Enhancing Literary Writing in the Digital Age: Exploring Teachers' Beliefs on AI-Assisted Approaches in Upper Secondary Education
Submitted by:
Helen Lehndorf
Abstract:
Writing about literature is a complex cultural practice encompassing various communicative tasks (Hausendorf, 2011). Whether as an Amazon book review, an engaging Instagram post, or a thoughtful literary feuilleton critique, it presents unique challenges and opportunities.
In upper-level literature courses, process-oriented writing plays a crucial role in engaging students deeply with literary texts and enhancing literary proficiency. Scholars like Zabka (2016) argue that literature instruction should align with diverse literary practices, emphasizing immersion, reflection, distancing from texts, and cognitive exploration of literary nuances.
The interpretative essay stands as a central form of assessment in German literature upper secondary education. It requires students to construct substantial, argumentative texts, developing interpretative hypotheses and persuasive arguments. However, this format has faced criticism for fostering formulaic, stereotypical interpretations and fragmentary observations. Frequent practice of interpretative essays often falls short of Zabka's envisioned literature instruction. There is also concern about the gap between effective writing principles and the essay's structure, as well as its lack of coherence and relevance to students' writing practices (Rödel, 2020).
To address these issues and promote literary proficiency and writing, the TextAkt project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, collaborates with experienced educators to develop an innovative teaching concept. Grounded in design-based research, it encourages a comprehension-oriented approach to literary texts. This approach prompts reflection on various writing operations essential for interpretation and related formulation patterns at an intermediate level of abstraction. The project integrates cooperative digital writing methods, emphasizing AI-supported text generators. These tools facilitate reflection on interpretative operations, foster writing discussions, and enhance the revision process, making interpretative writing more engaging for upper-grade students.
This paper presents teachers' beliefs and attitudes regarding AI-supported writing in upper-level literature courses. These insights emerged during the conceptual development of our teaching approach and shed light on the challenges and opportunities of literature writing in the digital age (Steinhoff, 2023).
Hausendorf, H. (2011). Kunstkommunikation. Textsorten, Handlungsmuster, Oberflächen : linguistische Typologien der Kommunikation. In: Habscheid: S.: Textsorten, Handlungsmuster, Oberflächen. Berlin [u.a.]: de Gruyter, 509-535.
Rödel, M.(2020): Der Interpretationsaufsatz: Eine Geschichte von Fall und Aufstieg? In: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Germanistenverbands 67, 110-123.
Steinhoff, T. (preprint): Literalität oder Digitalität? Sowohl als auch! Überlegungen zu einer postdigitalen Deutschdidaktik am Beispiel des Lesens und Schreibens unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Künstlicher Intelligenz. Erscheint auf leseforum.ch
Zabka, T. (2016): Literary Studies: A Preparation for Tertiary Education (and Life Beyond), Changing English, 23:3, 227-240.