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

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…