CoachGPT: A Scaffolding-based Academic Writing Assistant

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Chen, Fumian, Veng, Sotheara, Wilson, Joshua, Li, Xiaoming, Fang, Hui
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Chen, Fumian
Veng, Sotheara
Wilson, Joshua
Li, Xiaoming
Fang, Hui
author_facet Chen, Fumian
Veng, Sotheara
Wilson, Joshua
Li, Xiaoming
Fang, Hui
contents Academic writing skills are crucial for students' success, but can feel overwhelming without proper guidance and practice, particularly when writing in a second language. Traditionally, students ask instructors or search dictionaries, which are not universally accessible. Early writing assistants emerged as rule-based systems that focused on detecting misspellings, subject-verb disagreements, and basic punctuation errors; however, they are inaccurate and lack contextual understanding. Machine learning-based assistants demonstrate a strong ability for language understanding but are expensive to train. Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable capabilities in generating responses in natural languages based on given prompts. Still, they have a fundamental limitation in education: they generate essays without teaching, which can have detrimental effects on learning when misused. To address this limitation, we develop CoachGPT, which leverages large language models (LLMs) to assist individuals with limited educational resources and those who prefer self-paced learning in academic writing. CoachGPT is an AI agent-based web application that (1) takes instructions from experienced educators, (2) converts instructions into sub-tasks, and (3) provides real-time feedback and suggestions using large language models. This unique scaffolding structure makes CoachGPT unique among existing writing assistants. Compared to existing writing assistants, CoachGPT provides a more immersive writing experience with personalized feedback and guidance. Our user studies prove the usefulness of CoachGPT and the potential of large language models for academic writing.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_18149
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CoachGPT: A Scaffolding-based Academic Writing Assistant
Chen, Fumian
Veng, Sotheara
Wilson, Joshua
Li, Xiaoming
Fang, Hui
Artificial Intelligence
Academic writing skills are crucial for students' success, but can feel overwhelming without proper guidance and practice, particularly when writing in a second language. Traditionally, students ask instructors or search dictionaries, which are not universally accessible. Early writing assistants emerged as rule-based systems that focused on detecting misspellings, subject-verb disagreements, and basic punctuation errors; however, they are inaccurate and lack contextual understanding. Machine learning-based assistants demonstrate a strong ability for language understanding but are expensive to train. Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable capabilities in generating responses in natural languages based on given prompts. Still, they have a fundamental limitation in education: they generate essays without teaching, which can have detrimental effects on learning when misused. To address this limitation, we develop CoachGPT, which leverages large language models (LLMs) to assist individuals with limited educational resources and those who prefer self-paced learning in academic writing. CoachGPT is an AI agent-based web application that (1) takes instructions from experienced educators, (2) converts instructions into sub-tasks, and (3) provides real-time feedback and suggestions using large language models. This unique scaffolding structure makes CoachGPT unique among existing writing assistants. Compared to existing writing assistants, CoachGPT provides a more immersive writing experience with personalized feedback and guidance. Our user studies prove the usefulness of CoachGPT and the potential of large language models for academic writing.
title CoachGPT: A Scaffolding-based Academic Writing Assistant
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18149