Call For Proposals: Special Issue: Critical Humanities
Towards a New AI Literacy for Writing Instruction: Theory and Methods
Critical Humanitiesis a biannual, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, and international journal published by Marshall University, USA. It is an open-access journal committed to making innovative research and scholarship accessible to all. To continue and further advance the two special issues already published (Issue 1, 2023; Issue 2, 2024), we are excited to solicit proposals through this call for proposals (CFP) for the special issue Towards a New AI Literacy for Writing Instruction: Theory and Methods from scholars globally.
Background
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), and Large Language Models (LLMs) have been increasingly discussed topics across contexts, educational levels, departments, and classroom environments. If AI is the technology that can simulate human intelligence, Gen AI refers to tools that can generate content, while LLMs are tools that generate text. In a comprehensive document, AI Guide for Government: A living and evolving guide to the application of Artificial Intelligence for the U.S. federal government, published by the U.S. General Services Administration (2026), the opening second sentence reads “AI will transform most, if not every aspect of humanity, which presents a range of challenges and opportunities” (2026). In addition, AI, as the Modern Language Association (MLA)-Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Task Force (2024) writes, impacts all fields of teaching and research, thereby necessitating AI policies and frameworks that are “adaptable to various disciplinary frameworks and applications” (5). These statements suggest that AI has become a real thing in educational research and pedagogy, and that writing instruction is no exception. Scholars working on/with AI have already investigated a range of topics on how AI and writing instruction are or should be connected. Even though it is almost impossible to list the existing researched topics about AI and writing instruction exhaustively, some of them include practical approaches to ethical AI use (Kassorla 2025), crafting and designing audience for an inquiry-oriented stance in the AI use (Gallagher and Byrd 2026, 8-10), necessity to critically engage with opportunities for human-machine teaming without compromising writer’s agency and decision-making (Bedington et al 2024, 10-11), a research-based advocacy for establishing a framework for the ethical and responsible usage Gen AI (Revell et al. 2024, 12), AI literacy through metaphor (Gupta et al. 2024, 47-50), rhetorical and informed refusal (Sano-Franchini et al. 2024), and many more. AI scholars have also confronted and demystified common misconceptions about AI and writing, further discussing practical ways to use Gen AI ethically and responsibly in writing classrooms through open-access publications such as Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Generative Practices for Teaching, Learning, and Communication (Basgier et al. 2026). All these existing conversations demonstrate that ‘AI and Writing Instruction’ is a pressing research agenda.
Exigence
One worthwhile research topic is what AI or Generative AI literacy means in the evolving context of writing instruction following the advent of AI technologies. Research shows no consensus among K-12 and higher-education educators on how to incorporate AI, Generative AI, or LLM tools into writing instruction. Consequently, approaches to the use or refusal of AI vary widely and can even conflict with one another depending on individual and/or institutional AI policies. For example, a piece assisted by Gen AI might receive a low grade from an instructor skeptical of AI, while another might praise it as an effective human-AI collaboration. This inconsistency in AI policies reflects both enthusiasm and fear regarding the use of AI among instructors and students. Likewise, students taught to use AI as a helpful aid in high school writing might be restricted from using it in college or graduate-level writing, or the opposite may be true. Similarly, a student permitted to use AI to write a research report in an engineering class might not be allowed to do so while writing a literacy narrative in a writing course, even when the level and institution are the same. A student of the digital humanities may generate code using AI tools and design an informative and engaging website as a project, and an instructor from another department may then question whether it addresses ethical and academic integrity concerns. A literature instructor may not be interested in discussing AI, arguing that it is not something they teach, but the teacher may still need a policy on AI use, as students enrolled in the course may have varied experiences with AI. In this special issue, we aim to examine a range of perspectives across levels, courses, programs, departments, and institutions on the use of AI so that writing instructors at all levels can build a much broader understanding of what AI is and how it has been perceived (or used) in diverse educational settings. This broader perspective on AI use is what we call ‘new AI literacy.’
Towards a New AI Literacy
This special issue is based on the belief that writing is a fundamental skill necessary to complete any course or educational level, and that teaching writing is crucial to the educational success of students from K-12 through higher education. Since Gen AI tools and large language models can produce writing on diverse topics, questions arise about the changing roles and responsibilities of writing instructors, sparking scholarly research and conversations about AI literacy in writing instruction. Levels of education are designed to lay the foundation for further learning, building on prior learning and levels; they are intimately connected to one another and do not exist in isolation. For instance, K-12 education lays the foundation for higher education, and higher education builds on the knowledge acquired in K-12. Owing to this educational reality, we stress that AI literacy, like curricula and syllabi at any educational level, classroom, course, department, program, or institution, needs to be designed in harmony with one another. Therefore, this special issue underscores the need to approach AI from more interconnected, interdisciplinary, and intersectional perspectives, which we call ‘new AI literacy,’ hence the special issue theme “Towards a New AI Literacy for Writing Instruction: Theory and Methods.”
Call for Proposals
Our concept of ‘new AI literacy’ transcends disciplinary boundaries and includes K-12 through higher education. Most discussions and scholarly debates about AI have been confined to higher education, specific courses, disciplines, programs, departments, or institutions, but we strongly advocate engaging with broader, diverse, and even conflicting viewpoints to understand how AI is being interpreted and integrated across different levels of education (K-12 through higher education) and fields of knowledge, especially in the context of writing instruction. We envision this special issue as a symposium in which various perspectives on AI and writing—whether they align, enhance, advance, challenge, or oppose one another—can coexist. Some potential topics for the proposal submission include, but are not limited to:
- AI, Generative AI, Large Language Models, and writing instruction
- AI literacies and writing instruction
- AI, rhetoric, and writing instruction
- AI, embodied experience, students’ agency, and writing instruction
- AI, writing instruction, ethics, academic integrity, and innovation
- AI, writing instruction, and K-12 education
- AI, writing instruction, and higher education
- AI, writing instruction, and First-Year Writing
- AI, writing process, and writing center
- AI, writing instruction, and composition pedagogy
- AI, writing instruction, and critical thinking
- AI technology, writing instruction, dominant discourses
- AI, writing instruction, and literary studies
- AI, literacy studies, and writing instruction
- AI, writing instruction, and community literacy
- AI policies across departments and institutions
- AI, writing instruction, technical and professional communication
- AI, creative writing, and creative non-fiction writing instruction
- AI, environment, and writing instruction
- AI and educational theories
- The future directions of AI and writing instruction
- Any topic addressing diverse aspects of AI or ‘new AI literacy’ vis-à-vis writing instruction
In this special issue, we invite scholars or instructors to explore perceptions of AI and writing within their classrooms, syllabi, departments, or institutions. Scholars from K-12 through higher education, while designing proposals, are free to develop their research designs, but we encourage them to address theories and methods related to teaching writing in the AI era. Proposals can be empirical, autoethnographic, pedagogical, theoretical, or methodological. To promote the essence of ‘new AI literacy’, we especially encourage K-12 and higher education collaboration, including interdepartmental, interdisciplinary, cross-institutional, and international collaborations or co-authorship, although solo proposals are also accepted.
Proposal Genres
- Proposal for Research Article
- Proposal for Interviews
- Proposal for Book Reviews (one to three books about AI literacy)
For reference or sample published works, please read some articles/interviews/book reviews from issues of the journal Critical Humanities.
Proposal Writing Guidelines
- Proposal Word limit: 300-500 words (excluding references)
- Proposal Components
- A compelling title
- Study Context
- Research Problem or Research Question(s)
- Study Objectives
- Study Methods
- Theories
- Projected Findings
- Significance and Implications of the Study
- Authors’ Bio: 100-150 words
- Documentation Style: The Chicago Manual of Style, Author-Date, 18th edition
Special Issue Calendar:
- Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2026 [Time: 11:59 PM, Mountain Daylight Time, MDT (UTC-6)]
- Acceptance Notification: March 15, 2027
- Word Count: Research Article and Interview: 4000-6000 words, excluding references; Book Review: 1500-2000 words.
- Full Manuscript Submission: September 15, 2027
- Anonymous Double Peer Review and Feedback: December 15, 2027
- Revised Submission: February 15, 2028
- Sending Back to the Reviewers for Second Round of Review: March 15, 2028
- Revised Resubmission (if needed): May 15, 2028
- Copyediting: June 15, 2028
- Special Issue Publication: July 15, 2028
Special Issue Editorial Team:
Purna Chandra Bhusal, Guest Editor
PhD Candidate in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, Texas, USA. Email: purnachandra.bhusal
Dr. Puspa Damai, Editor-in-Chief
Professor of English, Marshall University, West Virginia, USA
We are excited to collaborate with scholars globally.
Proposal Submission Link: Click the link in the box below:
| Click the Link Here and Submit |
If you have any questions or queries before or while submitting the proposal, please reach out to the guest editor, Purna Chandra Bhusal, via email: purnachandra.bhusal
References
Basgier, Christopher, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, and Shyam Sharma, eds. (2026). Bad Ideas About AI and Writing: Generative Practices for Teaching, Learning, and Communication. Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse; Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. https://wacclearinghouse.org/books/perspectives/bad/
Bedington, Andelyn, Emma F. Halcomb, Heidi A. McKee, Thomas Sargent, and Adler Smith. 2024. "Writing with Generative AI and Human-Machine Teaming: Insights and Recommendations from Faculty and Students." Computers and Composition 71 (Article 102833): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102833
Gallagher, John R., and Antonio Byrd. 2026. "Crafting and Designing AI-Simulated Audiences in the Writing Classroom." Computers and Composition 80 (Article 103007): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2026.103007
Gupta, Anuj, Yasser Atef, Anna Mills, and Maha Bali. 2024. "Assistant, Parrot, or Colonizing Loudspeaker? ChatGPT Metaphors for Developing Critical AI Literacies." Open Praxis 16 (1): 37–53. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.631
Kassorla, Michelle. 2025. “A Primer for Teaching with AI.” Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Online Education (CETLOE), Georgia State University. July 30, 2025. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/znxlv7d3qzuzzhh0zmglh/Kassorla_08_25_A-Primer-for- Teaching-with-AI.pdf?rlkey=oml4f11ti4e7sv2xkslwq9jt5&e=1&st=19fni25w&dl=0
Revell, T., W. Yeadon, G. Cahill-Bretzin, et al. 2024. "ChatGPT versus Human Essayists: An Exploration of the Impact of Artificial Intelligence for Authorship and Academic Integrity in the Humanities." International Journal for Educational Integrity 20(1) (Article 18): 1– 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-024-00161-8
Sano-Franchini, Jennifer, Megan McIntyre, and Maggie Fernandes. 2025. "Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies: A Quickstart Guide." Refusing Generative AI in Writing Studies. November 2024. https://refusal.blog/
U.S. General Services Administration. 2026. “AI Guide for Government.” IT Modernization: Center of Excellence. https://coe.gsa.gov/coe/ai-guide-for-government/print- all/index.html