THE EFFECT OF CHAT GPT AND GRAMMARLY ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL STUDENTS ACADEMIC WRITING

Abstract

AI-supported writing tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly have attracted attention for their potential to provide second-language (L2) writers with immediate, personalized feedback. This quasi-experimental study investigated the impact of AI-assisted writing on the academic writing performance of EFL Iranian intermediate students. There were 55 students at the beginning of the study, and after homogenization with the OPT, 47 participants were selected and divided into an experimental group (n = 24) and a control group (n =  23). The pretests/posttests in both groups were argumentative writing tasks. In the experimental group, AI provided written corrective feedback to students while they wrote. It is worth noting that traditional teacher feedback was given to the control group. The one-way ANCOVA was used to analyze data. The findings indicated that AI-supported writing positively influenced learners' academic writing, with a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group. The results indicate that AI-supported tools can be considered acceptable complements for enhancing EFL learners’ academic writing when used in concert with adequate pedagogical support.