Xiao Tan Published in Applied Linguistics

Xiao Tan, English Department assistant professor, recently co-published an article in Oxford Academic’s journal, Applied Linguistics. The journal currently ranks 12 out of 297 in the field of linguistics.  

The article, “To disclose or not to disclose: Exploring the risk of being transparent about GenAI use in second language writing” started as an idea last spring when Xiao noticed students who disclosed Generative AI use in writing were faced with stigma. “So, I thought it would be interesting to find out whether the disclosure of AI use (and nothing else) would have an impact on how readers evaluate the writing,” Xiao says. “I reached out to my friends, who are also co-authors, and designed a survey.”

The survey Xiao, Chaoran Wang, and Wei Xu created had all participating writing teachers grade the same argumentative and narrative papers written by an ESL undergraduate. Half of the participants were told the student used ChatGPT to develop ideas and aid in revision, and the other half were told the student had no access to AI. “One of the most interesting findings is that the quantitative data show that argumentative papers graded under the ‘disclosure condition’ received statistically lower grades, which in a way confirms our concern that disclosing the use of AI could have a negative impact. There could be many causes, but several of our interviewees acknowledged that they might be biased against AI,” Xiao reflects. “The implication for teaching is that there needs to be more communication between teachers and students about how students’ work is going to be assessed if they disclose their AI use. Simply asking students to disclose it is not enough.”

Xiao said she is interested in conducting future quantitative data analysis and collaborating with other USU faculty members on the topic of AI-assisted writing. She comments, “For future studies, we also want to know what factors, such as teachers’ experience with AI, teaching philosophy, and institutional requirements, impact how teachers grade students’ essays in the context of AI-assisted writing.” 

Congratulations, Xiao, on this incredible achievement!