Innovation in Language Learning

The benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching writing are legion. AI can be used by teachers to assist in giving feedback and to help generate writing prompts and model writing. Writing students can also benefit from AI in research, brainstorming, and error correction. However, an obvious danger is that generative AI based on large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT can tempt students to rely on these tools without learning the process of writing and without gaining the benefit of trial and error, so crucial to improving language skills. Instructors may be tempted to forbid the use of AI tools and/or to avoid the use of technology in teaching writing. On the other hand, most instructors use AI tools to enhance their own writing and teaching. This paper will discuss how a university English language teacher in Japan approaches a required freshman English writing course by varying analog and digital writing tasks that focus on the process of writing while also teaching the proper use of AI to help students optimize the writing that they have produced themselves.