Artificial intelligence

The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has posed significant challenges for (English) academic writing given its ability to instantly produce text in an academic register across any genre or discipline through a simple natural language prompt. Studies have already shown that generative AI use is difficult to automatically detect, that accompanying citations, references and even content may be factually incorrect (or ‘hallucinated’), and that students of English for Academic Purposes could over-rely on generative AI at the expense of authentically acquiring the requisite research and composition skills required to succeed in academia. At the same time, however, generative AI applications have the potential to fundamentally change the way that English for Academic Purposes is learned and taught, for example through the provision of instant local and global written (corrective) feedback across multiple drafts, creation of exemplars designed and composed to suit specific individual disciplinary content and/or linguistic needs, automatically-generated assessment practice items, and many more. This chapter explores both affordances and issues as related to the introduction and potential integration of generative AI within the English for Academic Purposes classroom, serving as a guide to achieving best practice for both learners and practitioners while seeking to downplay purported negative perceptions regarding the ‘end’ of EAP as we know it.