Korean College Students’ Perceptions of Using ChatGPT in English Writing

This study explores the experiences and perceptions of Korean college students using ChatGPT as a tool for completing assignments in a general English course focused on academic writing skills. A total of 93 students participated in the study by completing a questionnaire that addressed the purpose and satisfaction of using ChatGPT, its advantages and disadvantages, and its overall effectiveness. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to analyze the data. A Word Cloud was used as an analytical tool to visualize the keywords from the two open-ended questions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of ChatGPT. The results indicated that Korean college students generally had a positive perception of ChatGPT. In terms of the purpose of using ChatGPT, it was found that ChatGPT was most frequently used for academic purposes, such as completing assignments and understanding course content. In the context of studying English, students primarily used ChatGPT to revise grammar and sentence structure. For English writing, ChatGPT was most often utilized for proofreading and editing. The keywords associated with the advantages of ChatGPT were “easily,” “information,” and “desired,” while those related to its disadvantages were “errors” and “mistakes.” Interestingly, students reported relying more on ChatGPT’s feedback than on that of their peers or dictionaries, yet they still valued human instructors’ feedback more highly than ChatGPT's. These findings suggest that ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for English writing, given the students' positive perceptions and satisfaction. However, the discussion of the complementary roles of artificial intelligence and human instructors remains important for educators.