Writing in the AI era: Rethinking writing, research and teaching.

Hyland, Ken (2026) Writing in the AI era: Rethinking writing, research and teaching. Journal of Second Language Writing. ISSN 1060-3743

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Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has entered second language (L2) writing with extraordinary speed and with remarkably little agreement about what, precisely, it means for the field. In this focus paper, I argue that AI represents neither the end of L2 writing nor a simple technological solution to long-standing pedagogical challenges. Instead, it presents us with a profound reconfiguration of what it means to write, to learn to write, and to evaluate writing in additional languages. While AI tools can scaffold linguistic resources, expand access to disciplinary genres, and redistribute forms of expertise, they also risk deskilling writers, flattening authorial voice, obscuring responsibility, and intensifying inequities. My view perhaps borders on the humdrum in proposing that the field should resist both prohibition and uncritical adoption. I do, however, suggest that rather than asking what AI can do for writing instruction, we need to ask what kinds of writing—and writers—we wish to develop. What seems increasingly clear is that the future of L2 writing in the AI era will be shaped less by technological capacity than by the values we, and our academic communities, choose to encourage.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ai,academic writing,writing pedagogy
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Language in Education
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 May 2026 09:13
Last Modified:	01 May 2026 09:13
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102863
DOI:	10.1016/j.jslw.2026.101302

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