Writing Classroom Research Articles

The Influence of Students' Independent Use of Generative AI Tools on the EFL Writing Classroom: Recommendations for Students, Teachers, and Policymakers

This research explores the influence of generative AI tools on the EFL writing classroom through the lens of Complexity Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), particularly with regard to the influence on classroom dynamics. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with both teachers and students using an exploratory qualitative design. The results show that generative AI has disrupted writing classroom dynamics and resulted in a shift in assessment and classroom instructions. Also, since the rise of generative AI, noticeable changes have occurred in students’ writing. These tools have changed both the way they write and what they produce. The advent of generative AI has led to the emergence of new patterns changing the way that students engage with writing, changing teacher-student interactions, and ongoing feedback loops acting on steering classroom practices. These insights imply that the advent of generative AI has resulted in challenges and opportunities in EFL writing classrooms. These results highlight the adaptive nature of the writing classroom as a complex dynamic system, where stability and change coexist. The research concludes with recommendations for students, teachers, and policymakers on how to balance AI’s challenges and opportunities facing EFL writing classrooms.

What We Talk about What We Talk about Gender-Inclusive Language: Teaching and Learning the Singular “They” in the First-Year Writing Classroom

Over the past decade, interest in the singular “they” has burgeoned in scholarly venues and mainstream media, but writing studies scholars are surprisingly absent in these conversations. To contribute a writing studies perspective, I studied the impact, value, and challenges of teaching this gender-inclusive pronoun in three sections of my institution’s required first-year writing course. I found that, prior to instruction on gender-inclusive language, students used the singular “they” liberally and were not aware of how gender-inclusive they were in their writing and speaking. After learning multiple gender-inclusive writing strategies, students indicated increased awareness of their own use of gender-inclusive language, interest in using it, confidence in their ability to use it, and appreciation of its relevance to their own lives. They preferred the singular “they” over other gender-inclusive writing strategies. My study concludes that, in addition to students’ work, their self-assessments are a vital, complementary source of information for assessing the value, impact, and challenges of teaching gender-inclusive language, as the nexus of perceived use, interest, ability, and relevance drives whether students will transfer their learning to other contexts. These findings may also be relevant to teaching other forms of inclusive, bias-free language in writing courses.

ChatGPT’s Usability in Expository Writing in AI-Enabled Classrooms: Perceptions of Tertiary Students and Teachers

The growing integration of AI-powered digital writing tools (AI-DWTs) in writing instruction underscores the need to examine their impact on teaching pedagogies within technology-mediated language learning (TMLL) environments. This study investigates students' and teachers' perceptions of ChatGPT, an AI-driven writing tool, in an AI-enabled classroom. The study utilized a descriptive quantitative design with 60 student participants and three teacher participants. The study collected data through survey questionnaires following a series of interventions during writing classes. The results reveal that both students and teachers view ChatGPT as a valuable tool for expository writing. Students reported that ChatGPT is helpful for brainstorming and organizing ideas during the pre-writing stage, structuring the introduction, body, and conclusion during the writing stage, and improving grammar during the post-writing stage. Additionally, they appreciate its ease of use and its role in boosting writing confidence. Teachers recognize ChatGPT's positive impact on the writing process, particularly in structuring essays and refining grammar, yet acknowledge concerns about accuracy. Furthermore, they view its integration into writing tasks as beneficial for developing students' AI competence. These positive perceptions highlight the need for structured methodologies/pedagogies to effectively integrate AI-DWTs into writing instruction. Future research may focus on developing pedagogical strategies that ensure effective and ethical AI integration to foster writing competence and critical interactions with AI-DWTs in writing classrooms.

Archival Research for Community- and Skill-Building in the Online Writing Classroom

This low-stakes assignment invites students in an online corequisite first-year writing course to explore the archives of a local historic African American newspaper as an alternative to more conventional research-based writing tasks. This course is taught at a large public community college with a predominantly white student population in Louisville, Kentucky. For this activity, students first are introduced to the concept of archives through a reading and a video. Next, they are invited to freely explore the digitized newspaper archive, choose one article that captures their interest to read in full and sharing a short summary of it along with a reflection on their experience of navigating the digital archive on a discussion board. Finally, each student is asked to respond to at least two classmates, looking for harmonies and tensions between their and their classmates’ summarized articles and experiences in the archive. The local focus of this assignment encourages students to see research as personal and quite literally close to home, while the focus on reflection and response encourages students to work collaboratively to overcome challenges when navigating difficult digital sources. In an online writing classroom, which can often be an isolating and unfamiliar space, particularly for the historically underserved populations most likely to be in a developmental writing course, this assignment encourages students to embrace their roles as researchers in community with other researchers.

Training and Guidance on the Preparation of Islamic Value Based Lesson Plans and Writing Classroom Action Research for Mathematics Teachers at Lhokseumawe Vocational High School

Activities carried out in community service for Lhokseumawe City Vocational School mathematics teachers are Classroom Action Research (CAR) writing activities and designing lesson plans based on Dinul Islam. The aim of this activity is for Lhokseumawe City Vocational School mathematics teachers to be able to create CAR and design lesson plans based on Dinul Islam on an ongoing basis in order to improve teacher careers. The form of this activity is to carry out training and mentoring for 4 days from 26 to 29 April 2021 with a total time of 32 JP with an allocation of 2 days of training and mentoring for CAR writing and 2 days for designing Dinul Islam-based lesson plans. This is then continued with assistance in the form of guidance in writing CAR and lesson plans based on Dinul Islam from May to June 2021. The work system carried out by teachers is group in nature and they work together in determining the CAR title and writing CAR. Meanwhile, the work system in designing Dinul Islam-based RPPs is individual. The results obtained resulted in 10 CAR titles with continuous writing, while Dinul Islam-based lesson plans were printed and 26 lesson plans were collected from 30 participants.

Assessing the Impact of Predictive Thinking-Based Learning Activities on Enhancing Creative Writing in Language Learning Classrooms

Assessing the Impact of Predictive Thinking-Based Learning Activities on Enhancing Creative Writing in Language Learning Classrooms

Assessment is Constructed and Contextual: Identity, Information Literacy, and Interview-Based Methodologies in the First-Year Writing Classroom

Over the past twenty years,the field of writing assessment has moved from critical theories that questiontraditional models of validity and objectivity (Huot, 2002; Lynne, 2004) toscholarship that exposes how traditional assessment perpetuates inequality(Inoue 2015, 2019) and advocates new approaches that take social justice astheir central goal (Poe, et. al., 2018). We report on a collaboration betweentwo writing instructors and one librarian that assessed first-year writing(FYW) students' information literacy when researching and writing with popularnews sources. In addition to the typical practice of analyzing students'written work, this project used interviews as an assessment methodology. Thisresearch produced three important findings: 1) minoritized studentsdemonstrated superior critical information literacy skills compared tomajoritized students; 2) these differences were made visible through the use ofmultiple measures (written artifacts and interviews); and 3) the use ofinterviews is an assessment methodology that invites students to engage incounterstory and draw on personal experiences, revealing new sources ofknowledge and countering narratives of deficit. Ultimately, we argue thatinterviews hold promise for antiracist revamping of student learning outcomesas well as assessment practices.

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING ON READING AND CRITICAL THINKING: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

The Reading and Writing classroom introduces a digital storytelling project to engage students in meaningful learning experiences. Digital storytelling integrates multimedia elements such as images, audio, and video with narrative structures, offering an engaging and interactive approach to language learning. By immersing English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in rich, contextually relevant stories, digital storytelling can cater to diverse learning styles and promote a deeper understanding of textual content. This study investigated students' perceptions of digital storytelling projects and their potential impact on reading and critical thinking skills in Reading and Writing classrooms. This preliminary study involved 64 first-year ESL students from Universiti Malaysia Sabah Labuan International Campus. The data gathered from the study were taken through a mixed-method approach, combining questionnaires and qualitative feedback from the participants. The data analysis revealed that students generally had positive perceptions of the project, with most participants agreeing that the digital storytelling project enhanced their reading comprehension, critical thinking, and creativity. The study suggests that digital storytelling can be a valuable tool for developing reading skills and higher-order thinking in ESL learners. Future research is needed to explore digital storytelling projects' long-term effects on reading and critical skills.

Translanguaging as Scaffolding in Chinese Writing Classrooms: Perceptions and Practices of Non‐Cantonese‐Speaking Students in Hong Kong Secondary Schools

ABSTRACTTranslanguaging has been empirically proven to have constructive and even transformative effects, as it provides linguistic minority learners with access to various educational and linguistic resources. Nevertheless, there is limited research on its use in the context of Chinese writing as a second language and, more specifically, on how it supports the co‐construction of knowledge between Chinese teachers and non–Cantonese‐speaking (NCS) students. This study examines NCS students' perceptions of and experiences with translanguaging in Chinese writing classrooms while illuminating the role that translanguaging plays in Chinese as a second language (CSL) writing classes in Hong Kong secondary schools. The findings of this ethnographic study indicate that NCS students' attitudes toward and experiences with translanguaging are largely positive, particularly in terms of cognitive and emotional scaffolding. They reveal that NCS students developed more complex thinking skills, metalinguistic awareness and criticality through the translanguaging space that they co‐constructed in the classroom. This study also discusses the roles played by both spontaneous and planned translanguaging in NCS students' speech and writing development.

The Meritorious Learning Rewards Promoted by Chat GPT in Academic Writing Classroom Contexts

One of the most conspicuous and serious hindrances oftentimes confronted in these presently-situated academic writing learning dynamics is the constant presence of an emotionally-exhausting and anxiety-inducing learning environment in which EFL learners experience the absence of writing enjoyment. To better lessen this debilitating hurdle, second language educators are highly recommended to start activating the proper usage of artificial intelligence platforms in their regular academic writing learning enterprises. By carrying out this initiative, EFL learners will be mentally constructed upon facing the possible occurrence of taxing academic writing learning obstructions. This small-scale library investigation was initiated by the researcher to profoundly explore the potential meritorious learning rewards promoted by ChatGPT in modern academic writing classroom contexts. To achieve this major study objective, the researcher made use of a thematic analysis approach in analyzing the identical research results yielded by 20 previously-published ChatGPT scientific journals. The main purpose of embedding this research methodology is to ascertain the relevancy, applicability, and robustness of impendent research outcomes. Two major reasons underlined worldwide second language educationalists to internalize the ChatGPT tool at the onset of variegated academic writing classroom settings namely the significant reduction of writing errors and the realization of proficient academic writers.

Potential Uses and Concerns of ChatGPT in EFL Academic Writing Classrooms : A Preliminary Portrait

Potential Uses and Concerns of ChatGPT in EFL Academic Writing Classrooms : A Preliminary Portrait

Errors and Corrective Feedback in Chinese EFL Classroom Writing

English as a foreign language (EFL) learners are often confronted with grammatical errors in writing. This study aimed thence to identify types of errors made by Chinese EFL learners in their writing and to explore the reasons behind these committed errors as well as the corrective feedback given by EFL instructors in responding to students’ errors. A mixed-methods case study research design was employed. Data were collected from the essays produced by 62 third-year senior high school students (equivalent to 12th grade) at Jining No.1 Middle School in Shandong, China and semi-structured interviews with five EFL instructors from China. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. This study found that omission was the most common error made by Chinese EFL learners. Inappropriate learning strategies, negative transfer, overgeneralization, lack of motivation and positive attitude were the reasons of this phenomenon. It was found that both implicit and explicit corrective feedback were used by the EFL instructors in responding to their students’ errors. The findings provide valuable pedagogical evidence for EFL instructors to scaffold EFL learners’ writing skills.

A Critical Systematic Review of Cultural and Community Practices in Integrated Reading and Writing Courses in Two-Year Colleges

ABSTRACT This study aimed to synthesize and critically analyze 24 empirical studies that focused on Students of Color (SOC) in Integrated Reading and Writing (IRW) classrooms in U.S. community colleges. Our review, through the cultural and community practices framing, examined IRW studies and how SOC, curriculum/institutional reform, and wise pedagogical practices for culturally diverse learning communities were portrayed. Our cultural and community practices framework was informed by culturally sustaining pedagogy and community cultural wealth framework in literacy. Through narratively reviewing studies, we generated the following six themes using our framework of cultural and community practices in classroom settings: ways to culturally diversify reading and writing text, strengthening students’ identity through curriculum, fostering community in the postsecondary classroom, supporting students’ mother tongue in the classroom, the need for diverse faculty representation, and the need for asset-based narratives in developmental education. Implications for asset-focused research and practice are discussed in postsecondary literacy spaces.

Transformative Practices: Integrating Automated Writing Evaluation in Higher Education Writing Classrooms - A Systematic Review

This systematic literature review explores the utilization of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) as a writing scoring tool over a five-year period from 2016 to 2020, focusing on its role in the transformation and integration of learning tools for pedagogical purposes. Transformation refers to the significant changes and advancements in teaching methods, particularly in adapting to new educational technologies and approaches, while integration involves the seamless incorporation of AWE systems into these evolving instructional practices to enhance the effectiveness of writing instruction. The study aims to analyze the various types of AWE employed in academic research, track trends in AWE technology strategies, and investigate students’ perceptions of AWE in both scoring and instructional contexts. Additionally, it aims to uncover the benefits and limitations associated with AWE implementation in writing instruction. Examining 19 journal articles, this review identifies fourteen types of AWE utilized by researchers and tracks advancements in machine learning within the field. The findings reveal positive student perceptions of AWE, citing its usefulness, efficiency, and linguistic accuracy in scoring and instruction. Benefits of AWE implementation include improved linguistic accuracy, enhanced writing performance, increased student engagement, and the provision of reliable and valid feedback. Moreover, AWE demonstrates effectiveness in scoring and feedback provision, with potential short- and long-term effects on student learning. However, limitations of AWE are also noted, including student distrust of feedback and a preference for human raters over AWE-generated scores. This review provides valuable insights into the multifaceted role of AWE in writing instruction, highlighting its potential benefits and areas for improvement.

Buffering the Effects of Students’ Perceived Task Difficulty on Cognitive Engagement in EFL Writing Classrooms: The Role of Foreign Language Enjoyment and Growth Mindset

Submitted Currently, research on second language acquisition (SLA) and psychology of language learning has conceived foreign language learning as a complex system of beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and actions that contribute immensely to shape students’ learning experiences. The significance of such research lies in the fact that they provide a holistic perspective of FL learning by considering the multiple and interrelated interactions of beliefs, emotional and cognitive factors, rather than examining any single variable in isolation. Therefore, this study seeks to provide such insights by examining the interaction between perception of task difficulty and cognitive engagement in an EFL writing classroom, taking into consideration the possible effects of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and mindset on such relationship. Data were collected from 218 Saudi undergraduate students using a questionnaire. Results revealed that: a) students’ perception of task difficulty is linked to their cognitive engagement; b) FLE acts as a buffer against the negative effects of difficult EFL writing tasks on students’ cognitive engagement; c) growth mindset has no moderating role in the relationship between perceived difficulty and cognitive engagement.

ChatGPT in the EFL Writing Classroom: Perceptions of AI Chatbot Assistance Among Korean University Students

ChatGPT in the EFL Writing Classroom: Perceptions of AI Chatbot Assistance Among Korean University Students

Exploring Conflict Dynamics Model in Second Language Collaborative Writing Classrooms

Global pioneers had done quite a lot of theoretical and pedagogical research on peer conflicts, among which they considered Second Language (L2) peer assessment, teachers’ assessment, and the classification and identification of conflicts. While few scholars stand in L2 collaborative writing classrooms in early attempts to witness the conflict dynamics that learners confront in producing peer feedback. Therefore, this study gathers data from a Chinese university and seeks to expose the dynamic development of the conflict in peer interaction and characterize the intragroup conflict phase model. It is of great reference value for teachers to enact much of the teaching design in China since the data was initially extracted from Chinese classrooms. Implications for teaching are addressed, along with recommendations for future research.

Online PBPD and Coaching for Teaching SRSD Argumentative Writing in Middle School Classrooms

Teachers report a need for professional development in order to feel more confident and be more effective in providing writing instruction and intensive intervention to support middle school students. This study investigates the impacts of online practice-based professional development (PBPD) and coaching for self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) argumentative writing instruction on teachers’ implementation of the instruction. Using a pre-test–post-test design, the study also examined the effects of the SRSD instruction on students’ argumentative writing from source texts. Five middle school teachers from three regions across the United States participated in the PBPD and implemented SRSD with 55 middle school students with high-incidence disabilities or below-proficient writing skills. Following PBPD, teachers implemented the SRSD argumentative writing instruction with high adherence to dosage, fidelity of implementation, and quality. Student writing was scored for argumentative genre elements, holistic quality, total words written, and transition words. Results demonstrate that students improved on all measures. In addition, students reported feeling confident in their argumentative writing abilities. Teachers and students reported high social validity for the intervention. The benefits found in this research study provide a strong foundation supporting the application of comprehensive online PBPD with follow-up coaching to support teacher implementation of SRSD.

“Don't Ban AI from Your Writing Classroom; Require It!”

“Don't Ban AI from Your Writing Classroom; Require It!”

다문화적 환경의 글쓰기 강의에서사회적 공감 교육 모델 활용 사례 연구 -학술적 에세이 쓰기를 중심으로-

다문화적 환경의 글쓰기 강의에서사회적 공감 교육 모델 활용 사례 연구 -학술적 에세이 쓰기를 중심으로-