Prompt Engineering as Digital Rhetoric: Writer-Centered Strategies for Agency in EAP Writing

My presentation at the Young Female Researcher Conference (YFRC) 2026 is titled “Prompt Engineering as Digital Rhetoric: Writer-Centered Strategies for Agency in EAP Writing.”

Moving beyond the view of prompt engineering as a purely technical skill (algorithmic fine-tuning), my research reframes the interaction with Large Language Models (LLMs) as a rhetorical act. Through the lens of classical rhetorical theory, specifically Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation, Ong’s Fictionalized Audience, and Burke’s Terministic Screens. I argue that effective prompting is a form of "Digital Rhetoric" essential for preserving student voice.

I will be introducing the AI-Integrated Self-Directed Writing (SDW) Framework, a pedagogical model that redefines the student writer as the Architect (providing the rhetorical blueprint) and the AI as the Builder (executing the text). This framework aims to bridge the gap between individual AI use and community-based learning, empowering academic writers to maintain cognitive agency and avoid the "homogenization" of their academic voice.

I look forward to discussing how we can shift the narrative from "AI plagiarism" to "Prompt Literacy" with fellow researchers.