Blending Focus on Form and Technology: Teaching Essay Writing with AI Tools

Essay writing is one of the critical language learning skills, though it is usually challenging for students, as it involves syntax, grammar, organization, and argumentation. This empirical research presents an examination of how integrating focus-on-form instruction with AI can support the teaching of essay writing to ESL learners. A mixed-methods design was employed to investigate the effect of this pedagogical intervention on students’ accuracy, fluency, and overall proficiency in writing. The participants in this study were 120 undergraduate ESL learners, divided into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. The data consisted of both quantitative, obtained through pre- and post-tests, and qualitative, gathered from interviews with students and reflective journals. Results indicated that integrating focus-on-form instruction with AI tools significantly enhanced students’ improvement in essay writing in terms of linguistic accuracy and engagement. Some implications for educators and researchers are discussed.