Designing an AI-Based Chatbot to Support Autonomous Writing in German as a Foreign Language

The growing availability of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) raises new questions about its role in supporting autonomous writing and text revision in second and foreign language learning. This paper presents a design-oriented, quasiexperimental study on a personalised chatbot developed to support autonomous writing in German as a foreign language (DaF). Conducted over one school year with secondary school students at CEFR levels A2-B1, the study compares an experimental group receiving dynamic scaffolding and immediate during-writing feedback with a control group relying on traditional, non-dialogic tools and delayed teacher feedback. Data will include analyses of text quality in supported writing tasks and pre- and posttest tasks without tools, as well as questionnaires and interviews on motivation, selfefficacy and emotions. The study shows how GenAI can function as a process-oriented scaffolding tool that fosters learner autonomy without replacing agency.