Matt Vetter (Department of Language, Literature, and Writing), with co-authors Jialei Jiang and Brent Lucia, published a new article titled “From Hype to Practice: Reinterpreting the Writing Process Through Technical Writing Students’ Engagement with ChatGPT” in the journal Technical Communication Quarterly.
The article reports on a study that explored the intersection of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and technical writing education, paying close attention to students’ use and understanding of ChatGPT as a writing assistant. Ultimately, the article highlights the innovative ways in which AI can be integrated into educational practices, offering new perspectives on the writing process, as well as rhetorical theory and the canons of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
Abstract
Guided by the scholarly understanding of generative artificial intelligence, this study explores technical writing students’ engagement with ChatGPT during their writing process. This study is informed by the classical five canons of rhetoric, along with the contemporary reinterpretations of the canons. Employing a qualitative analysis of interviews, this study argues that the students’ engagement with ChatGPT allows for reframing and expanding the notions of the writing process and rhetorical canons in the previous literature.