theory-based questions as take-home assessments,(2)provide communication and business writing students with detailed case-based and scenario-based assessment tasks that call for personalized answers utilizing critical,creative,and imaginative thinking incorporating lectures and textbook material,(3)enforce submitting all take-home assessments on plagiarism detection software,especially for composition courses,and(4)integrate ChatGPT generated responses in classes as examples to be discussed in workshops.Remarkably,this study found that ChatGPT skillfully paraphrases regenerated responses in a way that is not detected by similarity detection software.To maintain their effectiveness,similarity detection software providers need to upgrade their software to avoid such incidents from slipping unnoticed.

Survey Research into Cohesive Device Misuses in Business English Writing

Cohesive devices in students’business English writing are regarded as the object of the research.Based on Haliday and Hasan’s cohesion theory,this paper introduces commonly-used cohesive devices in English writing.With the method of quantitative data,use and misuse frequency of cohesive devices in students’writings can be known.The paper will also analyze why misuses happen through qualitative data analysis and explore right ways of using cohesive devices.

Task-Based Teaching and Learning in Business English Writing

Business English,as a dependent discipline,has received great attention nowadays.To conduct researches on Business English teaching is quite essential,and it is of importance to design new teaching methods to improve the quality of Business English classes.This thesis aims to design effective task-based activities which involve students in the building and creation of Business English classes.Through the task-based activities,students learn how to write business materials positively and actively.

On the Instruction Design of the Course Business English Writing Based on Blended Learning Model

Blended learning based on information technology,emphasizes students’central position and teachers’leading role in teaching and learning.In view of this,the author attempts to apply the model to the instruction of the course Business English Writing.In the instructional design,the author navigates students to enhance the input of sample texts on the basis of webbased autonomous learning and organizes cooperative learning so as to increase students’writing practice,thus improving their research ability and communicative skills.Consequently,the two major problems—deficiency in language input because of limited class hours and lack of interaction owing to the large size of classes can be effectively solved.