ERIC Number: EJ1468039
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0196-9641
EISSN: EISSN-2381-5485
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Rhetorical Choices & Voice: Generative AI in the First-Year Composition Classroom
Guy J. Krueger
Thresholds in Education, v48 n1 p99-110 2025
Generative AI has become a quotidian discussion topic in many writing departments, and the conversations often focus on the negative aspects or the disruptions it has caused. A growing number of teachers and scholars, though, have embraced the new technology and welcomed it into their classrooms. In the Spring 2024 semester, students in my first-year composition (FYC) classes completed an assignment that asked them to use generative AI to create an essay that they then re-worked through a combination of changing language/phrasing, changing content, and adding/removing content. This chapter argues that students are still doing rich and sophisticated rhetorical work like they would when beginning a piece from scratch. Grounded in Composition theory and scholarship, and featuring students' reflective thoughts on the assignment, this chapter makes the case that students understand and value their own voices in writing. Further, this study challenges the common belief that students want to take the easy way out and use generative AI uncritically. Rather, students seem to be comfortable with a new type of co-agency in which they use generative AI as a tool to assist them, not one that takes over.
Descriptors: Writing Instruction, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Software, Technology Integration, Teaching Methods, Essays, Writing Processes, Student Attitudes, Writing Assignments, English Learners, Native Speakers, Undergraduate Students, Revision (Written Composition)
Academy for Educational Studies. 2419 Berkeley Street, Springfield, MO 65804. Tel: 417-299-1560; e-mail: cqieeditors@gmail.com; Web site: http://academyforeducationalstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A