Yun Wang, Weitao Yu, Shuyi Cai, Geting Liu

Yun Wang

30 December, 2024

Generative AI, English writing, College students.

Generative AI (Gen AI) has gained prominence in higher education for English writing assistance, while empirical research focusing on college students, the primary stakeholders, remains scarce. This study aims to explore students’ use of Gen AI and provide recommendations based on the challenges encountered in its use. A questionnaire was distributed, collecting 833 responses from undergraduate and graduate students at seven universities in Central, Eastern, and Northern China. The data were analyzed using a one-sample t-test to investigate the usage patterns, benefits, and challenges encountered by students employing Gen AI for English writing. The results indicate that ChatGPT is the most popular Gen AI tool among Chinese students. The findings also reveal five primary usage methods and highlight the benefits and associated challenges. Based on these results, we propose recommendations for optimizing the use of Gen AI in English writing.

© 2024, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license