The effectiveness of AI-generated feedback in enhancing students' writing proficiency: A study of Google Gemini

The integration of AI tools in education offers transformative potential for developing student writing proficiency. This study aims to: (1) identify the most frequent writing deficiencies in Saudi Science and Engineering Track (SET) students' writing, as detected by Gemini; (2) evaluate the extent to which Gemini's feedback addresses the salient writing needs; and (3) explore students' perceptions regarding the usefulness of Gemini's feedback for improving their writing proficiency. A mixed-methods approach was used. First, Gemini's feedback on students' assignments was analyzed using specific rubrics. Second, a questionnaire was used to survey students' perceptions of Gemini's feedback on improving their writing proficiency. The results indicated that Gemini effectively identified and addressed several writing issues, most frequently problems in sentence structure, followed by spelling, capitalization, grammar, punctuation, and word choice. The questionnaire findings revealed that students held a positive view of Gemini, believing it significantly enhanced their writing proficiency. It is recommended that such AI feedback be integrated into writing instruction as a supplement to human teaching, with appropriate oversight to foster critical writing proficiency. A key strength of this study is its use of genuine in-class assignments, which ensures the authenticity of the data and mitigates concerns about plagiarism.