An AI Chatbot for EFL Writing: Students’ Usage Tendencies, Writing Performance, and Perceptions

Writing plays a crucial role in the development of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ language; however, it remains a challenging skill for them to acquire. This study investigated how EFL students at a high school in Northern Vietnam engaged with the Writing Assistant Bot (WAB), an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot designed to support their writing practice at home. Focusing on students’ usage patterns, writing performance, and perceptions, the research included 47 participants, categorized into higher and lower proficiency levels. The mixed-method approach was employed, with chat logs, timed-writing tests, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated differences in chatbot usage between the two proficiency levels at various writing stages, despite similarities in their focus on specific writing aspects. Lower-level learners predominantly utilized the chatbot during the Planning stage to generate vocabulary and brainstorm ideas, while higher-level learners mainly used it during the Translating stage to elaborate on ideas and refine their language for diverse and coherent expression. The chatbot significantly enhanced writing performance across all aspects: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics, for both levels. Students perceived it as a useful and easy-to-use tool.