Speakers
Description
The ability to construct well-supported arguments, address counterarguments, and provide effective refutations is essential in an argumentative essay. Despite increasing access to digital writing support tools, many English-majored students still struggle to produce well-developed argumentative essays. However, there is limited research on how students use ChatGPT to support argumentative writing and how they perceive its effectiveness. This study, therefore, investigates how 10 intermediate-level English majors use ChatGPT to support their argumentative writing through a qualitative design. The qualitative data revealed both positive and negative perspectives. On the one hand, ChatGPT was reported to play a supportive role in helping students strengthen their arguments by offering various argument options with relevant supporting details and evidence when prompted and reprompted correctly, and develop evaluative judgment to assess the effectiveness of the response and research skills to confirm the knowledge. It also supported students during the feedback stage by providing suggestions on language use and explanations of failures related to idea development, cohesion, and coherence in their writing. On the other hand, some students expressed concerns that without a clear understanding of ethical use and underlying cognitive processes, they may become overly reliant on the AI tool. Others reported limited prompting literacy and highlighted the need to develop this strategy to obtain more meaningful responses in a shorter time. These findings suggest that while AI tools can be helpful in improving argumentative writing, students still need guidance and should use them carefully to continue developing their own thinking and writing skills independently.
