Exploring students’ perceptions on the use of ChatGPT: a thematic analysis

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining popularity in the field of education due to contemporary technological advancements. AI learning tools are significant in the current education field as they provide tremendous benefits to educators and students alike and because of their all-around performance. Among these AI systems, ChatGPT stands out as a highly sophisticated AI learning tool that has blown up immensely in the education field as it is programmed with excellent technical, mathematical and computational skills. In the English Language classroom, students use ChatGPT for unlimited tasks like completing assignments, paraphrasing and summarising sentences, searching for information and generating ideas among others. However, there was a need to find out about students’ perceptions of its usefulness as well as its limitations as a learning tool for students. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the perceptions of university students in the 21st century on the effectiveness of ChatGPT in their academics. Ten students participated in the research. A convenience sampling method was used to select students from English for Academic Purpose (EAW) course from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study is qualitative in nature and data in the form of a reflective journal were collected using Google form in which students recorded their thoughts. Thematic analysis method was used to analyse students’ responses. It is hoped that the insights gained from this study will help language educators understand the benefits and challenges faced by EAW students in their writing classes.