Postdoctoral Position: Exploring Student Writing With Generative AI in the Danish L1 Classroom

Aarhus University - Department of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies, Educational Philosophy, and General Education

The Danish School of Education (DPU) at the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, invites applications for a fixed-term one-year postdoctoral position associated with the projectHybrid text practices in the Danish L1 classroom. Polyphony, coherence and involvement when writing with generative AI, financed by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The project runs for 44 months, beginning in March 2026.

The position is full-time (37 hours/week) and begins on 1 March 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Our new colleague will be employed at the Department of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies, Educational Philosophy, and General Education. The position is based at DPU at either Aarhus campus or Emdrup campus (see the description of DPU below). Since the department is situated in both Aarhus and Copenhagen, the selected applicant should expect some travel activity.

The Danish School of Education (DPU) is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their personal background.

Research context

In the project Hybrid text practices in the Danish L1 classroom. Polyphony, coherence and involvement when writing with generative AI, we explore a potentially new broad form of hybrid human–AI writing that also involves navigating artificially generated text.

Through a qualitative text and classroom design, we examine writing with generative AI tools in Danish L1 classrooms in Year 7 and 8 from dialogical, sociocultural and social semiotic perspectives. We focus on students’ observable writing processes in terms of strategies and interactions, their texts, and their explicit reflections on these processes and their writing choices.

We are particularly interested in how generative AI contributes to or challenges students' involvement in writing, and how it affects the way they orchestrate multiple voices and create coherence in texts – all of which are pivotal for literacy learning. Besides much-needed empirical insights, we expect to enrich the theoretical concepts of polyphony, coherence, and involvement with new dimensions.

Postdoctoral position

The selected applicant will work in close collaboration with PI Kristine Kabel and the rest of the research team throughout the employment period, including planning and conducting fieldwork, analysing data, disseminating, and arranging advisory board meetings.

The two main tasks will be to conduct and write a literature review to identify existing knowledge about lower secondary students' writing processes, texts, and reflections on writerly choices in non-GAI practices, and to carry out a specific work package in the project in collaboration with the entire research team. In this work package, we seek to explore what characterises Year 7 and 8 students’ observable writing strategies and interactions when participating in hybrid text practices with generative AI tools. As part of this work package, the postdoctoral researcher will be expected to conduct fieldwork in three classrooms in collaboration with the researchers in the team, in spring 2026, and autumn/winter 2026-27, and participate in analytical activities and the writing of one article, also as part of a collaborative effort.

Teaching and supervision

As a postdoctoral researcher, your position is primarily research-based but will also involve a limited amount of teaching and supervision.

Qualifications

Applicants must have a PhD degree.