At a Crossroad: Comparing ChatGPT and Grammarly in Enhancing EFL Learners’ Use of the Article 'The'

The present study investigated the effectiveness of ChatGPT and Grammarly as automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools in improving Iranian EFL learners’ use of the article ‘the’. As such, we selected 60 intermediate learners and divided them into three groups including two experimental groups that received ChatGPT and Grammarly feedbacks and a control group that was given teacher feedback. A pretest and a posttest were administered before and after the Intervention. After we ran a one-way ANOVA, the results indicated a statistically significant difference among the groups, with the Grammarly group performing significantly better than the control group, though not significantly better than the ChatGPT group. Additionally, qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews revealed that the participants had positive perceptions of using the tools for bridging the gap between instruction and practice, providing immediate feedback, and enhancing motivation and engagement. However, they reported limitations such as limited availability, dependency, potential for plagiarism, and the need for digital literacy. These findings underscore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, specifically Grammarly as a supplementary aid in EFL contexts, particularly for helping learners improve their grammatical accuracy.