The impact of integrating ChatGPT with teachers’ feedback on EFL writing skills

Abstract

• Integrating ChatGPT with teacher feedback significantly improved EFL learners' argumentative writing skills. • The experimental group receiving combined ChatGPT and teacher feedback outperformed the control group. • Teachers recognized benefits of AI feedback, including customization, promptness, and adaptability. • Limitations of AI feedback included lack of contextual understanding and potential for overreliance. • Teachers emphasized the need for professional development to effectively integrate AI tools. This study examined the effects of integrating ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art AI chatbot, with teacher feedback to provide individualized writing feedback on English as a foreign language (EFL) essay writing task 2. It also explored the perspectives of eight teachers on integrating such AI tools ethically and effectively. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design and randomly assigned 68 intermediate Iranian EFL learners to receive either a combination of ChatGPT and teacher feedback or teacher-only feedback on their IELTS Task 2 argumentative essays. The results of the Paired Samples t-Test indicated that the group that received a combination of teacher and ChatGPT feedback demonstrated a significantly greater improvement than the group receiving only teacher feedback on their IELTS Task 2 argumentative essays in all scoring criteria, including task achievement, coherence, cohesion, vocabulary, and grammar range and accuracy. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with teachers in both conditions revealed concerns about plagiarism and overreliance on AI. The findings of this study highlight the transformative potential of integrating AI tools with traditional teaching methods to deliver personalized feedback, significantly advancing EFL learners’ writing proficiency and addressing practical challenges in writing instruction.

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