A new model for writing: incorporating AI
We (Mark and David) started writing lessons together when we met in 2011 and have been doing so pretty steadily ever since. What’s interesting is that in all of those years, we’ve rarely disagreed about anything…that was until AI came along.
Disagreement isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. And it is through this disagreement and the eventual discovery of common ground that we have come to the joint decision that maybe there is a place for AI in our writing lessons, and that maybe instead of AI reducing the amount of creative work required of our learners, there is an opportunity for increased personalisation and choice.
What is the current model for teaching writing?
We’re glad you asked. Looking across a range of coursebooks and resource books, there does seem to be an agreed-upon template for how to teach writing in the ELT world. Perhaps an interesting exercise would be for you to take a moment yourself and see if you can guess the generally accepted sequence of activities for a writing lesson before reading on.
Time to check your answers (we won’t make you check in pairs, don’t worry). Now, while there may be slight variations, the general consensus seems to be:
But what’s wrong with this?
Again, great question. Realistically, there’s nothing wrong with this, as such. It’s a tried and tested approach that ensures students have clear guidance on the language and skills they need to produce a particular piece of writing. The question for us though is: have we moved beyond this? Can we now do even better? Is there space for learners to produce something that is meaningful to them on an individual level?
We believe so.
Artificial intelligence tools burst onto the scene back in 2023 and since then it’s been a pretty turbulent time in education as we all rush to catch up with its use and define our policies. As things begin to settle down somewhat, there are two undeniable truths:
- AI is here to stay.
- It’s changing how we write.
The beauty of AI is how rapidly it can produce and alter examples of a text. These tools offer us an incredible opportunity as teachers and learners to not just have a single model text in our writing lessons, but to generate multiple models in seconds. With a simple follow-up prompt of ‘Please write this again but more / less formally, chattier, longer / shorter, with more humour’ we open up a brand new discussion in the classroom. Now, it’s not just what vocabulary items are used in this one model, the discussion changes to include:
- What are the common language points used in these models?
- What is the function of each of the paragraphs? Is it the same in every model?
- What are the common language chunks in these models?
- What are the common features of this genre?
Through this discussion, learners develop their analytical skills as they identify commonalities and grow their understanding of this genre of writing. This in itself would be enough to encourage us to incorporate AI into our writing lessons – but wait, there’s more.
By expanding on the range of models we expose our learners to in a single lesson, we become infinitely more student centered as we move away from fixed items of lexis or grammar points included in the lesson and open it up for choice: choice of lexis from a range of models; choice of register; of style; of tone. The most important question in the lesson becomes:
What kind of writer are you? How do you want to come across in your version?
AI hasn’t changed what we teach, it’s still grammar, vocabulary, organisation and writing skills. But it’s changed how we present it, and what our learners have access to. It’s given them more control and more choice.
So what’s the new structure?
One of the great challenges of learning a second language is the expectation that skills translate directly from our first language. While this might be true to some extent if there are commonalities in terms of cohesion between languages, tone can be harder to nail. Coming across as ourselves in a second language is, as the version of ourselves that we want to present in English should not be taken for granted. Organising our writing lessons in this way and making use of AI tools, allows us to have these conversations with your learners. It empowers them to choose how they want to come across.
If you’d like to see an example of this in progress, along with a useful framework for prompt writing, check out our lesson on email writing in Resources online. https://www.modernenglishteacher.com/media/43513/met_341_online_resources_promptwriting_byrne_heffernan.pdf
David Byrne has worked in ELT for over a decade and in that time has taught all the ages, levels and exams he could find. He’s worked in Ireland, England, Spain and South Korea, but the majority of his career has been spent in the UK where he currently works for EC English.
Mark Heffernan has taught English for over 18 years. From the very beginning, he shared lesson ideas and started to run CPD sessions. He spent many years focusing on exam teaching before moving to Queen Mary University of London in 2016, where he teaches.
