Artificial Intelligence Learning Platforms Improve Academic Writing Skills in Higher Education English as a Second Language Students

Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into academic writing instruction has made a huge difference in instruction for English as a Second Language (ESL) students who often struggle with grammar, vocabulary, coherence, and academic organization. The present study investigated the effectiveness of using AI assisted learning platforms to improve academic writing of ESL students in higher education. The convergent mixed methods research design was used and a purposive sampling method was used to select 120 undergraduate and postgraduate ESL learners. A twelve-week academic writing intervention was developed that uses AI Tools such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, and QuillBot. Pre-test and post-test writing evaluation, and structured questionnaires were used to gather quantitative data and semi-structured interviews were conducted to get qualitative data. Results indicated that after the intervention, there was a great improvement in all aspects of academic writing performance. This improvement in overall writing was from a pre-test mean of 58.94 to a post-test mean of 83.67. Grammar accuracy, vocabulary use, coherence, organization and academic writing style were improved. The qualitative results also showed that the learners found AI-powered learning platforms user-friendly, interactive, and supportive, which boosted their confidence in writing, involvement in learning and revision process. But some participants also worried about the potential for too much reliance on AI-generated material and the ethical academic use of AI. The study concludes that AI-supported learning platforms have significant pedagogical potential in relation to the development of academic writing skills of ESL learners, provided they are used in relation to the academic writing process, considering responsible use in higher education settings.