Exploring the Effects of AI-based Feedback on EFL Students’ L2 Writing Autonomy

Autonomy in writing involves students actively overseeing their learning processes from the early stages to the last stages of editing and proofreading. Autonomy development has benefitted much from various situations, including the emergence of AI tools. Such tools have paved a new way to promote EFL students’ writing autonomy, as they offer timely and objective feedback tailored to students’ needs. However, to what extent have these tools proved to be instrumental for developing learners’ autonomy level has not received much attention. The current study aimed to fill this void by investigating whether AI-generated feedback has an impact on perceived L2 writing autonomy of EFL students. 262 English as a foreign language (EFL) students from a Turkish state university participated in the study. The results suggest that AI-generated feedback can be a valuable and complementary source of feedback for promoting L2 writing autonomy among EFL students.