The Impact of AI Writing Tools on Academic Integrity: Unveiling English-Majored Students’ Perceptions and Practical Solutions

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has brought a multitude of benefits to many academic practices, particularly in the field of English Language Teaching. Nonetheless, they also present concerns regarding academic integrity. This research aims to explore how English-majored students at Ho Chi Minh University of Foreign Languages – Information Technology (HUFLIT) perceive the influence of AI writing tools on their academic honesty. This study also proposes some practical solutions that students might employ to maintain the authenticity of their work. Conducted in the summer semester (May to August), the participants were 114 English-majored seniors at HUFLIT. Data was collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify students’ perceptions, challenges, and solutions. The findings indicated a broad spectrum of students’ perceptions towards the given concern, emphasizing that comprehensive guidelines and educational programs are important to implement AI writing tools responsibly. Additionally, some practical solutions, entailing institutional support, plagiarism checker, and ethical writing practices were identified at the end of the paper.