What is Human About Writing?: Writing Process Theory and ChatGPT

Abstract

Abstract Modeling the writing process of brainstorming, outlining, drafting, conferencing, and revising has been accepted as best practice in both K-12 and undergraduate writing instruction for decades. The evolution of technological tools for writing, from typewriters to word processors, from search engines like Google to AI generators like ChatGPT, has complemented and sometimes challenged that pedagogical approach. In this paper, I argue that while the release of ChatGPT to the public in November 2022 has caused anxiety and fear in the education world, it is simply a new technological innovation educators can teach students to utilize as a tool in the writing process. Through discussion of ways in which high school students are currently using ChatGPT to cheat in English class, I argue that fears of cheating actually highlight a larger problem with academic dishonesty, and that writing teachers also see positive possibilities in the innovation. If we can manage the cheating issue, ChatGPT can merely be a new tool for student writers to use as they learn to engage with words as humans: creatively, critically, and contextually.