Punggol Vista Primary School, Punggol, Singapore

Abstract: Chinese writing has long been a challenging area for many primary school students in Singapore, particularly given the declining use of Chinese at home and the dominance of English as the medium of instruction. Traditional writing instruction, which often focuses on model essays and formulaic structures, frequently fails to engage students or develop their ability to express ideas creatively and authentically. This classroom case study proposes and evaluates an AI-Scaffolded Situated Storytelling (AI-SSS) instructional approach that integrates locally situated contexts with artificial intelligence tools to support primary school students' Chinese writing development. The approach was implemented in a Primary 4 class at Punggol Vista Primary School over an 8-week period, with a focus on narrative writing set in familiar Singaporean contexts such as Punggol Waterway, hawker centres, and HDB estate life. AI tools were carefully integrated as scaffolds to support students at different stages of the writing process—from generating contextual images and vocabulary support to providing formative feedback and facilitating peer review. Mixed-methods data were collected, including pre- and post-writing assessments, student work samples, classroom observations, student interviews, and survey data on writing motivation and self-efficacy. Results indicate that students in the AI-SSS class showed significant improvement in writing quality, particularly in terms of content richness, contextual authenticity, and expressive fluency. Students also demonstrated increased motivation and self-efficacy for Chinese writing, reporting greater enjoyment and a stronger sense of connection to the writing topics. The study suggests that thoughtfully designed AI scaffolding, when combined with locally situated, meaningful writing contexts, can effectively support Chinese language learning in Singapore's multilingual environment. Practical implications for frontline Chinese language teachers are discussed, along with considerations for ethical and pedagogically sound AI integration in language classrooms.

Keywords: Chinese language education; primary school writing; AI scaffolding; situated storytelling; Singapore education; second language learning