Volume 30 Number 1, 2026 Generative AI, visual scaffolds, and metacognition in EFL writing

Generative AI, visual scaffolds, and metacognition in EFL writing

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June 27, 2026, 1:03 p.m.
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access-status:
open.access
bitstream:
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bitstream_txt:
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collection:
Volume 30 Number 1, 2026
contributor.author:
Chen, Mei-Rong Alice
date.accessioned:
2026-06-27T05:50:18Z
date.available:
2026-06-27T05:50:18Z
date.copyright:
2026
date.issued:
2026-06-29
description.abstract:
Fostering metacognitive awareness and reflective thinking remains a challenge in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing instruction. These cognitive processes are essential for enabling learners to monitor, evaluate, and engage in meaningful self-reflection throughout the writing cycle. Using Flower and Hayes’s cognitive process model and Jasper’s Experience-Reflection-Action framework, this study proposes a Generative AI-assisted Visually Guided Progressive (GAI-VGP) writing approach. This pedagogical design integrates step-by-step visual scaffolds with interactive AI feedback to foreground learner agency and promote reflective engagement. To evaluate this approach, a semester-long quasi-experimental study was conducted with 58 EFL university students. Data sources included pre- and post-writing tests, metacognitive awareness questionnaires, reflective thinking scales, AI chat logs, and reflection notes. The results showed that the GAI-VGP group significantly outperformed the conventional VGP group in writing performance, planning and evaluation strategies, and reflective awareness. Qualitative analyses indicated increased engagement in understanding and reflectively evaluating writing strategies, although critical reflection remained limited across both groups. Although AI significantly enhanced planning and evaluation, monitoring showed no significant gains, with prompt-log evidence revealing a displacement pattern in which learners outsourced real-time regulation to AI validation.
endingpage:
26
format.extent:
26
identifier.citation:
Chen, M.-R. A. (2026). Generative AI, visual scaffolds, and metacognition in EFL writing. Language Learning & Technology, 30(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73695
identifier.doi:
https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73695
identifier.issn:
1094-3501
identifier.uri:
https://hdl.handle.net/10125/73695
language:
eng
number:
1
publicationname:
Language Learning & Technology
publisher:
University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center Center for Language & Technology
rights.license:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
rights.uri:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
site_url:
/item/10125-73695/
startingpage:
1
subject:
generative artificial intelligence, metacognitive awareness, reflection, EFL writing
title:
Generative AI, visual scaffolds, and metacognition in EFL writing
type:
Article Text
volume:
30