Impact of ChatGPT on ESL students’ academic writing skills: a mixed methods intervention study

TLDR

Artificial intelligence‑driven automated writing evaluation tools have been shown to improve students’ writing, yet empirical evidence on ChatGPT’s impact remains scarce. The study investigates ChatGPT’s effectiveness as a formative feedback tool for undergraduate ESL students’ academic writing and identifies future research directions. A mixed‑methods intervention was conducted with tertiary ESL students, collecting data via three writing tests and focus group discussions. ChatGPT significantly improved students’ academic writing skills, was perceived positively, supports dialogic feedback theory, and can serve as an effective feedback tool in large classes with proper training.

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a study on the impact of ChatGPT as a formative feedback tool on the writing skills of undergraduate ESL students. Since artificial intelligence-driven automated writing evaluation tools positively impact students’ writing, ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence-propelled tool, can be expected to have a more substantial positive impact. However, very little empirical evidence regarding the impact of ChatGPT on writing is available. The current mixed methods intervention study tried to address this gap. Data were collected from tertiary level ESL students through three tests and as many focus group discussions. The findings indicate a significant positive impact of ChatGPT on students' academic writing skills, and students’ perceptions of the impact were also overwhelmingly positive. The study strengthens and advances theories of feedback as a dialogic tool and ChatGPT as a reliable writing tool, and has practical implications. With proper student training, ChatGPT can be a good feedback tool in large-size writing classes. Future researchers can investigate the impact of ChatGPT on various specific genres and micro aspects of writing.