Expresión escrita e inteligencia artificial: ¿aliada o enemiga en redacciones académicas en inglés?

As teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), we have often observed an indiscriminate use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing tasks, which fails to provide real evidence of students' language proficiency. Since its use is unavoidable and AI plagiarism detection programmes are not entirely reliable, this study suggests a pedagogical alternative to integrate AI ethically into our lessons in order to assess whether it enhances or hinders learning. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify specific teaching strategies that can make the writing process with AI more useful and rewarding. For this purpose, we have selected two groups of first-year students enrolled in a compulsory English course within a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. The experimental group (N=37) was allowed to use AI to obtain feedback after writing their original essay by means of two procedures with two different prompts, while the control group (N=45) did not make specific use of AI during the writing process. At the end of the study, the grades obtained in the two writing exercises (Writings) as well as in the final written exam were compared and it was noted that the experimental group had obtained a higher grade. These data were complemented by a survey in which students in the experimental group reported experiencing more meaningful learning through the feedback provided by the AI.