A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS
A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

Summary/Abstract: The massive proliferation of GAI has evoked a surge of interest in education and a heated debate among educators, researchers and stakeholders about promising benefits and potential threats that may radically transform the landscape of the pedagogical relationship between teachers and students. Emergent AI technologies are perceived to be alarming since they could contribute to passive learning that may hinder critical thinking and deskill the students in the writing classroom. Hence, it is important to seek understanding of how evolving technologies influence students’ learning of writing via current research studies. This systematic review of literature aims at synthesizing empirical studies to highlight the patterns of the impact of AI on the students’ writing, and underscoring any challenges and limitations. A total of seven empirical studies were identified based on a literature review search across a research database. Qualitative and mixed-methods designs were selected, showcasing the employment of several data collection methods. The findings highlight three dominant themes: advancing the students’ writing skills across multiple components; generating content, timely feedback and feedforward, and ethical considerations and fear of loss of authentic writing style. The results suggest that though GAI can enhance the students’ writing skills in academic settings, it can also result in undesired limitations, challenges and ethical issues that should be addressed by academic institutions to ensure the ethical, responsible use of GAI.

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