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Oubab Msllam

University of Nottingham Ningbo, China

 

Abstract

This problem review explores the ethical and pedagogical dilemmas posed by Generative AI (Gen-AI) in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instruction within a Sino-foreign university context. As AI tools like ChatGPT and QuillBot become embedded in students’ writing practices, existing academic integrity frameworks, largely imported from Western institutions, struggle to accommodate culturally diverse understandings of authorship, learning, and moral responsibility. Drawing on classroom experiences and supported by current literature, the paper argues that students’ engagement with AI reflects not a breakdown of ethics, but a misalignment between institutional norms and culturally grounded moral reasoning. The review critiques the limitations of punitive and policy-driven responses, and instead advocates for a virtue ethics approach that centers reflection, judgment, and moral development. The EAP classroom, it suggests, can become a site for ethical inquiry rather than enforcement, where students are supported in navigating AI-related ambiguity with cultural awareness and moral agency. This discussion is grounded in the pedagogical legacy of Professor Marina Dodigovic, whose work exemplified the bridge between research and classroom realities, and whose early insights into language learning remain prescient in today’s academic landscape.

 

Keywords

AI Ethics, EAP, academic integrity, Sino-foreign university