ChatGPT and the digitisation of writing

TLDR

The use of ChatGPT and other generative AI must be understood within the broader digitisation of writing, where students employ many tools to support the complex, iterative writing process. This study seeks to uncover how ChatGPT affects students’ writing practices in higher education and proposes a generative AI literacy model to assess their capabilities. Semi‑structured interviews and observations of 23 students from diverse nationalities were thematically analysed to develop the proposed literacy model. Students used ChatGPT alongside other tools in individualized ways to tackle writing challenges, yet voiced concerns about plagiarism, misinformation, and technology dependence, showed limited awareness of ethical and environmental impacts, and the controversy presents an opportunity to promote AI literacy.

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to uncover how students’ practices of writing in higher education are being impacted by ChatGPT. The use of ChatGPT and other generative AI needs to be set in the context of a longer-term process of the digitisation of writing, where many tools are being employed by students to support writing because it is a complex iterative process. Generative AI appears to have had a large impact on how students write, and we propose a model of generative AI literacy to assess their capabilities in doing so. Semi-structured interviews and observation data were collected at a British University with 23 students from diverse backgrounds, including the UK, USA, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. The data was analysed thematically. It was found that students used ChatGPT alongside many other tools, and in rather individualistic ways often to address specific challenges they felt they had with writing. Their main concerns were around plagiarism, information inaccuracy and technology dependence. There was a relatively weak understanding or interest in the ethical issues around the exploitative and environmental impacts of generative AI. The social controversy around ChatGPT can be seen as a useful opportunity to engage students in a discussion about the digitisation of writing and promote AI literacy in this context.