Abstract
The present study investigates the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) intervention in English as a second language (ESL) writing on the anxiety level and impact on writing performance amongst Taiwanese junior high school students. Thirty-four students were beginners at the age between 12 and 14, participated in the study and assigned to two groups: 20 students with AI intervention in the experimental group (EG) and 14 students with non-AI-integrated in the control group (CG). The researcher, as well as the teacher used the same textbook and material in the two groups. This study utilized a quasi-experimental method: two questionnaires of anxiety, 33 items derived from the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz et al., 1986) and EFL writing anxiety (Gopang et al., 2018) in a 4-point Likert scale, and pre-and-post tests to measure the students’ writing performance. The findings reveal that AI intervention had a positive impact on writing performance, reducing fear of negative evaluation, boosting confidence in writing, speaking English around native speakers, and fostering positive student engagement and motivation to learn English. However, FLCAS and AI intervention could not alleviate writing and test anxiety despite moderate academic improvement in writing performance. A negative correlation was observed between academic performance, respectively. Pedagogical limitations reveal a need for a larger sample size and longer intervention periods. Suggestions for future research should explore the long-term effects of AI tools in educational contexts and conduct qualitative research to understand students’ perceptions for further improvement.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INVENTION, ESL WRITING ANXIETY, WRITING PERFORMANCE
