Efficacy of Generative AI in Assisting College Students with English Writing

本研究旨在探讨生成式人工智能辅助大学生英语写作的整体效能及具体表现。研究采用实验法，共15名大学生志愿者参加为期8周的雅思写作任务2实验。实验中学生完成作文一稿后，ChatGPT4.0为学生提供评改意见，在此基础上，学生完成二稿。通过对比实验前测和后测结果，本研究发现大多数学习者通过AI辅助训练，写作整体得分都有提升；在雅思写作任务2的四个评分维度中，学生在衔接、词汇以及语法三个方面提升最为明显。研究肯定了生成式人工智能辅助大学生英语写作的有效性，提出进一步探索教师与AI协作开展大学生英语写作评改模式的可能性。The current study aims to investigate the overall efficacy and specific impacts of generative AI in assisting college students with English writing. An experimental method was employed, involving 15 volunteer university students who participated in an 8-week IELTS Writing Task 2 experiment. After completing their first drafts, students received feedback and revision suggestions from ChatGPT-4.0, based on which they produced their second drafts. By comparing pre-test and post-test results, the study found that most learners demonstrated improved overall writing scores through AI-assisted training. Among the four IELTS Writing Task 2 assessment criteria, students showed the most significant progress in cohesion and coherence, lexical resource, and grammatical range & accuracy. The findings affirm the effectiveness of generative AI in supporting English writing development and suggest further exploration into collaborative teacher-AI feedback models for university-level writing instruction.