Generative Artificial Intelligence and Writing Instruction in K–12 and college education

Generative artificial intelligence has changed and will continue to change how writing tasks are approached in professional and educational settings. In some professions, and for some tasks, writing has shifted from authoring and composing to copyediting and approving. A central question for writing instruction professionals, including teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers, is how to adapt writing instruction to reflect this new reality.

The launch of AI driven chatbots (most notably ChatGPT, in 2022) has had a particularly strong impact on writing in schools, as educators have scrambled to respond to rapid technological developments in natural language processing. Some teachers have responded by incorporating AI tools into writing instruction (e.g., for planning and assessment) and by encouraging students to use these tools to develop their writing (e.g., for planning, executing and revising). It has also affected how teachers interact with student writing, as some teachers feel less inclined to infer student knowledge through texts because of the uncertainty that these may have been AI generated.

Given this impact, research regarding how chatbots are used and perceived in writing instruction across the globe is urgently needed. This Research Topic will contribute to increasing this knowledge base.

The purpose of this Research Topic is to extend our knowledge about use of AI in writing instruction. This includes stakeholders’ beliefs about AI and how AI is (mis)used by teachers and students. We need to learn more about what teachers perceive and experience as benefits of using AI for planning and conducting instruction, as well as what they perceive and experience as drawbacks. We also need to learn more about what students at different stages of their education believe about AI and how they use it. Finally, we need informed theoretical accounts of what it means and will mean, including as regards implications for students’ development, to use AI for writing in academic settings.

We welcome empirical investigations of use of AI in K–12 and college writing instruction. We welcome submissions related to:

* teachers’ and students’ use of AI in writing instruction (including assessment),

* teachers’ and students’ beliefs about AI related to writing instruction (including assessment),

* the validity of AI feedback and scoring,

* AI related writing curricula and policy,

* the effects of AI on students’ writing development,

* accounts of how AI generated writing relates to the cognitive and social act of human writing

Please submit your manuscript summary to the Research Topic page. It should not exceed 500 words (excluding references) and should follow APA 7 guidelines. Deadline for abstract submission is March 8th, 2025.

Keywords: writing research, writing instruction, Artificial Intelligence, writing development, educational technology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.