Abstract
This chapter focuses on examining the strengths and limitations of prompt-driven ChatGPT for a creative writing task using German as a foreign language. College students of German at the advanced level were asked to develop, write, and illustrate a unique children's story using ChatGPT as a thinking partner. Interacting with ChatGPT in German, students engaged in informal and low-stakes writing-to-learn activities that could help them think through ideas and key concepts for their stories, as well as learn new vocabulary, expressions, and language patterns. Answering to learner-produced prompts, ChatGPT provided both explicit and implicit learning situations that focused on vocabulary development and grammar in a meaning-focused context, creating conditions in which learners could learn according to their current language proficiency. The author discusses how they set up the project, what tasks and prompts they used to elicit content, and how they prepared illustrations using an artificial intelligence image generator.
Key Terms in this Chapter
AI Image Generator: An AI-powered tool or software that creates realistic images or art pieces using the information from the description or text prompt the user entered. The images created are entirely new.
Focus on Form (FonF): The learning of a foreign language through engagement in meaning-oriented activities that encourage learners to notice various language forms.
Task-Based Language Teaching: In this approach to second or foreign language teaching, learners are asked to complete a task or tasks using the foreign language which engages their natural abilities for incidental language acquisition.
ChatGPT Prompt: A statement, a question or instruction written by the user and entered into ChatGPT to generate an answer. A prompt is a request for information or a conversation starter.
Explicit Grammar Learning: Grammar learning that takes place through explicit instruction where the learner is given a grammar explanation or rule.
Writing-to-Learn Activities: Informal and low-stakes writing activities that are designed for the learner to think through key concepts or ideas and to learn how to express, clarify, and organize content.
Implicit Grammar Learning: Grammar learning that takes place through meaning-focused tasks where the learner is not being taught a grammar explanation or rule.
Focus on Forms (FonFs): The learning of a foreign language through drills and structured exercises in controlled learning environments.