Comparing the effects of ChatGPT and automated writing evaluation on students’ writing and ideal L2 writing self

The affordances of ChatGPT in language learning and teaching have gained increasing traction. While studies began to investigate the potential of ChatGPT as a feedback provider, little attention was given to ChatGPT’s potential impact on students’ writing performance and the ideal L2 writing self vis-à-vis the established automated writing evaluation systems (AWE). To address these gaps, a sequential explanatory mixed methods design was adopted. One hundred and fifty second-year university students from three writing classes in a Chinese public university were recruited and randomly divided into a ChatGPT group, an AWE group, and a control group. After an eleven-week intervention, the ANCOVA results showed that while the ChatGPT group scored significantly higher than the AWE group and the control group in post-writing performance as measured by their writing score, in terms of students’ ideal L2 writing self, the ChatGPT group performed significantly lower than the AWE group with a medium effect size. Qualitative analysis of students’ reflection papers revealed students’ (over)reliance on the tool and the accompanying loss of creativity and agency. Pedagogical implications as well as directions for future research are also discussed.