Teaching students to write academic papers through the use of generative artificial intelligence tools

Importance . Currently, there is an increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in foreign languages teaching, particularly in writing. Generative AI stands out for its ability to provide users with evaluative feedback, which allows students to correct and improve their written work. Some scholars have argued for the inclusion of extracurricular interaction with generative AI in traditional teaching methods in order to utilize its linguistic and didactic potential for revising drafts. However, the effectiveness of these teaching methods has not always been a focus of scientific research. The purpose of the study is to devise a methodology for instructing students in writing in a foreign language, incorporating their extracurricular engagement with one of the instruments of generative AI, which provides feedback. Additionally, it aims to test the efficacy of this approach during experimental instruction. Materials and Methods . The study involved second-year students of the specialty 45.05.01 “Translation and Translation Studies” of Lipetsk State Technical University. The participants of the control group (N = 25) are trained according to the traditional teaching method of writing in a foreign language, which does not involve the use of generative AI tools. The participants of the experimental group (N = 25) used the author’s methodology, which implies their extracurricular interaction with one of the tools of generative AI (ChatGPT 4.0, Criterion, YandexGPT). The aspects of control in the study are the following writing skills: a) writing a business letter; b) writing an essay of a contrastive and comparative nature; c) writing an essay of an argumentative nature; d) writing a film or book review. The Student’s t-test is used as a method of statistical data processing. Results and Discussion . During the experimental training, it is proved that the innovative author’s method of teaching students writing in a foreign language, including extracurricular interaction of students with generative artificial intelligence tools, is more effective than traditional teaching methods in developing students’ writing skills: writing a business letter (t = 3.19 at p = 0.001), writing essays of a contrastive and comparative nature (t = 3.19 at p = 0.002), writing essays of an argumentative nature (t = 2.28 at p = 0.001), writing a film or book review (t = 2.46 at p = 0.001). Conclusion . The novelty of the research lies in the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching students writing in a foreign language, including extracurricular interaction of students with one of the generative artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT 4.0, Criterion, YandexGPT). Based on the feedback they received from the AI, the students finalized draft versions of their work. The proposed methodology can be used in teaching students and students writing in a foreign language in secondary schools and universities.