English Teachers’ Concerns About the Ethical Use of Chatgpt by University Students

A surprising new challenge appeared with the advent of ChatGPT in November 2022 dealing with many academic tasks of different levels. The tool that revolutionized the way people interact with machines caused a lot of heated debates over its benefits and limitations. There is an increasing number of works devoted to different aspects of ChatGTP usage. They pose discussions and arguments among educators, scientists, governmental representatives, and even technology experts concerning ethical issues surrounding the use of ChatGTP. Some governmental institutions reacted instantly to the latest text tool and even forbade its use at schools and universities because of the fear that students might use it to cheat in university writing assignments and academic papers. The main worry is that tasks generated by this tool are relatively qualitative and may have a negative impact on learning. It does not contribute to developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential for wholesome personalities and successful professionals. Another big challenge for teachers connected with the use of ChatGTP by university students is the inability to distinguish the text written by a new OpenAI chatbot from the works written by real students, even with the help of antiplagiarism tools currently in use. The results of the study prove that for many English teachers ChatGTP is the tool that may impede and interfere with successful educational process preventing the development of students’ creativity, critical thinking, and analytical skills. However, we admit the necessity to take advantage of the new chatbot, the need to rethink and reconsider the existing methods and praxis for learning foreign languages in line with the requirements of the time. It is of primary importance to start looking for new ways how to incorporate the emerging technology into the educational process, using effectively its possibilities and tools.