This study investigated Korean middle school students’ English essay writing performance and perceptions related to prior writing experiences. Seventy-nine students completed one of three essay tasks aligned with the Korean national curriculum and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP). They then responded to a survey on their writing experiences, task difficulty, and task selection rationale. Student responses were scored using four IB MYP writing assessment criteria: vocabulary, grammar, organization, and communication. The results revealed differences between students with and without prior writing experience. Experienced students showed greater confidence and achieved higher scores across all scoring domains, while inexperienced students reported higher difficulty and adopted avoidance-based task selection strategies. Regardless of experience, vocabulary and grammar were the most challenging, whereas communication scores were higher. These findings suggest that prior writing experience is linked to task engagement and writing quality. The results underscore the need to provide diverse, curriculum-aligned writing opportunities to support students’ growth in written communication.

This meta-analysis synthesizes evidence on the effects of ChatGPT-assisted instruction on English writing in Korean EFL contexts. A systematic search in RISS yielded 401 records; after screening under PRISMA procedures, 12 studies reporting writing outcomes were included and analyzed. Effect sizes were computed as Hedges’ g and pooled using random-effects models. The random-effects mean indicated a medium-tolarge improvement in writing (g = 0.6867). Mixed-effects subgroup analyses detected no statistically significant differences by experimental design (pre-experimental vs. quasiexperimental), educational level (tertiary vs. secondary), or region (metropolitan vs. others). Meta-regression trends for duration (weeks, positive) and weekly intensity (sessions/week, negative) were suggestive but not statistically significant. Overall, ChatGPT-supported writing instruction yields meaningful gains and shows consistent effects at both secondary and tertiary levels; in practice, it is well suited to complement teacher feedback. Future studies should expand samples in secondary and nonmetropolitan settings and employ stronger designs to clarify how duration and intensity shape outcomes.

This qualitative study explores how fifth-grade elementary school students experience AI-based feedback in English writing. Two students participated in writing activities and received feedback from ChatGPT. Data were collected from observation logs, drafts, reflection journals, and interviews over several weeks. The analysis focused on participants’ perceptions, cognitive/meta-cognitive and affective responses, and the impact of feedback on revision. Results indicate AI-based feedback is helpful, clear, and supports self-directed learning, increasing motivation and confidence. Effective classroom use requires instructional sequences integrating AI feedback with teacher facilitation, including drafting, feedback reception, revision, and reflection stages. Teacher training should prepare educators to manage AI tools effectively and foster students’ self-regulation. Teacher-led research and collaboration can enhance AI feedback integration, ensuring meaningful learning experiences for young EFL learners. These findings provide foundational insights for developing personalized feedback systems and instructional models combining technological innovation and pedagogy, supporting young learners’ growth as confident and autonomous writers.

This study investigates how AI feedback learning activities in English writing classes affect university students’ English achievement and writing motivation. It examines both cognitive and affective outcomes in EFL contexts using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. A total of 244 first-year university students completed four writing tasks incorporating AI feedback during the revision process. Pre- and post-tests were conducted along with the Oxford Placement Test (Syndicate, 2001) and a modified version of Payne’s (2012) Academic Writing Motivation Questionnaire. Quantitative analyses revealed significant improvement in English achievement and three motivational subcomponents—enjoyment, recognition, and effort—while instrumentality showed no significant change. Qualitative analysis of open-ended questionnaire responses indicated that students valued AI feedback for error detection, coherence, and self-directed learning, yet recognized limitations such as unnatural expressions, misinterpretations, and overreliance on AI. The findings highlight the importance of AI literacy and propose a hybrid feedback model integrating AI and teacher guidance to enhance learner autonomy and writing competence.

This study investigates how writing tasks in 10th-grade English textbooks in South Korea have evolved across six national curricula, from the 5th to the 2022 Revised Curriculum, excluding the 2009 Revised Curriculum, which did not mandate the use of textbooks for this grade level. The study examined writing tasks from 16 textbooks, analyzing their instructional focus, the integration of pre-, while-, and post-writing components, degree of collaboration, and genre distribution. The findings indicate a gradual shift from sentence-level, language-focused tasks to paragraph-level, meaningmaking tasks. Process-oriented elements, particularly pre- and post-writing components, have become more common, though post-writing activities remain limited to peer review. The provision of paragraph skeletons has increased over time. Peer-based collaboration has increased, but group writing tasks have nearly disappeared. Genre coverage has broadened over time, yet expository writing continues to dominate. This study underscores the importance of continued attention to how writing is represented in instructional materials to support more pedagogically informed L2 writing instruction.

This study investigates the conversation strategies that Korean middle school English learners employ when interacting with AI-based writing tutor chatbots. A total of 79 eighth-grade students at a middle school in Seoul engaged in English process writing tasks with ChatGPT API-powered writing tutor chatbots, composing an argumentative and an expository essay. Their dialogues during the pre-writing and drafting stages were analyzed using content analysis, with a focus on linguistic modification strategies within situated writing contexts. The results reveal that learners actively interacted with the AI writing tutor chatbots, employing various strategies to refine chatbot responses, clarify misunderstandings, and negotiate meaning. These strategies demonstrated both backward- and forward-oriented approaches, allowing students to iteratively improve their writing through dynamic interaction. Based on these findings, the study provides pedagogical recommendations for optimizing AI chatbot-mediated conversations in L2 English writing instruction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of students’ peer feedback in collaborative English writing of general English classes. For this reason, online pre-and post-surveys were conducted on 33 students enrolled in D University in Chuncheongnam-do. The study results showed that in terms of the affective aspects of peer feedback, the burden of providing feedback, anxiety about English proficiency and negative feedback, and discomfort with negative feedback decreased. At the same time, the perceived usefulness of peer feedback increased. However, cooperation and responsibility, trust in peer feedback, motivation, and the burden of interaction did not show statistically significant differences. In addition, students mentioned that they benefited from peer feedback in the order of grammar, text structure, and vocabulary. As positive aspects, they highlighted objectivity, assistance in English learning, and increased confidence. On the other hand, they pointed out their discomfort in giving feedback due to their low English proficiency and the possibility of providing incorrect information. Based on the results, several implications are discussed.

This study developed and implemented an elementary English writing program using image-generative AI to examine its effects on students’ writing abilities and affective domains. The program was designed following the ADDIE model and aligned with the 2022 Revised English National Curriculum. It used Padlet’s ‘I Can’t Draw,’ allowing students to create images based on their prompts. Eighty sixth-grade students participated, with data collected through pre- and post-writing tests, affective domain surveys, student work, reflections, and teacher interviews. A mixed-methods analysis, combining ANCOVA and content analysis, revealed the following: (1) The program improved the syntactic and lexical complexity and fluency of students’ writing, but not accuracy. (2) Students’ situational interest significantly increased, but individual interest did not. Additionally, students’ engagement and motivation in learning English improved. These findings indicate that image-generative AI is an effective tool for enhancing English writing lessons and providing feedback. The study also emphasizes the critical role of teacher competence in successfully integrating AI into language instruction.

This study examined the effects of creating English picture books using generative artificial intelligence (AI) on Korean high school students’ reading and writing skills, AI literacy, and self-efficacy. Forty-five students were divided into two groups and participated in tasks that included selecting a character from English-speaking cultures, generating images using Bing Image Creator, drafting and revising stories with ChatGPT, and creating audiobooks with ClovaDubbing. Reading and writing skills were evaluated using pre- and post-tests, and AI literacy as well as affective factors, including selfefficacy, were measured through surveys. The results indicated a significant improvement in students’ writing skills and self-efficacy, whereas reading skills did not demonstrate statistically significant progress. The study underscores the potential of generative AI as a tool for enhancing writing skills, AI literacy, and self-efficacy in language learning. However, it also emphasizes the need for further pedagogical efforts to design instructional strategies that effectively improve reading skills. These findings offer practical guidance for integrating generative AI into EFL education to enhance language learning and AI literacy.

This study analyzes students’ use of ChatGPT prompts to explore its potential as a supplementary feedback tool in English writing classes. Thirty-one pre-service teachers participated and were divided into high, middle, and low groups based on their self-evaluation, standardized test scores, and essay scores prior to receiving ChatGPT feedback. The data sources included their two essays, ChatGPT prompts, questionnaires, and transcripts from the second writing conference. The ChatGPT prompts and questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the writing conference transcripts were examined to understand the participants’ use of prompts. The results showed participants used prompts 40 times in the first assignment and 175 times in the second assignment. The average prompt usage increased from 1.5 times in the first assignment to 6.7 times in the second assignment. In terms of students’ levels, the high group used more prompts (5.58 times) than the middle (5 times) and the low groups (1.75 times). Notably, students who used ChatGPT commands five times or more were mostly from the high and middle groups. Differences in prompt usage patterns were also identified, with the high and middle groups engaging in more continuous and interactive conversations with ChatGPT. Students expressed satisfaction with ChatGPT’s feedback, particularly in vocabulary selection, grammar correction, and sentence generation.

The research examines the types and causes of L2 writing anxiety Korean EFL learners experience and the influence of study abroad experience on L2 writing anxiety types. For the current study, a total of 128 university students majoring in different subjects responded to a questionnaire consisting of the three parts, including 1) the background questionnaire, 2) Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), and 3) Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI). In order to analyse the collected data, descriptive statistics and an independent sample t-test were employed. The results showed that the participants were more likely to face cognitive anxiety than somatic anxiety and avoidance behavior. Moreover, L2 learners’ previous study abroad experience had an impact on avoidance behavior more than cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. It was also found that main causes of L2 writing anxiety are learners’ linguistic difficulties, fear of teachers’ negative comments, and insufficient writing practice. Based on the findings, both implications for teaching English writing and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Conventional flipped learning instructional models are operated in a blended learning environment online and offline. In contrast, this study moved onto fully online systems and explored how a sense of presence worked for students’ learning outcomes at university English writing courses. The two research questions for this study are: 1) What is the relationship between a sense of presence (teaching, cognitive, social presence) and learning outcomes (group cohesion, class satisfaction)? and 2) What are the variables among a sense of presence that affect group cohesion and class satisfaction? For the purposes of this study, 46 university students from English composition courses answered student questionnaires in the spring of 2021. Correlation and multiple-regression analyses were conducted to look into the relationships among the variables. Additionally, focus-group interviews were conducted and teaching journals were analyzed. The major findings were revealed as follows: Firstly, a sense of presence was significantly related to group cohesion and satisfaction. Secondly, social presence and cognitive presence only had a predictive power of group cohesion. Thirdly, cognitive presence and teaching presence were significant predictors of class satisfaction. Pedagogical implications are discussed for those interested in applying flipped learning in a fully online setting.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the characteristics of Korean college students’ writings, which have been produced without or with the help of machine translation tool in the classroom. Specifically, this research attempted to investigate the linguistic characteristics of the students’ writings, and types of errors identified in the writings. Twelve pieces of writings from three college students were collected for analysis. Two online word analysis programs, Word Counter (2023) and LIWC-22 (2023), were employed for data analysis. The findings of data analysis found out that 1) The students’ drafts consisted of 22.8 sentences including 303.9 words in 3.6 paragraphs on average. 2) In the students’ drafts, ‘unique’ words (46.8%) were included a lot more than ‘difficult’ words (27%), and students tended to write their essay writings in an unfiltered or impromptu way rather than an analytical way regardless of their English language proficiency levels. 3) The highest frequency of errors was seen in grammatical errors (41.7%) followed by lexical errors (31.6%). Based on the research findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions for the effective use of machine translation in English writing classes were presented.

The current study examined the potential contribution of advanced Korean EFL learners’ writing abilities to their reading comprehension abilities. A total of 191 college students participated in this study and were tested on writing and reading comprehension abilities as well as other literacy-related measures including listening comprehension, textreading fluency, and knowledge of vocabulary to control for their effects. In order to account for different aspects of writing and reading comprehension abilities, multiple measures of reading and writing abilities were adopted. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses demonstrated that the advanced Korean EFL learners’ English writing abilities had a significant effect on their reading comprehension abilities when other relevant literacy skills were controlled for. Furthermore, their writing abilities mediated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension abilities. These results highlight the important pedagogical implications on the critical role of writing abilities in enhancing the reading comprehension abilities of L2 learners.

The study investigates which grammar features need high priority of pedagogical intervention to develop implicit knowledge, unlike grammatical features in need of explanation of explicit rules. Two types of data were collected from 29 Korean college students: a sentence completion test in English and a meta-linguistic knowledge test (requiring students to both correct the underlined error and explain the grammatical rule) in Korean. Through statistical analyses, including a Wilcoxon signed rank test, this study finds significant differences in test achievements for tense, time prepositions (for and since), subjunctive moods, dative alternations, quantitative adjectives (many and much), gerunds, and third-person singular -s in the simple present tense. Based on results obtained, this study proposes which specific grammar features need intensive pedagogical intervention for production skills, including sentence writing and speaking. Several practical suggestions are provided for EFL instructors and researchers to make more effective use of speaking and writing activities as well as formative testing.

Due to growing concerns regarding the effectiveness of full-scale online education, this study investigated motivational regulation strategies employed by tertiary-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners taking a writing course via Zoom. Using a mixed method, this study examined a dataset comprising questionnaire responses of 154 Korean students with two proficiency levels and subsequent semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that the learners with a high English proficiency level utilized the instructor’s feedback significantly more than those having a low proficiency level. The high proficiency group also appreciated the Zoom context and the university-wide policy of English-medium instruction (EMI) significantly better than the other group. Finally, correlation analysis revealed significant relationship between the students’ uses of motivational regulation strategies and their responses to the context-dependent factors. For example, the strategic choice of instructor feedback was positively related to their perception of EMI. These findings are discussed for effective online EFL writing instruction in the post-pandemic era.

This study investigated how Korean high school students use English connectives in argumentative writing. The participants were 71 high school second year students. Analysis of data focused on three aspects of connective use: 1) the frequency and kinds of connectives used, 2) commonly used words in each category of connectives, and 3) frequently used positions of connectives. Considering the possible effect of topical knowledge and general English ability, the analysis included the comparison between two topic groups and between two language ability groups. The results showed there was a high similarity between different topic groups and ability groups in the use of connectives, but a significant difference was also found in some limited features. Based on the results, the study concludes that Korean high school students, regardless of the writing topic and language ability, share common features in the use of English connectives. Some suggestions are made for further research and writing instruction.

This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of the process-genre approach on EFL learners’ writing improvement. A total of 48 Chinese college freshmen students participated in this study, and they were divided into high-level (n=20) and low-level (n=28) groups. All the participants were instructed by the same teacher in the College English class for 14 weeks, during which they were taught how to compose in three writing genres: narration, exposition, and argumentation. After comparing the writing scores of pre- and post-tests from both groups, it can be concluded that the processgenre approach is helpful in enhancing the EFL learners’ writing competence because both groups of students had significantly improved their writing abilities. Besides, both group learners attained a salient achievement in expository writing after they were trained by the process-genre approach. Compared with the high-level learners, the low-level learners made larger progress in all three writing genres. It indicates that enough teaching time and teacher’s scaffolding systems are crucial for the learners’ writing development.

The study investigates the effects of corpus-based formulaic sequences learning on developing learners’ writing skills and attitudes. For this purpose, fifty-four high school students participated in the study and were divided into two groups. The experimental group learned formulaic sequences with the corpus-based method, while the control group learned the target items through the definition-centered method. The results of the study showed that no significant difference in writing ability was found between corpus-based formulaic sequences learning and traditional formulaic sequences learning. The corpus-based formulaic sequences learning showed a greater effect on improving grammatical accuracy of writing. The traditional formulaic sequences learning was effective in the acquisition of productive knowledge of formulaic sequences. The results of the survey questionnaire showed that the students showed a positive attitude toward corpus-based formulaic sequences learning, which may mean corpus-based learning can play an important role in increasing students’ motivation. These results may suggest that various corpus-based activities for EFL class need to be developed.

This study was designed to explore effective techniques to be used in IERW (Integrated English Reading and Writing) classes for college students. The study last for 15 weeks and included 457 students and 11 instructors at E University. The participants were freshmen who were taking a compulsory English reading and writing class, and the instructors were seven native English speakers and four Koreans. To ensure the effectiveness of IERW classes, it is important to identify what teaching activities are being used and which activities students prefer. To address these issues, the instructors were interviewed regarding their teaching activities in IERW classes. From the interview results, a survey was made that asked students which class activities they consider useful. The results show that most students responded positively to the activities that the instructors were using, with a preference of around 70 percent. Notably, pair or group activities were rated as less favorable than other activities, with a score of under 50 percent. Some implications of the findings and suggestions for teaching activities for IERW classes are provided.