Identifying EFL Students’ Uses for AI Chatbots in Academic Writing

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has generated significant debate in higher education, with some researchers calling for greater integration of AI tools in the classroom (Kohnke, 2023), while others insist that it has a negative impact on academic performance (Abbas et al, 2021).  Given that these tools are becoming more ubiquitous, this study seeks to understand how students are using them in their learning.  The present study analyzes a university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class, with a unit focused on academic writing.  In the project, students were trained on using AI chatbots to get feedback on their writing, and then asked to justify the types of feedback they accepted and rejected.  Their responses were coded to identify patterns in how students used chatbot feedback in their writing.  Results indicate that, while feedback regarding grammatical precision and word choice was welcomed, students were much more hesitant to accept changes that impacted either their personal writing style or distorted their ideas.  Ultimately, findings suggest that these chatbots can be a useful resource for improving student writing, but careful training is necessary to ensure responsible use.