Two Digital Writing Tools that Help the Writing Process: ProWritingAid and Padlet

In an educational world that is increasingly influenced by technology, various digital tools can now be utilized to support the development of writing skills, especially for language learners. This paper discusses two different types of digital writing tools, namely ProWritingAid, a writing assistant software, and Padlet, a web-based collaborative platform. Both tools support different stages of writing and are aimed at different levels of students' abilities and needs.

ProWritingAid is a software that analyzes user texts to detect errors in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and style. It also provides detailed feedback in the form of reports that help improve clarity, coherence, readability, and vocabulary variety in writing. This tool is very effective at the revision and editing stage, especially when students already have a draft of their writing and want to improve it. The sub-skills supported by ProWritingAid include grammatical accuracy, sentence fluency, vocabulary richness, and stylistic consistency. Due to the complexity of its features and analysis, this tool is more suitable for intermediate to advanced learners (B1-C1 positions), especially those who are writing for academic purposes or exam preparation. For example, in a writing class, teachers can ask students to write an essay, and then use ProWritingAid in a peer review session to analyze their own or a friend's draft before submission. In this way, students are encouraged to learn independently but still in a collaborative environment.

In contrast, Padlet is an online platform that allows students to write, share ideas and comment in a shared visual workspace. This tool is particularly useful at the pre-writing and drafting stages, where students can freely express ideas, respond to topics, and work together on writing projects. Padlet encourages creativity, discussion of ideas, and collaborative work, so it is suitable for use by elementary to intermediate level students (A2-B1 position), especially in project or creative writing activities. For example, Padlet's chain story writing task allows each student to add parts of the story to a shared board, thus practicing continuous idea development while strengthening cooperation between students.

Overall, ProWritingAid excels at providing in-depth feedback that helps students improve their writing independently, although the interface can be confusing for beginners and requires a stable internet connection. Nevertheless, this tool is highly recommended for academic writing classes as it supports more structured self-directed learning. On the other hand, Padlet is easily accessible, encourages active participation, and strengthens interaction between students. Although it does not have an auto-correct feature, Padlet is very useful in building ideas collaboratively and improving digital literacy. If used in accordance with the right writing stages, these two tools can complement each other in supporting the improvement of students' writing skills.