ChatGPT: An Enabling Model for English Creative Writing in the Eleventh Grade of Phuentsholing Rigsar Higher Secondary School

In today’s digital era, education has undergone a significant transformation, particularly in Englishlearning, where creativity plays a crucial role. However, Bhutan’s eleventh-grade curriculumprimarily emphasizes grammar, comprehension, and writing skills, with minimal focus on creativeexpression. Similarly, at Phuentsholing Rigsar Higher Secondary School (PRHSS), creative writingis primarily confined to classroom assessments, which may inadvertently prioritise performanceover student wellbeing by fostering stress and limiting intrinsic motivation. Moreover, while theschool is equipped with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, it has yet toexplore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to enhance creative writing. Thus, thisaction research explores the integration of ChatGPT, a generative AI tool, as a model to guidecreative writing among 37 eleventh-grade students (18 females and 19 males) of varying Englishproficiency, selected through convenience sampling. A quantitative approach was employed, usingpre- and post-intervention creative writing assessments. The intervention was grounded in AlbertBandura’s Observational Learning and the Modeling Process of attention, Retention, Reproduction,and Motivation (ARRM). Students were engaged in AI-assisted feedback, prompt-based writing,and collaborative poetry exercises over the study period, and the findings revealed a statisticallysignificant improvement in writing proficiency, with mean scores increasing from 4.29 to 8.81 (p< .001). This suggests that ChatGPT can effectively enhance creative expression in writing.However, progress varied among individuals, indicating the need for differentiated support.Moreover, concerns regarding overreliance on AI and ethical use remained. Therefore, teacherintervention for balanced AI integration and