From Struggle to Mastery: AI-Powered Writing Skills in ESL Education

Featured Application: This study offers a practical model for integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into writing instructions for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in secondary education. By blending the Writing Workshop Instructional Model (WWIM) with AI-powered platforms such as Grammarly and ChatGPT, the research presents a scalable, classroom-tested approach to enhancing students’ academic writing skills. The findings can be directly applied in bilingual and multilingual educational contexts where students struggle with coherence, organization, and writing confidence. Specifically, schools implementing project-based learning and following international curricula (e.g., Cambridge Assessment) can adopt this hybrid model to foster independent, ethical, and critical writing practices among learners. The approach is especially valuable for educators seeking to integrate AI in formative assessment, real-time feedback, and iterative revision cycles within structured pedagogy. Despite reaching intermediate English proficiency, many bilingual secondary students in Colombia struggle with academic writing due to difficulties in organizing ideas and expressing arguments coherently. To address this issue, this study explores the integration of AI-powered tools—Grammarly and ChatGPT—within the Writing Workshop Instructional Model (WWIM) to enhance students’ writing skills. Conducted at a bilingual secondary school, the intervention targeted 10th grade ESL learners and focused on improving grammar accuracy, textual coherence, and organizational structure. Drawing on Galbraith’s model of writing as content generation, the study adopted a design-based research methodology, incorporating iterations of implementation, feedback, and refinement. The results indicate that combining WWIM with AI feedback significantly improved students’ academic writing performance. Learners reported greater confidence and engagement when revising drafts using automated suggestions. These findings highlight the pedagogical potential of integrating AI tools into writing instructions and offer practical implications for enhancing academic writing curricula in secondary ESL contexts.