Exploring student engagement with artificial intelligence-guided chatbot feedback in EFL writing: interactions and revisions

The progress of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked significant research interest in its application in education and students’ perceptions of and response to this technology. This multiple-case study explores three Chinese university students’ (representing high-, intermediate-, and low-level English proficiency) engagement with AI-guided chatbot feedback in English writing learning. Data sources include chat records, written drafts and semi-structured interviews. The study identifies two sub-dimensions, interaction and revision, to characterize students’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement with AI-guided chatbot feedback. The findings demonstrate that all students exhibited high levels of behavioral engagement during interactions, while only intermediate- and high-level students demonstrated significant cognitive engagement during interaction. Besides, the high-level student displayed higher levels of behavioral and cognitive engagement in the revision process compared to her counterparts. Finally, students’ emotional engagement was intricate in both interaction and revision process, exhibiting various approbations and concerns towards the application of AI-guided chatbot in writing learning. These insights can inform the effective implementation of AI-guided chatbot in providing feedback for second language writing instruction.