Using artificial intelligence-based instruction to develop EFL higher education students’ essay writing skills

Abstract

The present study investigated the use of artificial intelligence (AI), in terms of Grammarly, to develop the Egyptian higher education students’ FL essay writing skills. The 100 randomly selected participants are English-majoring senior students and were equally divided into a control group and an experimental group with fifty participants each. Data were collected through three instruments, namely FL essay writing pre-and posttests and observation notes. The FL essay writing test was employed as a pretest and a posttest. The participants were trained over 12 weeks to write FL essays by using AI-based Grammarly instruction for the experimental group and by using a traditional method for the control group. During the experimental group’s training period, the researcher recorded observation notes about the experimental group’s comprehension of the AI-based Grammarly corrective feedback. Data were analyzed by using the Paired Sampling T-Test and the Independent Sampling T-Test. The findings indicated better improvement in the performance of experimental participants compared to their control group counterparts. The study presented teaching implications for FL essay writing instruction and recommended the incorporation of AI-based Grammarly instruction to the process of teaching FL essay to Egyptian senior students.