Incorporating a reflective thinking promoting mechanism into artificial intelligence-supported English writing environments

ABSTRACT

Automated writing feedback supported by artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has attracted the attention of English as Foreign Language (EFL) researchers. However, there is insufficient evidence and inconsistent conclusions on the actual impacts of AI on students’ writing skills. In addition, in the field of EFL writing, there are few studies which have integrated appropriate teaching strategies to promote the effectiveness of EFL writing teaching and learning. Furthermore, it remains unclear how learners can effectively benefit from AI technology-based English writing. To solve this problem, this study proposed a reflective thinking promotion mechanism-based AI-supported English writing (RTP-AIEW) approach to deepen learners’ thinking and improve their EFL writing quality. To investigate the effectiveness of this learning approach, a quasi-experiment was conducted in two EFL writing classes in a university. One class (50 students) was the experimental group learning with the proposed RTP-AIEW approach, while the other class (53 students) was the control group learning with conventional AI-supported EFL writing. The results indicated that the proposed approach not only significantly improved the experimental group students’ English writing performance, but also improved their self-efficacy and self-regulated learning, and significantly reduced their cognitive load. In addition, students’ learning experience and perceptions are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflective thinking
• ELF writing
• artificial intelligence
• self-efficacy
• self-regulated learning
• language learning

Acknowledgements

This study is supported in part by Zhejiang Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences in China under the contract number 22NDQN271YB.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chenchen Liu

Dr. Chenchen Liu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Educational technology, Wenzhou University. Her research interests include educational technology and mobile learning.

Jierui Hou

Miss. Jierui Hou is a Postgraduate student at the Department of Educational technology, Wenzhou University. Her research interests include digital learning and technology-enhanced education.

Yun-Fang Tu

Dr. Yun-fang Tu comes from Department of Library and Information Science, Research and Development Center for Physical Education, Health, and Information Technology, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan. Her research interest includes E-library, digital learning and information literacy.

Youmei Wang

Dr. Youmei Wang is a professor at the Department of Educational technology, University of Wenzhou. His research interests include digital learning, technology education and AI in education.

Gwo-Jen Hwang

Pr. Gwo-Jen Hwang is a chair professor at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His research interests include mobile learning, digital game-based learning, flipped classroom and AI in education.