Grammarly deployment (in)efficacy within EFL academic writing classrooms: an attitudinal report from Afghanistan

Abstract

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) programs have been widely utilized in writing classrooms and have been increasing gradually, yet teachers’ and students’ attitudes in relation to AWE, Grammarly, have still remained uncharted in Afghanistan. The current study explored teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the efficacy and/or inefficacy of Grammarly deployment in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) academic writing classrooms. This study employed mixed methods, sending a questionnaire to 66 students and interviewing five Afghan English language (EL) teachers and four students from private language schools (PLSs) and public universities (PUs). Also, the ABC model of attitudes has been used to measure teachers’ and students’ attitudes in this study. Statistical analysis showed that students’ attitudes were quite favorable toward Grammarly deployment in writing classrooms. Besides, inferential statistics uncovered that no significant difference exists between students’ attitudes toward Grammarly use and students’ gender, level of proficiency, and institution types. In addition, the results revealed that teachers had almost positive attitudes toward Grammarly deployment in writing classrooms considering students’ writing skills development. Furthermore, the study also unveiled some exhaustive merits, plus some shortages of Grammarly applications. Moreover, the study’s findings indicated that Grammarly can be included in the English department’s curriculum, computer lab, or library, as well as in professors’ and students’ writing courses. This research also suggested that professors facilitate Grammarly feedback and that policymakers hold technology training courses at institutions.