Undergraduate ESL Learners' Perceptions of AI-Assisted Feedback for Writing Development: A Qualitative Study at NUML Hyderabad Campus

Abstract

The use of artificial intelligence in university writing practices has quickly taken over the English as a second language (ESL) environment, where students need to be provided with timely information on grammar, vocabulary, structure, and academic formatting. Despite the recent international research that highlights that AI-supported writing aids may be used to assist revision, confidence, and learner control, there is little information available on the perceptions of Pakistani ESL undergraduate learners towards AI-supported writing aids in localized higher education institutions. This qualitative research examines the views of undergraduate ESL learners on the use of AI-assisted feedback in developing writing skills at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Hyderabad Campus. The two objectives of the study are to investigate how learners perceive AI-assisted feedback on academic writing and to determine the perceived advantages and challenges of using AI-assisted feedback. Semi-structured interviews with ten undergraduate ESL learners with prior experience in using AI-supported writing tools were used to collect data. The analysis was done in themes based on the framework of Braun and Clarke (2006). There were four key themes that were identified; enhancement of linguistic accuracy, enhancement of autonomy and confidence, contextual constraints of AI-generated feedback and teacher mediation to avoid overdependence. The results also indicate that AI-mediated feedback could be a valuable additional tool in EFL writing teaching, especially when it comes to superficial revision and writing without supervision. Nevertheless, interviewees also pointed out that AI feedback could not substitute teacher feedback as it might not consider rhetorical intent, disciplinary norms, and contextual meaning. The research proposes an integrative feedback paradigm whereby the instructors will help learners to be critically, ethically, and reflectively engaged in the use of AI in process-based writing teaching.